Best Paella in Barcelona
As most of you must know, the Mediterranean has been an inspiration for the greatest chefs and consequently, the Mediterranean gastronomy has become one of the most recognized worldwide. If you are on a holiday in Barcelona or Sitges, enjoying the sun and the beaches, you’ll surely want to spoil yourself and get a good paella by sea.
We can’t tell you which one is the best paella in Barcelona, that’s something only you can decide, but what we can do is recommend some of the best restaurants with a good paella in Barcelona. If you really fancy trying some paella whilst in Barcelona, here are two very important rules:
Unspoken rules when it comes to choosing a restaurant:
- It is absolutely forbidden to eat in Las Ramblas. If you really want to spend some time watching life going by on this street, go with a Sangria and some olives, that’s it! Restaurants there are expensive and tend to serve frozen food only – and when eating paella, you deserve fresh good quality ingredients!
- If pictures of the paella are displayed on the outside of the restaurant, run. Same reason: it will probably be frozen too!
There are hundreds of restaurants that will try to sell you “authentic paella” – don’t be taken in, believe me! You will leave without truly having experienced this delicious dish. After years of experimenting, we came up with a list of the best places to eat paella in Barcelona:
Restaurants where you can eat a real paella in Barcelona
Punx
Michelin star–winning chef and restaurateur Àngel Pascual is behind this restaurant that focuses on cuisine for the people without restraints: you’ll find craft beer, tapas, and small dishes on the menu.
There are also dishes like cannelloni with free-range chicken and a potato and brie bechamel, as well as steamed mussels infused with Sichuan pepper and thyme. The set lunch is affordable and well worth a try.
Also important to the line-up is rice: four times a week the set lunch menu includes top rice dishes, which are also on the regular menu.
Some have quite a personal touch, such as the rice dish with Iberian pork rib and octopus, all grilled with ‘sofrito’ vegetable sauce, or the classic and delicious black ‘fideuá’ noodles.
Where? Edifici Imagina, Avinguda Diagonal, 177, 08018 Barcelona
La Barraca
It’s really no big deal, only that Xavier Pellicer is a gastronomic consultant to a restaurant where the chef is Rafa Valicourt. La Barraca is relatively new on the restaurant scene, having opened in 2013, and the menu boasts six rice specialties that won’t steer you wrong, including standouts with artichokes, squid, and sausage (dry, light, very tasty) or a more filling paella with market fish, or the black rice casserole. Classic Barceloneta starters include croquettes, cod fritters, and great seafood.
Where? Passeig Marítim Barceloneta, 1, 08003 Barcelona
Elche Restaurant
Andrés Iborra and Carmen Vicente opened “elche” in 1959, the name chosen in honor of the couple’s hometown.
They say that the quality of their rice dishes is thanks to visitors from Valencia, who demanded that the ones here should be as good as they are at home. The mixed paella and ‘l’arròs a banda’ are beyond compare.
Restaurant Can Solé
Portly, jovial waiters have been charming moneyed regulars for more than a hundred years at Can Solé. Over the course of time, many of these diners have added to the framed photos, sketches, and paintings that line the sky-blue walls. What continues to lure them is the freshest shellfish (share a plate of ‘chipirones’ in onion and garlic, Cantabrian anchovies or red shrimp to start) and fillets of wild turbot, lobster stews, and sticky paellas. Beware the steeply priced extras (coffee, cover).
Where? Carrer de Sant Carles, 4, 08003 Barcelona
El Suquet de l’Almirall
Quim Marquès’s touch is noticeable in the cuisine of this restaurant that’s in one of the best locations in Port Vell. In summer the terrace is one of the most coveted places in the city to sit outside, and their famous Barceloneta paella is one of the most in-demand dishes.
Any time of year it’s a great spot to linger over traditional dishes with a dash of the modern and complete tastiness.
Where? Passeig de Joan de Borbó, 65, 08003 Barcelona
Restaurant 7 Portes
At 7 Portes they do a lot of things, all of them good, but some will be remembered with a special sentiment – the starters to local family dinners, for example, including ham, anchovies and croquettes, and some amazing cod fritters that will still be tingling your taste buds between courses.
If the start of the meal is a surprise, wait until the main course arrives. Try their fantastic paella Parellada, which is exactly what more than 70 percent of the clientele order.
The delectable rice comes with monkfish, mussels, squid, lobster, minced pork, ‘botifarra’ sausage and rabbit. And all the seafood is peeled to save you the work and let you get tucked straight into the pleasure.
Where? Passeig d’Isabel II, 14, 08003 Barcelona
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I’m sure it has popped into your mind:
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