The team at pizzeria Sartoria Panatieri focuses on seasonality, artisan production, and ingredient provenance, taking the pies to a whole other level and making this one of the hottest spots in the city. This self-described “farm to pizza” restaurant meticulously selects every ingredient that graces its creative pizzas or goes into its exceptional house-made salumi. Tender crust from local, organic flour is the base for toppings like sobrasada, Mahón cheese, wild fennel, honey, and mozzarella, or Cantabrian anchovy with escarole and Kalamata olive puree. For their most popular classic pizzas, head to the location in Gràcia on Carrer Encarnació. As of April 2024 the flagship location on Carrer Provença will have a more modern menu with a constant rotation of new, seasonal pizza creations.

Chef Ryuta Sato built a name for himself at popular restaurant Sato i Tanaka before opening this tiny sushi bar with just eight seats specializing in omakase servings of super-premium sushi. With so few seats, you’ll need to score a reservation well in advance, but it’s worth the wait. Choose from either the long or short menu, and savor each bite straight from chef Sato’s expert hands.

Long considered the best ramen in Barcelona, Ramen-Ya Hiro used to command massive lines of diners on Carrer Girona, until the restaurant delighted loyal customers in 2023 by finally accepting reservations after more than a decade of service. Now, hungry patrons no longer have to fight over tables to taste chef Hiroki Yoshiyki’s deeply flavorful and nuanced broths. The menu is fairly simple, with just three choices of hot ramen — soy ramen with a combination pork-chicken-seafood broth, miso ramen with a pork and chicken broth, and seafood ramen with baby clams, mackerel broth, and local seafood garnish — and two cold ramens: tsukemen (chilled noodles dusted with dry mackerel powder and lime, served with a soy yuzu dipping sauce) and hiyashi chuka (cold noodles with roast char siu pork, cucumber, bean sprouts, and egg, served with a light vinaigrette). Try to reserve a table at least a week ahead of time, though the restaurant does still save space for walk-ins each night.

Berbena is a popular addition to the blossoming world of chef-driven, modern Catalan cuisine in Barcelona. Grab one of the handful of tables, and begin your meal with hearty chunks of house-made sourdough smeared with rich, smoked butter. Then dive into the assortment of seasonal small plates featuring whatever is fresh that day, from grilled sea bass collar with preserved lemon to an omelet of wild mushrooms with roasted onions. Shellfish and other seafood are always in abundance, and vibrant vegetables often play a starring role in the nightly specials. The cheese selection is impressive, as are the small-production wines from local vineyards. Linger over dessert as you enjoy excellent coffee from nearby SlowMov specialty roasters and espresso from the gleaming La Marzocco machine.

Rooq makes the herb breading, tangy marinade, fermented pickles, pillowy brioche buns, and every other component of its famous fried chicken sandwiches in-house. The menu is minimal: chicken nuggets, vegan jackfruit nuggets, two salads, and three sandwich options (regular, spicy, and grilled), all made with juicy, corn-fed Catalan chicken breasts. Pick your main course and round out the meal with twice-cooked fries tossed in the house spice blend and a side of coleslaw (vinegar- or mayonnaise-based). There’s also a wide selection of craft beers, seven house-made dipping sauces, and a chocolate brownie topped with stout caramel and a scoop of ice cream.

An exciting addition to the Barcelona dining scene, this wine bar opened in April 2023 serving what the team calls Northeast Asian cuisine. The project, created together with partners Woody Wang and Arthur Holland Michel, is an evolution of various businesses — private dinners, a lunchbox delivery service, homemade chili crisp — that chef Dan Jin (who goes by Tan) developed at the start of the pandemic. Chef Tan has a particular passion for the dishes of her native region of Northern China, but she also loves the flavors of Japan and Korea. Mikan is a bargain for lunch, when a fixed price menu includes a variety of dishes, soup, and dessert (including vegan and vegetarian options). In the evenings, the exciting a la carte menu is perfect for sharing. Dishes like grilled koji-cured mackerel with green onion oil, daikon, and shiso, spicy beef salad with cilantro and chile, or Iberian pork loin katsu are paired expertly with an eclectic selection of natural wines, all from small European producers. On Saturdays, the bar features rotating local DJs starting at 11 p.m.

