Archive for November, 2008

Located in the Raval, this place is the place to go if you want to listen to good music in live. Moreover they offer very different kind of concerts.

Monday: jazz concert
Tuesday: Pop/rock/blues/funk jam session
Wednesday: jazz concert
Thursday: Latin concert
Friday: Flamenco concert
Saturday: jazz, latin jazz jam session
Sunday: pop/rock/blues/ funk jam session

The place uses to be kind of crowded so I would advice you to arrive in advance. All the concerts I have been there are really great and before the concert starts, you can have a beer at the bar situated just at the entrance of the place.

The atmosphere is dynamic, overwhelming and enthusiastic. A great place to spend a good night.

Details about this spot
Jazz Sí | Bars, Music | Entrance € 5.00
Calle Requesens, 2 | El Raval (area map) | +34933290020
21:00 - 00:00 daily

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When I started living in Barcelona I was not used to the Spanish commercial schedules at all. I still think the most of the stores here should change their opening times to the new people’s way of living. I can’t help to feel that stores don’t want to sell more than they do because they’re closed just when people are off, and are walking on the streets.

However, I know a secret that could save your life the same night you come late at home. When you open the fridge and then you realize it’s empty, don’t worry! You still have a last chance to find some bread, cheese and drinks at La Perla de Sant-Gervasi.

This place is not just another bakery. You will find there many types of canned supplies, all kind of drinks, some vegetables, snacks and confectionery or even… bread! As you see this is not just a tip but a great advice. Use it wisely.

Details about this spot
La Perla | Shopping
Santjoanistes 6 | Above diagonal (area map) | +34932371930
11:30 - 00:30 daily

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La Rita is one of my very favourite lunchtime restaurants. I really enjoy taking visiting friends from the UK and the US there. To English eyes it looks very formal with white linen tablecloths and napkins, big white china plates and uniformed staff. It’s a great spot for long, chatty lunches.

For just Euro 8.70 you can enjoy a really good three-course lunch served with bread, water and wine. There’s always a good choice - for example, arroz negro (rice cooked in squid ink) as a starter followed with grilled chicken and green pepper. And there are always a few choices for vegetarians - pumpkin soup in the winter or chilled gazpacho in the summer, and lovely big salads and omelette.

The desserts here - the chocolate profiteroles for example - are very good.

The service is good - efficient and friendly. It’s very popular with local office workers so get there early to avoid the long queues. When you first arrive don’t be shy to squeeze yourself to the front of the line and let them know you need a table - often the people in front of you will be waiting for a table for six or more.

For visitors, it’s a great location, just 200 metres off the Paseo de Gracia. ¡Buen provecho!

 

Details about this spot
La Rita | Restaurants (Spanish/Catalan) | Daily menu € 8.70
C/Aragó 279 | Eixample (area map) | +34934872376
13:00 - 16:00, 20:00 - 23:30 daily

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Sssssh…maybe I shouldn’t mention it, but the Pipa Club is one of Barcelona’s best-kept secrets - a haven of calm amid the madness that can be Plaza Reial, just off Las Ramblas.

While tourists, preyed on by prowling gangs of bag-snatchers, queue interminably for a table at one of the over-priced restaurants dotted around the square, you can take yourself off for a drink in the quirky surroundings of the HQ for Barcelona’s pipe smokers’ club, discreetly tucked away in the corner.

After you’ve found the buzzer, and walked up three flights of stairs, you’ll enter a converted apartment to find the English-style ‘Sherlock Holmes’ pub, decked with portraits, film stills and posters of the great eccentric detective, and you’ll find a small cabaret-style stage and dance space, a dining-room and a pool-table room.

As you wander the linking corridors you’ll see a quirky collection of pipes in various stages of manufacture, including a pipe that once belonged to Dalí, and a collection of old tins, pots and packets of tobacco, and you’ll find a league table of local pipe smokers. Yes, pipe smokers meet here, in the members only lounge area, to charge their pipes and puff away, hoping to be the one whose bowl lasts longest and score the points that will put them at the top of the table.

But it’s not just pipe smokers who meet here - the club hosts a range of meetings and activities. There’s a regular program of jazz gigs and tango and milonga classes. The movie actor Javier Bardem has been known to call in to chill out, as do a good few quite well-known writers.

