Third time’s a charm!!! We found ourselves back in Barcelona for T’s annual summer work conference. This time we stayed in a new neighborhood and tried out some new places, but also went back to some of our favorites. In this post you will find some of our new recommendations ! Previous posts can be found HERE and HERE.
Accommodations:
NH Collection Barcelona Gran Hotel
Located in the Eixample district of Barcelona, HN Collection Barcelona Gran Hotel is a newly renovated modern hotel located on Rambla de Catalunya which is home to restaurants, shops and boutiques. Its also a street away from Passeig de Gràcia, the city’s nicest shopping street. In addition to the fantastic location, the hotel has a really cool rooftop bar and pool which we spent many afternoons enjoying after a day of work or exploring. If you are looking for a hotel in this area we would recommend it! (Additional recommendation would be Hotel Pultizer – see review below)
Play:
Hotel Pultizer
Even though it’s not the same Hotel Pultizer as the one in Amsterdam, it still is a swanky, hip place we would highly suggest visiting. Hotel Pultizer is a boutique hotel located in the heart of Barcelona (near Plaza Catalunya). As you step foot in the main entrance of the hotel you are greeted by friendly staff in a modern, cozy, rich space that is inspired by different parts of the globe. Our main purpose of our visit was the rooftop bar. We struck gold !! It was a happening place with many locals of all different ages and few visitors like us. A DJ was spinning and the aperol spritz were flowing. It was a great place for our first stop in Barcelona ! Highly recommend checking this rooftop bar out!
Paradisco
A speak-easy bar! The entrance of Paradisco is in a pastrami sandwich shop through a faux wall that looked like a refrigerator. The cocktails are creative and served in a unique drinking mechanism. (ie – a trojan horse was the “cup” for one of the cocktails.) They elevated the art of the “craft” cocktail to a new and innovative piece of art. It’s a great place to grab a cocktail with friends if there isn’t a line. Be sure to check this place our if you are in El Born!
Eat:
Bar Cañete
We have been waiting to try Bar Cañete, but haven’t had a chance to check it out during our previous visits. We went there night #1 and set the bar high for the rest of the trip! It was a small, bustling restaurant with friendly staff. We enjoyed a glass of vino blanco while we waited for two bar seats to open up. Sitting at the bar watching the chefs cook made for a fun environment. We took a little while to examine the menu and looked around to see what everyone else was enjoying! The waiter made his recommendations and we took them. Even the vino tinto (red wine). Favorite wine of the trip…no idea what it was, but it was one of the best wines we have tasted. Slightly chilled – oh sooo good! For food, we ordered the padron peppers, lobster croquetas, meatball and the carne. PHENONIMAL! The croquetas and the meatball were our favorite dishes we ordered. We’d definitely order it again. Bar Cañete serves fish and seafood fresh from the Catalan markets and uses local vegetables that are always in season. A MUST try when you are in Barcelona.
El Nacional BCN
El National is the first restaurant in Barcelona with different areas where you can try traditional recipes from around the Iberian Peninsula, prepared with high quality ingredients. We went here twice since it was close to our hotel. Literally a 5 minute walk – maybe 7 pending the crossing signal timing! The first time we went for aperitivo. We sat at the center bar and enjoyed some tapas – charcuterie and pan con tomate and of course some vino blanco! Next time we dined here was for dinner. We decided on La Llotja which features a distinctive seafood. Our order: salad with seasonal tomato, spring onion and smoked eel, paella and sea-bream (baked in Ibiza cooking salt). We were with a group – so no it wasn’t all for us! What a delight everything was. Favorite fish had to be the seabream….what a presentation it was to watch the waitress chisel at the salt to expose the baked fish. The fish was NOT salty at all. Highly recommend trying this! (Sorry didn’t get a photo of the seabream and regretting it!) If you don’t like seabream, be sure to check out the fish counter…they have a variety of fish to choose from. John Dory too – a fan favorite of ours while in the Mediterranean.
Baluard
If you want fresh bread or a bocadillo (sandwich) on your way to the beach or just because – you have to go to Baluard. It’s a small bakery that specializes in bread! Locals travel here to get their daily supply of bread and so did we! They have coffee and pastries as well, but we didn’t get a chance to try those. The bocadillo was the perfect snack for the playa and went well with our vino blanco! There is also a location in Eixample which was closer to our hotel. Stopped here on the way back from La Sagrada Familia. Its located in Hotel Praktik Bakery which is a design hotel with the bakery inside! You can check-in while watching the bakers make delicious pastries, breads, cookies and pizza. Or if you just wanted too enjoy something sweet – order at the counter and sit in the community space to enjoy! A hotel that is part of a bakery – BOOK US A ROOM!
La Roseta
We stumbled upon this café while walking to the beach. Baluard was closed, but luckily we found La Roseta to grab a bocadillo. We ordered the avocado, tomato and spinach sandwich. They toasted the bread for us which seemed like a good idea, but it made the bread hard. Outside of that, the ingredients they used were fresh and had great flavor! The café was really cute and the staff was friendly. Would suggest coming here for coffee and a pastry next time. That’s what most people were getting!
As you can see we had a wonderful time eating our way through Barcelona for the short-time we were there!
Cheers,
T.W.O. 