We are turning the page of the time when we were desperately looking for a terrace to relieve that voracious appetite for socializing. We have never liked outdoor tables so much; even if they were bad fixes in corners barricaded with yellow concrete blocks. Today we do not talk about those balances to take restaurants to the streets in a city that needed to recover the joy of eating or dining out from home. If not, Barcelona offers a wide range of pleasant terraces with an interesting gastronomic proposal.
Classic and more innovative, places at street level or those that await us when we cross the door of a place that houses a quiet garden or a terrace. Of spaces that require climbing a mound or going up to the top floor and where the views, but also the food, justify the visit.
We start by moving to one of the most beautiful and hidden squares in the city despite being in the heart of Gòtic: Sant Felip Neri. Watching the evening fall while we have an early dinner at A Restaurant, run by Alain Guiard at the Neri hotel (Sant Sever, 5), is a delight. The chef at La Mundana (a restaurant in Sants run by his partner, Marc Martín) signs both the menu offered in the indoor dining room and on the quiet terrace.
In Ciutat Vella, subtly separated from the sidewalk and next to a small garden, we have one of the terraces at street level with one of the most exquisite haute cuisine in the city: that of Dos Palillos (Elisabets, 12) by Albert Raurich and Tamae Imachi. On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of their restaurant, they have prepared a retrospective menu with some of the dishes that mark their career. From octopus shabu shabu to seaweed sunomono, sea urchin and ham yuba or green pea curry.
From the look at Asia from our coast, to the simple tapas in a central corner of the Eixample that is occupied by the Alegría bar (Comte Borrell, 133) with a slogan: “Joy every day since 1899.” A historic one, in short, that in 2019 passed into the hands of Tomás Abellán, who warned that he was not planning to offer a groundbreaking proposal, but rather to maintain the spirit of vermouth, tapas and simple dishes, which is what the tiny kitchen offers. It allows.
You have to go to Sant Gervasi to reach Monocrom (Plaza Cardona, 4), where the brothers Janina and Xavier Rustia welcome their clientele both in the indoor dining room and at the tables they occupy in one of the corners of the square. Good place to enjoy interesting dishes (macaroni is a classic, like sweetbreads or cap i pota). And a careful selection of natural wines.
At L’Artesana (Sant Joan de Malta, 150), run by three partners, Héctor Barbero, Pau Pons and Romina Reyes, the dining room is so small that practically everything happens on a terrace that has attracted a very large clientele from Poblenou and from other areas of the city. The name pays tribute to a cooperative founded in 1876 and disappeared more than two decades ago. But also the artisan concept that fits perfectly with home-made cuisine without great pretensions and at popular prices.
There are terraces that await us sheltered inside the premises. One of them, with views of Port Vell and from which you can almost touch the water, appears in all its amplitude after crossing the Vraba dining room (Moll d’Espanya del Port Vell, s/n), the restaurant that opened Albert Ventura (Coure) a few months ago next to the America’s Cup museum. His great friend Jordi Vilà (who runs another dining room with a garden in Sarrià, Vivanda) helps him create the menu. It has sections so diverse that it allows you to have lunch or dinner based on simple snacks, share rice, eat sushi or enjoy fish and seafood with minimal intervention, but also stews and other preparations in which we identify the style of these two greats. chefs.
In the Les Corts neighborhood, overlooking the parish of Santa Maria del Remei, is the Fragments Cafè (Plaza de la Concòrdia, 12), a very pleasant place both for lunch or dinner inside and for those who prefer to walk through the dining room and Go to the interior terrace. Its owners, Ricardo Feriche and Juliet Pomés Leiz, take care of every detail to make the space where they cook cozy, in tune with the tastes of the couple, chef Salvador Gálvez.
If we are looking for classics with a marked personality and one of the most beautiful interior gardens in the city, we must go to the Sarrià neighborhood to enjoy the impeccable cuisine of Isidre Soler and the dining room service run by his partner, Reyes Lizán, in the Tram Tram (Major de Sarrià, 121).
Also in the upper area, in this case in Tres Torres, Adobo/Adobar has its interior garden, where the name of chef Enrique Valentí is also a guarantee of good cuisine. The space that Acontraluz once occupied was converted by Valentí into a dining room open to the garden and a glazed terrace with a somewhat more informal offering.
Some of these discovered spaces are found in hotel kitchens. If that is the idea, and we are looking for a bit of peace in the heart of the city, Jardín del Alma (Mallorca, 271) offers a menu based on quality products, excellent vegetables, and good service.
The Roig Robí (Sèneca, 20) has already been in business for more than 40 years. And that interior garden that was the focus of attraction for those who plotted the Olympic Barcelona, ??continues to be the focus of meetings at noon, when its rice dishes triumph, and acquires a more intimate atmosphere at night. Joan Crosas maintains the spirit of the house founded by his mother, Mercè Navarro, who died a year ago.
Whoever seeks height expects good views. Whether on a hill in the city or on top of a hotel, the offer is wide, and must be up to standard. More and more Barcelona hotels offer some snacks and drinks.
Azul Rooftop Barcelona (Ocean, Ático, Paseo Joan de Borbó, 101, floor 8) is the bet of Caelis chef, Romain Fornell. The enormous space that the Blue Spot once occupied is now the most successful restaurant with complete views of Barcelona. The gastronomic proposal is extensive and the fish – with splendid pieces – is essential. There is also drinking and music.
More than a decade after its famous opening and after changing chefs several times, going up to the foot of Montjuïc to enjoy a rice at Terraza Martínez (Miramar road, 38) is now a classic. They also grill and offer cocktails.
Noxe (Plaza Rosa dels Vents, 1) is the Japanese cuisine restaurant that opened last fall on the 26th floor of the W hotel. Views of the sea and the city and a menu that includes everything from sushi to tempuras, uramaki or a Japanese sandwich with Galician blonde sirloin with miso. The cocktails are also Asian.