Named for a tiny island nearly 800 miles off the coast of India in the Bay of Bengal, the cuisine of Little Andaman is light and vibrant, with coconuts, fresh herbs, seafood, and vegetables playing the starring roles in many plates. The restaurant space is chic and inviting, equally suited for a lunch with friends as it is for an intimate date night. While many dishes are inspired by the flavors of Little Andaman, the menu also features an ample array of small plates from coastal regions all across India, like mustard and five spice-seasoned shrimp skewers, tamarind fish stew, and Goa-style spiced lamb sorpotel with poi bread. The menu is extremely veggie/vegan friendly, with plenty of gluten-free options as well. There is a weekly prix fixe lunch menu Monday through Friday and three different tasting menus in the evenings (short and long tapas menus, and a vegetarian menu with vegan options), allowing diners to sample the widest variety of dishes.

Barcelona’s brunch scene and design aesthetic meet the fragrant streets of Tel Aviv at Balabusta, which serves up fresh-baked challah, bone-in braised beef ribs, fired-roasted beets with creamy labneh, chicken and cauliflower shawarma with fresh pita, eggplant bunyols (like beignets), and a whole slew of bold, colorful, and vegetable-forward dishes. Check out the weekday fixed price lunch menu (popular with the local working crowd), or get in line for the weekend brunch when you can enjoy a simmering crock of hearty shakshuka. 

Born in Uruguay and trained in Basque, Spain — both centers for meat in their own right — chef Joaquín Ignacio Sánchez is at the helm of Carnal, a Barcelona boho take on the traditional Spanish steakhouse. At this buzzy spot, hefty cuts of dry-aged beef are charred over oak embers, served medium-rare, and finished at the table on a searing-hot stone slab, allowing diners to dial in their preferred doneness. The steaks on offer come from around the globe and are aged in-house between 45 and 150 days, with prices that range from accessible to wildly extravagant; the menu’s most luxurious item is the 120-day-aged, 2-pound ox chuletón (bone-in rib-eye) from the legendary Bodega El Capricho near León, Spain. Before the main event, warm up with some American black angus beef cheek croquettes, flame-grilled maitake mushrooms, or A5 wagyu tartare kissed with a blowtorch and served over a caveman-esque length of roasted bone marrow. For those who don’t partake in red meat, there is a decent selection of seafood, poultry, and vegetable dishes, providing some welcome balance.

Chef Rafa Peña’s passion for food is as great as his disregard for formality and fine dining accolades. A favorite among the city’s chefs, Gresca is a must-visit for lovers of nose-to-tail cooking who want to experience the best of seasonal Catalan cuisine without the stuffy service and delicate portions of some Michelin-starred restaurants. The menu can change from day to day, but there are some mainstays that every first-timer at Gresca should experience, such as the roasted chicken with fines herbes, the calf’s brain with butter and lemon, the pan-roasted sweetbreads, and the grilled quail.

In an antique bar space with over 100 years of history, on a coveted corner in one of the trendiest parts of the Eixample, Soma opened in 2021 to instant accolades from the gourmands of Barcelona. Cozy decor and a Parisian-style terrace set the stage for a menu of Catalan tapas with a strong Italian character and hints of France. Look for duck a l’orange, galetes de socarrat de risotto (a risotto cooked until compact and crispy like the bottom of a classic paella), marinated mackerel with strawberries, and ragu-stuffed rigatoni.

Created by Priscilla Alfaro, a Mexican American woman who grew up in Los Angeles, with her partner Gaston Gabrielli and chef Nick Hosea, this is an excellent, modern American diner where the draw is simple: truly delicious food and bottomless filter coffee from specialty roaster Three Marks Coffee. The pancakes are fluffy, the bacon is crispy, the breakfast burrito is hearty, and the Nashville hot chicken sandwich is tongue-numbingly good. Too many brunch spots in Barcelona rely on Instagram-worthy visuals to compensate for mediocre flavors and cookery, but Gringa All Day is the real deal. Expect a line on the weekends, but the wait is worth it.

It’s rare in Barcelona to see a classic trompo slowly, perfectly charring pork meat, but Xuba Tacos takes its tacos al pastor very seriously. The restaurant lovingly layers spiced pork on the spit, shaves it into thin slices, and serves it on supple, handmade blue corn tortillas. Alongside classics like al pastor and carne asada, there are also modern creations, like black beer-batter sea bass tacos with crispy leeks and sauteed lobster tail tacos with cilantro emulsion. Keep an eye out for seasonal specials, like wild mushroom and roasted chestnut tacos, and don’t miss the micheladas.

