Traditional Catalan restaurants

Toronto, Canada
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Traditional Catalan restaurants
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Hola a tots i totes!

I have a lengthy list of Barcelona restaurants serving supposedly modern Catalan, molecular Catalan, upscale Catalan, even Canadian-Catalan! But what about traditional Catalan? Where would you go for a delicious meal that reminds you of something your grandmother used to cook? Over the months, I’ve found a few names and would appreciate your comments. If your favourite is not on the list, please share it on the forum and tell us what dish you would order there. Moltes gracies!

Casa Jordi, Passeig Marimon

Can Josep, C/ Roger de Flor 237

Can Lluís , C/ La Cera 49

Mam i Teca , C/ de la Lluna

L’Havana, c/ Lleo 1

Taverna El Glop, C/ Sant Lluís, 24

Edited: 10 years ago
La Patsa Lab
££ - £££, Italian, Mediterranean, European
BelleBuon
££ - £££, Italian, Neapolitan, Campania
La Gastronomica
££ - £££, Mediterranean, Spanish, Catalan
Malaga, Spain
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1. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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And perhaps one of the Barcelona experts can make this one of the top questions, because this topic is repeated many times.

Toronto, Canada
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2. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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Hola Benny!

I always advise members to search the forum first for previous threads, so I did that.... without finding much. Taberna Glop, I read from a comment by Lynda. Can Joseph, I got from Spotted by Locals.

Barcelona, Spain
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3. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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I can't really help on this, as I (and my family and friends) never go for traditional Catalan meals in Barcelona. We like to be surprised when going for a meal out, not having the same we eat at home (or at our mum's homes ;-)))

The exceptions are when willing to have a calçotada, or grilled meats "a la brasa", etc (anything we can't cook at home) but for these we go to small towns and villages.

Toronto, Canada
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4. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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Hola Belsaita!

Thanks for your comments. I suspected that most people would be eating traditional meals at home and trying other things when they go out. But what about poor visitors who are trying to eat local and want to sample some of the things listed in the FAQs (under Catalan food)?

In Chinese cooking, there are many dishes that we couldn't possibly prepare at home (like steamed dim sum in rice flour wrappers, roasted whole suckling pig or Peking duck), so Chinese families still eat at Chinese restaurants when they go out. Is traditional Catalan food stuff that most Catalan families can easily cook at home?

Regarding calcotada, I noticed that Taberna El Glop offers a calcotada menu. Wish I was in Barcelona right now! :-P

Edited: 10 years ago
Barcelona, Spain
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5. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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<< Is traditional Catalan food stuff that most Catalan families can easily cook at home? >>

In part, yes. You do not need sophisticated equipment and techniques to make most of the traditional dishes, just quality ingredients (and time). But I was only referring to MY own experience. My family and friends may gather at someone's house to cook and eat, but we never go to a restaurant to have "Catalan" food, so I can't talk about traditional food places. This does not mean other Catalan people don't do it.

Barcelona, Spain
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6. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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I've never gone to any of this restaurants, so don't know how good or bad they are but i've read sometimes that Can Culleretes offers traditional meals, same with restaurant Pitarra.

What about Can Xurrades? anyone has gone there?

if you want "pa amb tomaquet" and cured sausages, cheese, ham and some salads "la vinateria del call" is a place that i like.

Barcelona, Spain
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7. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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By the way, probably our reticence to try "traditional" places in Barcelona is that when we did, we usually did not liked it. For instance we tried once the calçotada menu at El Glop... and decided that never more. It was not bad, but probably to us a restaurant in the center of Barcelona is just not the right place for a calçotada. The "hygienized" version you get in the city just do not taste the same than in the countryside.

Same regarding other dishes that are actually local only to a certain town or area. A calçotada in a masia in Valls or a trinxat in a village of La Cerdanya... or a "gibrellada" (fishermen's typical fish stew) when in my hometown Vilanova... these sounds like great plans to me. But probably I'd not choose their equivalents in central Barcelona. Hope it makes sense....

Toronto, Canada
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8. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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@ Slatkin, thanks for your input!

@ Belsaita, I think I know what you mean. The Peking duck I had last summer in Beijing, in a little alley-restaurant (that used to be someone's home -- we were seated in a former bedroom!) sure tasted better than anything I can get in Toronto! The problem is, I don't go to Beijing all the time so I have to find the best alternative, especially when friends come from elsewhere and ask for Peking duck! :-P And when I asked my Egyptian friend in Cairo where I could eat molokhiya, she shrugged and said, "You better come to my house. My mother makes the best." When she goes out to eat, she likes Italian or French.

Mtwapa, Kenya
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9. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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Hi G_m,

I suspect it might be that many restaurants have a basis of Catalan cuisine, but then build upon it, that is certainly the case of some of the top chefs in Barcelona from Santi Santamaria out at Can Fabes, Ferran Adria in his spin off projects, (and his proteges like Jordi Vila at Alkimia, Carles Abellan at Projectes 24 and the guys at Santa Maria across the street), Carles Gaig, etc

Catalan cuisine shares a lot with Mediterranean cuisine, which it is obviously part of, so many dishes especially fish and seafood are the same. There are obviously some specifics, I haven't been but I understand Via Veneto, despite its name is pure Catalan cuisine, and that Ca l'Isidre is Catalan with French influence, at the simpler end there are places like La Llesca in Gracia, dedicated to pa amb tomate, local cheeses and sausages,or Pla de la Garsa in La Ribera and at any tiny local bar/restaurant you'll find the simple local dishes. When my friends lived in Gracia, the local Can across the street was good simple Catalan food, now they have moved the local restaurant for last minute, can't be bothered going far meals is good simple Basque food., I guess people choose these sort of places by proximity rather than ethnicity.

Frommers Guide used to have Catalan as one of its categories, but I see now it just has Spanish / Mediterranean, though it still has Catalan as a subcategory on the actual restaurant entries. It still has quite a nice introduction to Catalan cuisine

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/barcelona/0045010028.html

Its list of restaurants

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/barcelona/45_inddin.html

Some of its dining best bets are probably worth a try as well

Toronto, Canada
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10. Re: Traditional Catalan restaurants
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Hola Doff!

You've made some very good points, thank you. I've looked at Frommer's before but I didn't realize that there USED to be a Catalan category. I laughed when I noticed my favourites Gresca and Alkimia described as "Spanish/Portuguese".

I've heard of Via Veneto but thought it was Italian. Will have to do some research on the menu.

Ca l'Isidre! How did I forget that one? It's probably the most famous traditional Catalan restaurant. As famous in its category as El Xampanyet is in the cava bar category. I wonder about the quality of the food these days.

While I have your attention, do you have any news of The Bar Once Called Inopia or the new Adria brothers' project in L'Eixample? I remember you waited a long time and then finally went elsewhere in disgust. We were lucky; we waited but finally did get to eat. The food was fantastic.

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