The Trendiest Restaurants In Barcelona

Deciding where to eat in Barcelona is both wonderfully exciting while also somewhat overwhelming at times: there are just so many places to choose from. Aside from the gastronomic institutions that will seemingly always withstand the test of time, there’s a permanently evolving list of hot new spots to eat out. Here’s our pick of the trendiest restaurants in Barcelona right now.

1. Frankie Gallo Cha Cha Cha

Restaurant, Italian

By the ovens Courtesy of Frankie Gallo Cha Cha Cha

Located in El Raval, not far from Barcelona’s somewhat infamous La Rambla, Frankie Gallo Cha Cha Cha is a buzzing pizza joint whose hip décor, niche music and laid-back service wouldn’t be out of place in London’s tendy Shoreditch. Large by Barcelona standards, the restaurant serves classic and signature pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven, along with wine by the carafe and local beers. If you don’t take our word for it, Forbes has named it one of the ‘10 Coolest Places to Eat in 2018’.

2. Bistrot Levante

Bar, Restaurant, Contemporary, Middle Eastern, European

Answering the call for a modern Middle-Eastern restaurant in Barcelona, Bistrot Levante is a stylish eatery offering brunch, lunch and dinner menus packed with exotic flavours. Homemade flatbreads are served with hummus and zaatar – a blend of herbs and spices – and the baked egg dish shakshuka is a brunch-time favourite. One of a small number of new foodie spots reclaiming the Old Town – along with places like La Cometa del Pla – Bistrot Levante is just the excuse you’ve been looking for to wander through the Gothic Quarter’s ancient streets again.

3. Gresca

Restaurant, Spanish

Pork noodles with vegetables © City Foodsters

If Gresca has been around for a while now, the recent addition of a more casual wine-bar area has seen it suddenly catch the attention of the local foodie crowd. The menu features a number of offal-based dishes such as grilled sweetbreads or coarse pâtés, but also locally-caught fish and dishes in which vegetables are the star ingredients – all served simply yet tastefully on vintage plates. The wine selection is a treasure trove of natural and-low intervention wines from across Europe.

5. FAN-Shoronpo Japonés Ramen

Restaurant, Japanese, Ramen

To say that Barcelona has something of an obsession with Asian food would be an understatement. The local foodie crowd have been slurping on ramen for a while now, but FAN-Shoronpo adds a touch of something new in the form of the eponymous shoronpo dumplings. These little balls of yum are dumplings stuffed with meat and broth, such that the shoronpo should be eaten in one bite if you don’t want to risk an explosion of liquid down your face. Of course, you can also get a bowl of ramen, which comes made from a range of different broths including miso, tantanmen and shoyu.

6. Little Fern Café

Cafe, Contemporary

This little Poblenou gem is hot out of the oven having opened just a few months ago, but has already attracted the attention of the city’s food bloggers. Daytimes is all about the New Zealand-style brunches – expect the best flat whites you’ll find in the city – with things like kimchi pancakes, homemade muesli, corn fritters and buttermilk chicken burgers. In the evenings the pace changes and dumplings steal the show along with a selection of local and imported craft beers and dangerously easy-drinking cocktails.

7. Rilke

Bar, Restaurant, Contemporary, European, Spanish

Perhaps a testimony to the aforementioned Gresca’s rise to fame in recent years is the fact that chef-owner Rafa Peña was asked to co-design the menu for Rilke – a stylish new restaurant housed within a completely refurbished Eixample flat. Those with a taste for lavish interiors will enjoy the vintage feel of the venue, with its wooden floors, plaster columns and antique-inspired furniture.

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