An homage to the beloved tortilla (Spanish omelet), Los Tortillez gives off nostalgic 1980s airs — with red banquettes, popcorn stucco walls, retro crockery, and a tile-clad bar straight out of one of Pedro Almodóvar’s cult classics — but it’s actually a relatively recent addition to the beautified, newly pedestrianized Consell de Cent. First opened in late 2022, the restaurant has quickly become a point of reference in the city for some of the best al momento Spanish omelets. The menu includes 16 different, personal-sized tortilla variations; classic ingredients like chorizo and manchego rub shoulders with truffles, pesto, Thai curry, cilantro, bacon, and jalapenos. Round out your meal with some tapas like tender sauteed cod cheek pil pil, pork ribs braised in vermouth, and shrimp al ajillo swimming in a bath of blistering hot olive oil and sizzling garlic.

With no signage or any identifying information visible from the street, the small Suru Bar makes meals in its intimate space feel like serendipity. A row of counter seating gives diners a view into the open kitchen, where chefs prepare star dishes like grilled chicken skin skewers with chilled shrimp tartar, vibrant spring peas with smoked chorizo and cured egg yolks, and a brochette of crunchy pig ear with charred chicken gizzard and tender squid. The cuisine is seasonal, thanks to the prime location just across the street from the famous Ninot market, and the dishes range from yakitori on a traditional Japanese grill to explorations of all things offal. Meals are rounded out with an extensive selection of local and international wines.

The location of Flax and Kale just off the Pasaje de las Manufacturas is by far the brand’s best. It’s open all day, great for a weekend brunch, and the menu is distinct from the other locations, boasting the company’s astonishingly good wood-fired vegan pizzas (that also happen to be gluten-free). Chef Teresa Carles has been pioneering “flexitarian” food in Barcelona since 2014, and other highlights of her menu include bao stuffed with jackfruit “pulled pork,” house-made cilantro jalapeno kombucha, and vegan scrambles made with ackee. There are also some fish dishes, like miso-glazed Spanish mackerel with hibiscus dashi and yellowfin tuna bibimbap for those craving some extra omega-3s.

In front is a shop and wine bar called Can Cisa, and in the back you’ll find this full-service, wine-centric restaurant from twin Venetian chefs Max and Stefano Colombo. The menu combines Italian and Catalan cuisines, with an array of salty, sweet, rich, and acidic small plates, ranging from grilled octopus with pickles and beet puree to smoked sardines with apple relish. These aren’t your average tapas. All of the wine is natural, and many bottles are also biodynamic and organic. The well-trained waiters can guide any diner — from a wine novice to seasoned connoisseur — to a new, enlightened pairing for a meal.

Dating back to the 1920s and brimming with character, from the tiled walls and vintage wine bottle collection to the boisterous crowds and taciturn barmen, El Xampanyet is well known with both locals and tourists as an excellent place for an aperitivo. It’s ideal for a glass of cava, some house­-cured salted anchovies, an assortment of conservas, and a sample of whatever hot dishes are on the day’s menu. Squeeze in the door and prepare for standing room only.

Asturias and Catalunya are starkly different in culture and landscape, but at El Chigre 1769, the two cuisines exist in sumptuous harmony. Part vermuteria (vermouth bar), part sidreria (cider bar), El Chigre is housed in an ancient stone building from 1769 and offers products of Asturian fame — from spanking-fresh Atlantic shellfish to cave-aged cabrales blue cheese — alongside beloved Catalan dishes like esqueixada (chilled bacalao salad) and charcoal-roasted Pyrenees pork knuckle for two. When merriment ensues and your cider misses the glass (as it’s known to do), not to fear; the floor is blanketed with sawdust, in classic fashion, to soak up every errant drop.

Plump pork meatballs braised in tomato sauce, creamy stracciatella cheese, grilled zucchini, and a dusting of grated ricotta salata come together in one of the newest sandwiches on the menu at Compà, a panini shop dedicated to the flavors of Calabria. In addition to the original location a few streets over from the Barceloneta beach, owner Vittorio Cicero has recently expanded with a new shop in the uptown neighborhood of Gràcia, giving the city two chances to try his irresistible creations like mortadella with burrata and pistachio pesto or Calabrese lardo with spicy ‘nduja spread, smoked provolone, and roasted potatoes. Choose from nearly a dozen sandwiches including rotating specials, all served on 48-hour slow-fermented focaccia, pressed and piping hot. For an extra kick, ask to add the bomba Calabrese chile relish. There are a few tables, but the sandwiches are meant as street food, so get yours to-go and head to the beach or the nearest plaza. Just don’t forget the napkins.