It’s a cool, friendly, comfortable atmosphere to meet up with friends for a drink, a smoke and a chat.

Details about this spot
Pipa Club | Bars, Music | Beer € 3.00
Plaza Reial 3 | El Barrio Gotico (area map) | +34933024732
Mon - Sat 18:00 - 03:00, Sun 20:00 - 01:00

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Sant Antoni is in one of Barcelona’s very Catalan (= very boring) neighborhoods. Nothing is happening over there, the streets are clean and the inhabitants are close to marriage - or pension.

But once a week, the neighborhood is waking up: Sant Antoni’s flea market calls people from all over town. All ages and nationalities come to have a look at a variety of books, DVDs, computer games, old magazines, posters…

Maybe you are collecting Claudia Schiffers first Vogue-covers, or you are just interested in how to construct of a WW 1 missile- this is your place.

Combine your snooping for old treasures with a visit of Barcelona’s goldies:

Els tres Tombs (Ronda San Antoni 11), a tapas bar located on one of Barcelona’s most noisy street corners, invites you for a drink and some delicious and typical Spanish snacks. Talking? impossible. This place is for watching and observing - one of the Barcelona’s best terraces to just shut up and gawk.

Details about this spot
Sant Antoni flea-market | Shopping
Ronda Sant Antoni | Eixample (area map)
Sun 10:00 - 13:00

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One of the most important advantages of living in Barcelona is discovering its wish of becoming a cosmopolitan city every day. I know that someday, near in the future, Barcelona will be what it could be thanks to the effort of those persons who come from other regions of the world to bring their vision, their colors and original flavors.

A Casa Portuguesa is a great example of the cultural riches you can enjoy while living here.

A Casa Portuguesa is a little place located at Barrio de Gracia that proudly offers a wonderful selection of the very often unknown culinary treasure of Portugal. It’s not really a restaurant but more of a Portuguese sampler; A place to find lost flavors and scents that can describe a beautiful heritage.

Just entering you feel you’re in a special place. You will find a good selection of wines and some other delicatessen from Portugal. Attention is polite and warm. If you’re lucky you could enjoy their well cared patisserie or confectionery with a cup of coffee or tea comfortably at one of their few tables.

If you feel yourself curious to taste the flavors from a past you never knew about, go there and try a Pastel de Belém with sugar and cinnamon topping. Don’t say later I did not talk about this place.

Nice trip!

Details about this spot
A Casa Portuguesa | Coffee & tea
Verdi 58 | Gracia (area map) | +34933683528
Tue - Wed 17:00 -22:00, Thu - Fri 17:00- 23:00

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The Turó del Putget Park is one of those beautiful green spaces this city offers to whom nature plays a very important role in any urban scene.

I consider it a lovely privilege to bethere for two important reasons. The first -most of the lazy people will like this- it is very easy to visit this park and enjoy a moment of peace. The second reason is the views of Barcelona you can enjoy once you’re there at the top of the hill this park is located. You can see almost 360º around, so it’s a great spot to understand how this city works from the Tibidabo’s Mountain to the beach.

I widely recommend you to start the visit from the highest side of the park. You will need to climb a long scale until reaching the top but I promise this tiny effort worth it. Feel free to take your photo camera with you and walk down until the main entry.

Shhh… Do you hear it? Hmmm… You don’t hear anything, right? That’s the idea, don’t you think? Go and enjoy.

Details about this spot
A Hidden Hill | Relaxing
Manacor 9 | Above diagonal (area map)
10:00 - 18:00 daily

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As you may know, the Gracia’s neighborhood is full of bars and terraces at every square you can see there. So considering that Barrio de Gracia is proportionally the district with the most of squares of Barcelona is easy to understand that the biggest squares has the most popular terraces and sometimes it’s quite hard to find a table free to sit outside.

However, there’s still a tiny and cosy square known only by just a few of us. Only a local could suggest this great tip… I’m talking about the Bar Lennon, located on Lennon’s Square.

This bar situation is the key of the place. You will find there what the other bars offer, but I promise that even a glass of water gets extra tasty and it can quench your thirst much better once you’re there. Believe me, this is a great way to enjoy the benefits of Gracia without experiencing the disadvantages from its popularity.

