By Adam Turner
An insiders guide to three great restaurants in Barcelona
Barcelona has an abundance of restaurants, ranging from imitation tapas restaurants to charming, low-cost burger joints and South American steak houses. Locating the good restaurants is difficult and often time-consuming. This quick-fire guide should steer you towards some of Barcelona’s best and most affordable restaurant and is written by an insider; without the use of Trip Advisor.
Pepa Tomate
Situated in the bohemian Gracia region of Barcelona, which until the 19th Century was an independent town, is Pepa Tomate, a delicious Catalan tapas restaurant. On appearance Pepa Tomate is far from an aesthetic delight, but it’s what lies inside is what really counts.
Its menu boasts a range of traditional dishes with a modern twist – from honey-soaked spinach parcels to fresh squid and mixed beans. The restaurants butifarra – a herby Catalan sausage – is one of the best in Barcelona. And all Pepa Tomate’s offerings are available for a very reasonable price.
Two beers and a selection of two or three generously sized tapas dishes will leave you with change from a 50 euro note – a rarity in Barcelona. Pepe Tomate is friendly, atmospheric and well worth a visit.
8/10
Address: Plaça Revolució De Setembre De 1868, 17, 08012 Barcelona, Spain
Contact: +34 932 10 46 98
Opening times: Mon-Fri 9am-1am; Sat, Sun 11am-1am
Cuisine: Catalan/tapas
Chen Ji
Renowned by locals and settlers from overseas as being the number one Chinese in Barcelona, Chen Ji is an authentic, practical and inexpensive Chinese restaurant. Located near Barcelona Nord Bus Station, just a few feet away from the Arc De Triumph, it offers a different dining option. Chen Ji is, again, not the most attractive place, and you’d be unlikely to stop if passing by, but its food will certainly have you return.
Its menu is huge and you’d be hard-pressed to find anything on there for over ten euro, but that’s not to say it isn’t quality. The veal in oyster sauce is exquisite and the pork dumplings are tremendously moreish. The rice selection is plentiful and MSG is almost definitely absent from its dishes.
A shared dumping starter, main meal with a side of rice and couple of beers will cost no more than twenty euro per person. Barcelona’s number one Chinese restaurant.
9/10
Address: Carrer d’Alí Bei, 65, 08013 Barcelona, Spain
Contact: +34 932 47 68 31
Opening times: Daily – 9am- midnight
Cuisine: Chinese
Iguazu
If you’re looking for something to fill your empty stomach after a long day at the beach, look no further than Iguazu. Tucked away around the corner from Barceloneta’s most formidable tourist traps sits this wonderful Argentinean steak house.
Iguazu is rather inconspicuous from outside, looking like a very modern South American diner, but is definitely worth a visit; its meat is mouth-watering and plentiful. Succulent chicken, tender beef steak and creamy potatoes make up a menu crowded with pure indulgence food of the highest order, and all for a snippet of what you’d pay in London.
A mixed grill for two costs just over twelve euro per person and a glass of house red or small beer under 2 euros. Ridiculously cheap, outrageously tasty and the best steak house in Barcelona by a long way.
10/10
Address: Calle Almirante Cervera Num. 4, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Contact: +34 632 4881
Opening times: Daily – 11am – late
Cuisine: Argentinean
