English
Wanna know the top 5 tapas places in Barcelona? I just wanted to share my opinion and point of view. I don’t have an infinite budget to try every bar in town, but I think that after spending my whole life in the city I’m able to have a reasonable opinion. Here’s my personal selection.
5.) El Colmado
In fifth position is a tiny place at the crossing of Carrer Provença and Carrer Enric Granados. They bring their vermut (sweet wine) from Reus, the town of Antoni Gaudí. The place has a beautiful terrace in Carrer Enric Granados, one of the most awesome streets in L’Eixample. I tasted really good olives there (from Andalucia and Greece, but also from Les Garrigues, a shire in Catalonia which is said to grow the finest olives in the world) and also delicious peppers with spicy tunna.
4.) Gata Mala
Let me warn you! This place perhaps doesn’t deserve to be in Barcelona’s Top 5 tapas places, but true tapas were once served for free with your beer (caña) or with your wine. Actually tapa, means cover and they were meant to be placed on the top of you glass or cup. Nowadays, things have changed and tapas are payed for, but there are still places like Gata Mala (at Carrer Rabasa 37) that offer you a good free tapa with every beer you order. Of course their tapa (sometimes meat based) can’t be compared to the ones you pay for, but taking into account they are free, the quality is really high. Long live free tapas!
3.) El Xampanyet
Our next stop is in front of Picasso museum (at Carrer Montcada 22). The most expensive tapas places may be better than this, but we like the tapas and we like El Xampanyet: with history, personality, and the company of simple and great wines, vermuts and food. This is the place that, when I started to go out with my friends showed me that anchovies and fried squid are the most delicious things you can get from the sea.
2.) Bar Mundial
It’s name says it all: world class bar. They say their seafood is a must but I also enjoyed especially their Padrón peppers (tiny green peppers where only some of them are spicy), not burned, but not raw. It only has one problem: people know what they can find here and its always full… Find it by the crowd of people at Plaça Sant Agustí Vell 1. Some say its loosing it’s soul because it has been open since 1925. Not in my opinion. You’ll have to try it to see for yourself!
1.) La Xampanyeria
No discussion here. It is so good that it fits the three tapa bar rules we give our guests to make a good choice. La Xampanyeria holds the number one position in our Barcelona Top 5 tapas places because it is B.C.N. It is Busy, always full of people, people are always shouting and the rhythm of the waiters is frantic and Non-touristic. We call this place La Xampanyeria because it’s real name is hidden inside the bar. There’s no sign outside to let you know that, at Carrer Reina Isabel 6, Can Paixano rules the tapa and wine world from Barcelona. Now you know our Top 5 tapas places in Barcelona. just remember to share with us the places you’ve discovered while wandering around Barcelona.