If you see me around do not hesitate to invite me that glass of water. I will be very glad to accept it.

Details about this spot
Bar Lennon | Bars | Beer € 2.50
John Lennon’s Square, Puig Martí 35 | Gracia (area map) | +34679566277
Tue - Sat 12:00 - 20:00

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Barcelona’s oldest cocktail bar, opened in 1933, is just a few steps off the Ramblas, a hundred metres or so down from the Canaletes fountain.

It’s a good central spot to meet up with friends after work before going on to another bar and then dinner. Nonsmokers will likely have a tough time of it here as it’s small, not well-ventilated and soon gets filled with people and smoke.

It’s a classic art deco bar with bartenders in tuxedos who will mix you a cocktail with style. There’s no menu of drinks - but the bartenders are well-practiced at serving over 60 different cocktails. If you’re undecided just ask for the cocktail of the day.

Take a look at the sketches, drawings, photos and letters on the walls here. You’ll see drawings by Miró and a photo of Kevin Costner among portraits of locally known luminaries. It’s a popular haunt for media types and politicians. I’ve often seen locally prominent politicians in here arguing a point of policy, or just gossiping, with senior journalists.

If you visit between 19:00 and 20:00 you’ll likely hear a familiar voice face from Catalan radio above the lively, loud chatter. Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart called in once when visiting the city. A cool, but smoky, spot for meeting up with friends before a night on the town.

Details about this spot
Boadas | Bars | Cocktail € 6.00
C/Tallers 1 | El Raval (area map) | +343189592
Mon - Sat 12:00 - 02:00

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Get ready. I’m going to give you some information that you won’t find anywhere else. I want to recommend to you a very special place. I’m talking about Bocí, one of these places where is really easy to find quality and great care about products and service.

What would you like to taste today? It doesn’t matter how complicated is your appetite or how demanding is your palate, Bocí knows perfectly how to satisfy your needs.

As frequent customer I know that Bocí offers much more than what I’m used to consume there. If I have a high regard for somebody I go to Bocí to find some box of chocolates to make a special gift or perhaps some delicious birthday’s cake. It’s also a great place to have a breakfast or ask for food to take away packaged carefully.

Bocí elaborates the most of the products they offer diary. Attention is polite and they take good care of every single detail to present their goods. It’s one of those places where you go and think “I don’t know where to start” because you feel tempted to ask almost everything. The price reflects its quality but I know you won’t regret to pay for it.

Enjoy.

Details about this spot
Bocí | Shopping, Coffee & tea
Vía Augusta 112 | Above diagonal (area map) | +34932371313
07:00 - 22:00 daily

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The Bonobo bar can be more than a bar if you are with the right company and also in the right mood. Everything is fine with it but I have a theory about this place: it can accelerate your feelings somehow. If you feel pretty some night and you go there you will feel prettier after some minutes. The same occurs if you feel happy or sad, so try to use this place powers wisely.

I think the key is the company you choose to go there. That could mean the difference between a great night and a hard long night. However, you could say this happens with any place, but if you go you will understand why I’m right. There’s something special operating there, something that we’re not able to perceive until is too late, so when we realize we are happy that happiness is hard to stop.

This place is located at a very quiet street of Barrio de Gracia and it’s away enough of the neighborhoods rhythm to be unaware by the most of locals, so not everyone will go there unless they already know it. Pay attention to this trick before going in: if you think your mood connect with these smiles you see from the outside feel free to get in. Something special is waiting for you behind that door.

Details about this spot
Bonobo Bar | Bars | Beer € 2.50
Santa Rosa 32 | Gracia (area map) | +34932188796
Tue - Sun 16:00 - 03:00

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Having lunch inside the Boqueria market is one of the well hidden secrets of Barcelona’s local people. You would not expect eating in a market hall, would you?
This is something you definitely have to try out, as the market in the heart of the city is actually hosting some of Barcelona’s best restaurants.

Have the freshest fish, home made pizzas or delicious tapas in one of the numerous little bars/restaurants such as El Quim, Pintxo or Antonio’s restaurant.

If you are only thirsty or would like to have a small snack you can buy a recently prepared fruit salad or a freshly squeezed juice.

Enter the market hall from the Rambla, have a stroll around the market and see the beautifully arranged fruits and vegetables until you arrive in the backside of the Boqueria. This is where the local buy there food. In the back you will also find the bars/restaurants where you can have a tasteful lunch.

