Take a breath and step off the street and into this green oasis, the ultimate find in El Raval. A gravel-filled courtyard is shaded by ancient trees surrounding a water feature that looks like a large meteor covered in green moss, and the soundtrack is wood pigeons serenading each other under the trickling fountain. And that’s just one of the beguiling spaces here. After marveling at the ambience, grab a coffee and a bikini sandwich, a popular quick snack of ham and cheese on toasted, square white bread. They also do drinks in the evening.

Barcelona only discovered brunch within the last decade. Now, a number of places are vying to be the top spot. Caravelle was one of the first and maintains its elite status because the Australian chef-owner, Zim Sutton, insists on making his own sauces, pickles, and beers. Tacos, smoked ribs, and burgers make an appearance from lunchtime onward.

When you want a break from Spanish and Catalan fare, try a burger joint with a good pulled-pork sandwich. They care about sourcing and making things from scratch, hence their “slow street food” ethos. The fries with cheese and bacon might make you forget all about your burger; it’s hard to stop picking at them. Good craft beer selection, too.

The area’s lodestar is La Boqueria, justifiably renowned for the variety, quality, and abundance of its products, as well as some top bars to eat in among the stalls. It’s accordingly packed, but there are some good hacks for getting the most out of a trip. Go early in the morning to avoid the tourists, or approach it from the back to find the most interesting stands. A telltale sign that this is still a locals’ market are the netted bags of snails sold at poultry stalls.

 One to try in the Boqueria, El Quim is at the heart of it all, identifiable by its wrap-around yellow slates at the top of the stall and fried egg logo. Quim has all the classics and some specials like chipirones (small squid) with a fried egg or saffron milk cap mushrooms that bleed blue in season, quickly seared with jamón crumbs. When everything was shut down during Spain’s brutal first COVID-19 wave, Quim Márquez was one of the chefs who stepped up to cook for Barcelona residents who needed a meal — that’s reason enough to pull up a stool. 

Bar Cañete, opened and run by Manolo and Mari from Sevilla, serves the most-refined tapas you will ever eat, cooked with precision in the open kitchen. Waiters in stiff, high-collared white jackets serve from behind the large bar. Dishes are an education in the best of Catalan produce, like peas from Maresme with blood sausage, or clams so fresh they spit water at each other in the refrigerated display. Though the bar is the best seat in the house, this is fine dining food.

A Japanese restaurant with a robata as its focus pairs excellent local products such as vibrant red shrimp from Palamós encased in coarse salt with a lick of heat from the grill. The tapas format works well here. The best place to sit is at the bar, looking into the kitchen or across from other diners. Order a few dishes to start, and then let yourself be guided by what you see being cooked in the kitchen, although the eggplant with miso shouldn’t be missed.

This cafe is two-thirds glass, all the better to look out onto the quiet Placeta de Manuel Ribé. Inside, there is a constant play of light and shadow between the abundant plants and the sun streaming in. Cafe tables paired with iconic bentwood chairs make the whole affair feel Parisian. The aesthetic carries into the menu, which is filled with food in the Ottolenghi mold, like eggplant drizzled with tahini and scattered pomegranate, or a whole head of roasted, spiced cauliflower.

This simple, old-fashioned restaurant inside the Santa Caterina market in nearby La Ribera appeals to locals for its well-priced, high-quality Catalan classics. The ceramic trays displaying cooked snails or white beans and pork sausages are indicative of what’s on offer: hearty fare, particularly stews like cap i pota, a house specialty of beef head and feet cooked long and slow. Breakfast here is the best as they specialize in the local Catalan “esmorzar de forquilla,” literally a breakfast you have to eat with a fork, like beans with sausages. Also for breakfast, try one of their many tortilla francesas (fried potato omelets) served on bread. 

A Catalan market restaurant that liberally uses French cooking techniques from a Venezuelan chef who’s done the rounds at some of the best kitchens in Barcelona. The food is elegant and well thought out. For example, a rice dish with botifarra comes with a shallow layer of rice so that there is abundant “socarrat,” the much-coveted crispy rice that forms around the edges of the pan.

A favorite of locals and visitors. In front, the wine bar Can Cisa emphasizes natural wines. In the back, Bar Brutal opens in the afternoons and evenings with a sharing-plate menu that uses lots of fish and local produce. Here you’ll find edgy preparations like the tuna heart with beetroot and raspberry, as well as familiar dishes like monkfish paired with white asparagus, a delicacy in these parts. 

Tapas with a twist: Think shaved mushrooms with wasabi sauce and strawberries next to thumb-length croquetes. The four (yes, four) sommeliers here have a particular interest in natural and biodynamic wines and have put together a selection of the ones they love most. One of them, Sergi Ruiz, was the winner of the local Nas d’Or (Golden Nose) prize in 2014.

Perpetually busy, this old-timer bar has been going for almost a century. Some dishes are straightforward, ingredient-first affairs like razor clams with olive oil and pepper. Others, like the fried eggplant with goat cheese and honey, are unexpected but successful.

A collaboration between Cafés El Magnífico and Canal, a high-end patisserie. Their croissant won the prize for best butter croissant of 2020, while the high-backed banquette and that Tiffany shade of turquoise will have you lingering over your coffee. 

The Sans family has coffee in their blood. Three generations have roasted single-origin beans since 1919, long before mainstream coffee culture was a thing They now offer all the newest brewing techniques; when ordering, they’ll ask you to specify your method and grind accordingly. When father Salvador and daughter Claudia are not in the shop, they are either visiting plantations or judging cupping competitions around the world.

Recently decamped to Barcelona from Buenos Aires, where it was always on the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurant list, Proper is an instant Old City staple. The kitchen and dining space are one, with a self-built wood-fired oven as the focal point. As you might expect from a kitchen run by Argentinians, meat is the star here, but vegetables charred into submission are equally good. Whatever you order, you must start with the sourdough and end with the dulce de leche flan — which, for a spell, was the most Instagrammed dessert in Barcelona. 

Facing the long nave of the Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar, this place specializes in both Catalan food and that of the Northern Spanish region of Asturias. Try cider poured from a height to aerate the drink, or simmered with chopped-up chorizo.

All the classics are present here, like croquetes, ensaladilla rusa (potato salad), and Padron peppers. Alongside these, the menu is a celebration of well-made charcuterie and cheese. Rice dishes, like the one with botifarra sausage and trompetes de la mort (literally “trumpets of death,” or black chanterelles), are excellent.

Across from what was formerly Barcelona’s main fruit-and-vegetable market, these digs were once a fruit warehouse. These days, Llamber is a large, comfortable restaurant, with fair prices that allow for plenty of flair: Roasted mushrooms are served on a ceramic log to look like they are growing on it, while a vegetarian dish of black rice studded with tiny vegetables looks like a miniature garden.