Travel

Tony Clayton-Lea enjoys many tapas in a city renowned for good eating.

Brunch in Barcelona

In barcelona it doesn’t seem as if eating – like life itself – ever stops. From the moment you arrive to the time of departure, food is not so much a talking point as merely something to do with your mouth when you’re not rabbiting on about Gaudi-this or Dali-that.

Everywhere in Spain’s avantgarde capital hinges on eating, munching, lunching, brunching, snacking, sipping and nibbling. Whether you’re in the new part of the city or in the old quarter, there are just far too many restaurants, cafés and bars to choose from. If you’re in Barcelona, you’ll always be brunching, and you’ll always be brunching because like everyone else who visits the city you’ll stay up late and sleep in late.

At the time of our visit, the sun was gearing up to split the concrete pavements, which means that the streets were full of al fresco diners - some of whom were still in the process of waking up – taking shaded refuge under immense umbrellas. The first thing that you notice about the search for brunch here is that no matter what your budget is you can find something to match it.

Take, for example, Café Zurich. Located at the top end of Las Ramblas, amid the shopping malls and open spaces of the large Plaça Catalyuna, this long established eatery has the twin benefits of being in one of the prime spots of Barcelona. It mightn’t look very appealing from the outside – indeed, it might even look too touristy for you, but once you sit down you’re looked after by a team of waiters eager to make sure you won’t go hungry.

Should you have too much to eat for brunch and think it a sin to leave what’s left on your plate, all you have to do is catch a waiter’s eye and he will bring over a strip of tin foil so that you can wrap the leftovers and use them in an hour or two when the hunger pangs start again. If, through a small window, you’d rather watch various worlds go by along a narrow street in the old town, then a visit to 4Gats restaurant is a risk-free option.

Totally unassuming from the outside, the entrance room leads into another, rather nicer room which in turn leads into the restaurant’s crowning glory – a space commandeered by a narrow gallery area that is accessed by a narrow staircase. If the view over the fin de siècle room, with its sated audience and its fêted piano player, is instructive then the food is simply amazing.

If you’re particularly hungry but also weight conscious, then we’d advise the desserts at this restaurant as we have it on good authority that said delicacies are ‘a woman’s dream’ – so light are they that you feel as if you’re eating nothing.

And yet we didn’t come to Barcelona to feel as if we were eating nothing (what’s the point in that?), which is why over the next couple of days we make a beeline to some tapas bars. Here’s a tip, though: don’t go near tapas bars actually on Las Ramblas. By and large, these are second rate and too touristy to bother with. Try instead either the off-Ramblas routes or beyond Plaça Catalyuna to Passeig de Gràcia. In the latter, make a visit to Tapa Tapa, whose specials include black squid, octopus, snails and (yum or yuck, depending on taste) fried pig snout. One of the best off-Ramblas places we discovered was Irati; this bar had a large selection of pintxos (Basque tapas) that we washed down with locally brewed cider and – purely for research purposes, you understand – Lemon Damm, the kind of beer you don’t need to adorn with a slice of lime.

The best place for an atmospheric brunch? Well, you’d be hard pressed to beat Mercat de la Boqueria, the city’s biggest, busiest and best open food market. From fish trying to escape to fruit boxed up ready to eat, the market is a mixture of noise, odours and colours, as much Gaudi or Dali, and just as edifying.

Café Zurich
Las Ramblas, Plaça Catalyuna 1

4Gats
calle Montsio 3

Tapa Tapa
Passeig de Gràcia 44

Irati
Carre Cardenal Casañas 17

Mercat de la Boqueria
Las Ramblas 91