Details about this spot
Boqueria | Bars, Restaurants (lunch) | Tapas at El Quim from € 3.00
Plaza de la Boqueria | El Raval (area map) | +34933182584
Mon - Sat 08:00 - 20:30

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“Tourists come in and want to know, ‘Is it a jewelry shop?’ ” Carles Mampel, the multi award-winning pastry-chef genius owner often jokes. And you’ll see why. The brightly lit, pristine interior displays edible artworks in glass cabinets.

Spurred by the deserved success of their shop and tapas bar in El Born Bubó has opened a shop in the Eixample. Situated on Calle Bruc on the corner with Calle Provenza, just off  Diagonal, Bubó sells beautiful cakes, mousses and chocolates such as you never seen or tasted before. Barcelona is home to many, many adventuresome chocolatiers but, for me, Bubó takes the biscuit.

For an unforgettable taste experience stop by for a coffee and a cake or mousse, or treat yourself, or your lover, or your mum, to a little box of exquisite chocolates. And relatively inexpensive when compared with other chocolate shops in the city. Well worth a visit.

Details about this spot
BUBÓ | Shopping, Snacks | Chocolate covered noodle lollipops from € 0.80
C/Bruc 150 | Eixample (area map) | +34934590508
Mon 15:00 - 21:00, Tue - Sat 09:30 - 21:00, Sun 09:30 - 15:00

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I will talk about one of my favourite places at Gracia but I must confess it’s not easy for me explaining why I love it so much. It’s a bar called Café Suec and they offer nothing more than what a bar usually offers. However I know this place will surprise you in a very special way.

Sometimes it’s hard to find a table at a terrace in Gracia especially on these very hot summer days. The table you want may be occupied by some people reading the largest book possible and all they ordered was a coffee maybe 2 hours ago. Accept it… They won’t leave. Never.

They could read that book twice times under the shadow of some beautiful huge tree but it seems for them the reading time becomes especially delightful if they can make 4 persons unhappy because anyone can use that table while they’re sat memorizing a dictionary. Indeed, it’s a pity for the bar’s owner too. He would prefer you as a customer for sure.

What to do? Easy! Invite the bar owner to share some beers at the Café Suec. Who knows? Maybe you can make a new friend. It’s just a bar, it’s just a beer, it’s just you. That’s the reason I recommend this place. People who goes to the Suec know what they want and what they can get there.

I can’t help to feel it as a very cozy corner, sometimes a solution, sometimes a relief too.

Details about this spot
Café Suec | Bars | Beer € 3.00
Alzina 2-4 | Gracia (area map)
Tue - Sun 18:00 - 02:30

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For those who love tea, there’s not another place like this one in Barcelona. Located in the Gotico, just behind the cathedral in the hearth of the Jewish neighbourhood, it’s the ideal place for a little break while visiting.

It’s also a good place to go when you have to study or the concentrate on something as it’s even more peaceful than a library! A good place too while raining outside: a good conversation and a good tea, there is nothing better to cheer you up.

The decoration is a mix between bohemian and oriental with a lot of coffee tables and comfortable chairs. The cups and the teapots are also very stylish. The light is subdued and the teas, prepared in a simple way are very high-quality. The music is relaxing and so are the colours.

Can be hard to find the first time you go but it’s worthy to try!

Details about this spot
Caj Chai | Coffee & tea | Tea € 3.00
Calle Sant Domenes del Call, 12 | El Barrio Gotico (area map) | +34933019592
15:00 - 22:00 daily

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This friendly little bar, about the size of a lock-up or small garage.

It’s a cute place, almost like a shrine to the Costa Brava, its walls decorated with early 1970s photos and maps, and shelves packed with canned seafood, sauces and wines.

The specialties here are draft vermut and anchovies from L’Escala, and they serve a good range of cold tapas - sea-snails, prawns, ham etc. Football fans should know that the owner is a ‘periquito’ - little parrot - a supporter of Espanyol, so it may not be the brightest thing to do to go there wearing a Barça shirt!

The bar’s bigger brother - a restaurant where you can sit down and enjoy a larger meal - also called Cala del Vermut - is just 100 meters along the street. I really like this spot, a really good place for a stop-off when en route to or from El Borne.

