NoJennyNo: Barcelona Food Discoveries

There's a reason why Barcelona is loved by food critics all over the world. It's got the perfect combination of warm weather for plants, access to the sea, and plenty of land for animals to grow. With over 7000 restaurants in this little city, it's as close to a paradise for a food lover like myself.

This year I made an attempt to avoid my go-to spots and discover new, more casual restaurants.

Paella Bar Boqueria
Paella is originally from Valencia and considered a regional dish. But paella is viewed as a symbolic dish by non-Spaniards and many regions boast their own recipes. Here in Barcelona they add plenty of seafood and sometimes pork. I've sought out for the perfect paella throughout the trip and this year, Paella Bar in the Boqueria Market was by far the best.

Barcelona food discoveries in an attempt to try out new, casual places to eat. No dress code or big budget required!

They brought out a huge dish of paella meant for just 2 people, still crackling with boiling oil off the stove seen in the back. I attempted to pose with it by holding it.

I'd like to say that is my over-exaggerated reaction to how great this paella was, but in reality I burned my hand. LOL!

Spinach balls with honey sauce

Gazpacho

Pork and rabbit paella

Seafood paella with chorizo

Boket La Boqueria
This year there was a new addition to the market - I only noticed it due to the amazing quality and selection of the meats. Cattle raised from Galicia, Spain are in especially high demand. Sure, the Galician steak is already well known in Europe for its amazing taste and high quality (I've regularly seen them in Paris for 80-120 euros per kilo) but I haven't seen any so far in the market that was too impressive aside from the low price at around 20 euros per kilo.

Here, however, they were displayed in sterile cooler and arranged like the ones I used to see at high end Parisian and London groceries. And aged! There were even degrees of dry-aging, from 30 to 45 to even 90. They of course carried Japanese wagyu beef as well.

But when I went to go sample some meats, they told me they actually opened a restaurant only a few steps away as well. And they cook everything they have on display. Cancel all the lunch plans, I said, as I dragged my group with me into the restaurant.

Bar seating

They have a real coal grill to smoke and cook the meats. Everything is done manually; I saw them grabbing a plastic lid to fan the coal to make the flames are hot enough.

We chose the two premium aged steaks.

Watching my steaks get some tan in front of me. They even grill the plates on the same fires to keep the steak warm longer.

The finished products were not as medium-rare as I'd like, but Europeans like their steaks bloody. No butter or seasoning except a sprinkle of sea salt!

Bilbao Berria

Pintxo, pronounced pincho, is a popular way to eat in parts of Spain. It's related to tapas except they are laid out buffet-style and spiked with a long toothpick. You grab what you like and pay for it in the end by the number of sticks you have.

The social component is a strong part of this type of cuisine. You are able to walk around while eating and conversing.

The restaurant Bilbao itself is a popular chain restaurant and it may not be the best rated in Barcelona, it's got plenty of room and many locations for convenience and the food is actually pretty good. You can also grab a table to order tapas and grab some pintxos as well, something that's not allowed in a lot of the top restaurants (separate menus for tapas vs pintxo, possibly due to too much confusion).

The two floors' worth of pintxo arrangement was the most massive I've seen so far.

Some skewered sandwiches and veggies

Some of my favorite things on the tapas menu:

Shrimp in garlic oil

Eggs, chorizo, potatoes

Ham

Foie gras with layers of potatoes and cheese

Braised beef cheek

We had 4 pitchers of their sangria

Iberico ham on hot stone plate

Betlem Miscel.lania Gastronomica
...or Betlem for short, is a newly discovered tapas place by the city center. In a city where tapas was born, it's difficult to find one best restaurant. This place was cozy and semi casual with only a few tables with fast service and excellent tapas.

Ham and tomato bread

Marinated anchovies

Giant olives

Patatas bravas, Spain's answer to french fries

Fried calamari

Braised beef cheek

Omelette with mushrooms

Pork belly

Honorable mention:
Cerveceria Catalana

Ok, so this isn't exactly a new find; it's just despite all the years I've been to this place I haven't written a single review. The reason being that it's not the most impressive tapas I've had and it's become too frequently visited for me to actually write something special about it. But there's gotta be a reason why it's the only place in town with 1-2 hr wait with a whopping 8,000 reviews on Tripadvisor, right?

Three things should be noted.
1. Service is lightning fast.
2. Food is always freshly prepared.
3. Cheap. We over ordered and it still came out to be 10 euros/person.

There are literally hundreds of people milling about inside and outside the restaurant. Service is ultra quick with employees on robot-efficiency - they take the order, deliver within 5 minutes, then finally take time to say hello. Dining experience at maximum is 30 minutes.

The number of diners is the trick to why food is so fresh. I believe they continuously mass-prepare the food, no matter the order. And it's so quickly delivered out there's no time for the food to sit and grow cold.

Yes, some people swear by this place as being the #1 tapas in town, but they are often one-time tourists who have not had other truly great tapas. But it's consistently good and an experience to be had at least once.