One of the oldest restaurants in the beachside neighborhood of La Barceloneta, this is the birthplace of the famous “bomba de la Barceloneta,” a mouth­watering fried potato croquette stuffed with savory ground beef and topped with aioli and hot sauce, which now appears on menus all over the city. In addition to the bombas, try the calamars a la planxa (grilled squid) and grilled sardines (in summer). If you have a taste for offal, add a plate of cap i pota, an old-­school Catalan stew of tripe, veal trotters, and veal head in tomato.

A longtime favorite for a mix of modern and classic tapas, Bar Cañete is a quintessential Barcelona dining experience. Tables in the bustling dining room can be reserved for groups of four or more, but otherwise it’s first come, first serve. The best seating is along the bar at the gleaming open kitchen, where diners get up-close views of chefs at work and white-jacketed servers darting back and forth with bottles of cava and artful plates of hand-cut jamón. The menu of tapas and larger plates changes with the seasons, but don’t miss house specialties like giant red prawns that arrive daily from the docks, sea anemones with cured Iberian pork belly, and runny potato omelets.

Suculent isn’t defined by one genre of cuisine, but packs its tasting and a la carte menus with as many delicious dishes as possible. It’s a favorite among chefs for nose-to-tail cooking and fine dining makeovers of grandma’s Catalan comfort food (with influences from Asia and Latin America). Dishes change with the seasons, but don’t miss mainstays such as the beets with beurre blanc and smoked eel, the royal custard of porcini mushrooms with sea urchin, and the braised hare canelon with foie gras and Codium seaweed.

Found on the restaurant-­rich street of Carrer del Parlament, this classic­-meets-­modern bodega stands out in the Sant Antoni neighborhood. Enjoy a glass of wine from the shop’s old barrels, which the business also sells “a granel” (by the liter), vermouth, and various craft beers; snack on tapas and Catalan dishes; or just browse the gourmet shop. There is a little something wonderful here for everyone.

The creation of chef Victor Ródenas and brothers Ignasi and Marc García, this youthful take on a simple Catalan casa de menjars (house of food) combines the best parts of a traditional vermouth bar with the refined, seasonal Catalan cooking of a fine dining veteran. The lively yet casual atmosphere is the perfect place to enjoy the varied dishes: confit artichokes with spring peas, sunchoke puree, and romesco, escabeche oyster shooters with chicken jus, beef tendon stew with fried hake and pickled chile peppers, and mini paella with shrimp tartare and pig trotter carpaccio. This is a gathering place for neighborhood regulars first and foremost.

Tickets was one of the most sought-after reservations in Barcelona, treating diners to the style of Barcelona’s old theater district in its heyday. The restaurant’s closing made way for Teatro Kitchen Bar, a reimagined take on the same theme. The average cost per diner at Teatro is a third of what it was at Tickets, making the experience much more accessible while still offering up creative tapas cooked by a team with Michelin dining pedigrees. Teatro Kitchen is the main event, but there’s also Backstage, an adjoining cocktail bar that’s the perfect place to wrap up your night.

A Japanese Mediterranean izakaya tavern, Alapar is located in the space previously inhabited by the Michelin-starred Pakta, where Jaume Marambio was head chef. After Pakta closed, Marambio joined together with partner Vicky Maccarone in early 2022 to revive the space, bringing a new vision of a casual but refined take on Japanese cuisine to the location. Marambio prepares the best seasonal products from the Mediterranean, treating them with subtlety and simplicity. Raw, pickled, marinated, grilled, and stewed preparations showcase the harmony between the flavor profiles of Japan and Catalunya.

Tiberi Bar was born from the Tiberi Club, a popular organizer for creative events and pop-ups that fuse eating and art. Tucked away on a quiet street in Poble Sec, the minimalist, airy interior, with high ceilings and plenty of windows, is the perfect scene for a rotating roster of colorful sharing plates inspired by Catalan traditions and the flavors of the Mediterranean, paired with unique natural wines from small local producers. Duck terrine with pistachios, crunchy polenta with sage, smoked sardine with sour cream and whole grain mustard, and a pork confit sandwich with red cabbage play upon well-worn local staples with surprising flavors.