Details about this spot
Cala del Vermut | Bars, Snacks | Vermut € 2.00
C/Magdalenes 6 | El Barrio Gotico (area map) | +34933179623
Mon - Sat 11:00 - 16:00 & 18:00 - 23:00

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Don’t be fooled by outward appearances, Can Josep is simply one of the best restaurants in the city, serving unfussy hearty food. Josep, a lovely, big, bearded bear of a man, sources, buys and prepares all the food himself.

He’s an excellent and discerning cook - only using the freshest and best ingredients - if he’s not happy with the quality of produce on offer he won’t buy it, and the planned meal will be scrubbed from the day’s offerings.

The menu changes regularly according to seasonal availability, though often features such delights as cargols (snails), estofat (rich, thick tasty stew), espàrrec (asparagus) peus de porc (pig’s trotters) and ànec (duck). Slow food. If you can’t read Catalan and can’t speak Spanish you may struggle a bit - the staff are helpful (though do not speak English) - but the struggle will be worth it.

Just so you know, Josep is an ardent Republican, so it wouldn’t be wise to sing the praises of any kings and queens when  enjoying your meal. And you won’t find it listed anywhere - so, if you really do want to go where the locals go … Bon profit!

Details about this spot
Can Josep | Restaurants (Catalan) | main course from € 6.00
Call Roger de Flor 237 | Eixample (area map) | +34630816565
Mon - Fri 13:00 - 16:00 & 20:00 - 00:00

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My favourite cinema, Cinema Verdi in Gràcia, has two separate entrances (C/Verdi, 32 & C/Torrijos, 49), in effect it’s two cinemas, one with five screens and the other with four.

Even though it has nine screens it doesn’t feel like a multiplex, it still has the feel of an independent cinema. I used to programmed a single-screen cinema in the UK so I appreciate the effort involved in running a nine-screen cinema.

The picture and sound quality here is always very good and the seats comfortable. The cinema is a member of the Europa network so there’s always a good choice of quality films in the original language with subtitles, and free notes with every film. Every now and then they’ll screen a new film free of charge.

It’s not the place to go to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster. And, when you come out after seeing a film, you’re surrounded by dozens of really good nearby bars, cafés and restaurants where you can go with friends and swap opinions.

Details about this spot
Cines Verdi | Cinemas | Ticket € 7.00
C/Verdi 32 | Gracia (area map) | +34932387990
depends on play

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Concepción market, situated between Calle Aragón and Calle Valencia, is 120 years old - though you wouldn’t know it as it has been thoroughly modernized. As well as housing a range of excellent cheese, fish, fruit, meat, veg and deli stalls, the market also has: 3 bars; a 24 hour florists (yep - flowers 24 hours a day, 363 days of the year); a large Caprabo supermarket; an electrical appliance store (selling freezers, pcs, washing-machines etc); an underground car-park, and, very interestingly, a well-organized book-crossing point with titles in English, French and German as well as Catalan and Spanish.

If you spend more than € 10.00 at any stall you can claim a free car-park ticket. The market also hosts regular tasting sessions and cookery workshops for kids. Well worth a visit if you like good food and want to avoid the often crowded La Boqueria market on the Ramblas.

Details about this spot
Concepción market | Shopping | Free
Calle Aragó, 313-317 | Eixample (area map) | +34675693616
Mon 08:00 - 15:00, Tue - Fri 08:00 - 20:00, Sat 08:00 - 16:00

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This place great tip if you love cooking international recipes at home, but can’t seem to find some of the ingredients because they are odd here (never mind how popular they are in other latitudes). I’m talking about DeliShop, the kind of food and cooking supplies store you were looking for.

DeliShop develops an interesting culinary and commercial concept (world cooking basics), ideal for a city like Barcelona where an important proportion of its population comes from so many and different places.

What would you like to eat today? Where does that flavour comes from? Let your appetite pick up the right destination: Maybe Japan or India, China, Thailand, North or South America? If you feel curious about other cultures you should go to the DeliShop and take a look. You will make a trip around the world at a glance.

Details about this spot
DeliShop | Shopping, Art & culture
Travessera de Gracia 141 | Gracia (area map) | +34932389945
Mon - Sat 11:00 - 21:00

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There is a coarse Barcelona or at least there was a few years ago a coarse Barcelona, some places where only “bad people” were going. Without any doubt, the Cangrejo is one of the most emblematic places of this riffraff Barcelona.

Today, the clientele is mainly gay and the music is from the the 80’s, great for dancing and having a lot of fun with your friends. Music and decoration are totally kitsch making you feel in the best Pedro Almodovar’s movie. Moreover the star of the bar is Carmen de Mairena, a very famous drag-queen in Spain

There is a dinner and a very funny animation with a drag-queen every Saturday. The bar opens from 10 pm for people going there just for a drink and dancing.

The Cangrejo has been redecorated lately, losing part of his charm and character and the music, because of the neighbors, is lower but anyway it’s worthy to see this legendary place located in the heart of el Raval, next to La Rambla.

Details about this spot
El cangrejo | Bars | Entrance € 5.00
Calle de Montserrat, 9 | El Raval (area map) | +34933012978
Fri - Sat 21:00 - 03:00

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Situated uptown, you will find this nice and colorful shop that sells products from different countries in the world. You can find clothes, accessories, food (ecologic products), books (quite spirituals), arts and craft objects, music, movies, decoration objects…

It’s a good place to get lost because they have a lot of curious stuff. And once you get tired there’s a beautiful garden at the back of the store where you can sit down and have a coffee (probably from Colombia or Brazil). It’s peaceful and romantic.

Also when you buy in Olokuti you are contributing to responsible consumption and to some ethics rules.

Details about this spot
El Olokuti | Shopping, Coffee & tea
Calle Asturies, 36 | Gracia (area map) | +34932170070
11:00 - 20:00 daily (closed for lunchtime)

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I’m going to talk about one of your favourite places in Barcelona, even though probably you don’t know it yet. If you consider yourself as a “Special-Corners Hunter” and you enjoy Thai food you really have to know El Petit Bangkok. It’s a tiny cozy restaurant that can hold up just a few persons, that’s why it’s always convenient calling to make a reservation before going there.

If you live in Barcelona you know that there are a lot of places that pretend to be much more than they can really offer. This never happens with El Petit Bangkok because it’s a place without other aspirations beyond of what it actually is: A tiny Thai corner.

If you’re looking for a special way to start a remarkable night or ending a hard day I recommend this place to you. The main secret of this place is perhaps its simplicity and quality. The price is honestly fair, considering the culinary offer in this city.

If you go once, you will go twice……at least.

Details about this spot
El Petit Bangkok | Restaurants (Thai) | Diner from € 10.00
Saragossa 83 | Above diagonal (area map) | +34616185196
Tue - Sat 13:00 - 16:00 & 20:00 - 23:30

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This brewery and tapas bar is yet another great and authentic place to hang out in Barcelona.

The place is nearby the beach and very tiny but popular; it’s basically only one long bar packed with locals zipping delicious creamy and foamy home brewed beer. Ask for a “flauta” and you will also get one.

The tapas are high quality and exceptionally tasteful. Ask for “pimientos del padron” (fried green peppers), morcilla (typical sausage) and “solomillo” (juicy meat). The specialties of the house are “granjero” (toast with special filling) and “foie a la plancha” (grilled liver). The tapas differ from € 4.50 - € 15.00.

It’s fun to watch the chefs and the waiters offering a serious and efficient but also very Spanish service.

Try to avoid the “tapas-rush-hour” at around 20:00 and try to moderate you appetite. The bill might end up unexpectedly high.

Details about this spot
El vaso de oro | Bars, Restaurants (Tapas) | Tapas from € 4.50
Calle Balboa 7 | Barceloneta (area map) | +34933193098
Mon - Sun 09:00 - 00:00, Closed first week of September

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This is a typical example of a shop where you find yourself buying things you actually don’t need at all.

But when something so colorful, so exotic, and so cute crosses your way, you cannot overcome the temptation.

Inflatable plastic pandas and elephants from Japan, mini tools for all occasions from Korea, kitchen accessories from the former GDR, Chinese thermos flasks, and posters of different sexy hair styling ideas from India will brighten up you or your friends homes once you are back.

One can find more than 300 weird and surprising products from more than 20 countries on display, chosen and collected by the owners themselves a