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The calçot season reaches its peak at the end of January, although many restaurants have been preparing calçotadas since October for the enjoyment of lovers of this variety of spring onion, which is eaten grilled with lots of romesco sauce. This food is typical all over Catalonia, but especially in the region of Valls, in Tarragona, where the multitudinous Gran Festa de la Calçotada is held on the last Sunday in January. This year more than 35,000 visitors attended, who enjoyed this traditional dish as the centrepiece of the festival as never before.
And so that you too can feast on calçots, we have compiled 8 of the best places in Catalonia to eat calçots. And for those of you in Madrid, don’t worry, we’ve also selected 3 restaurants you should visit to enjoy this traditional culinary experience.
Cal Ganxo (Valls, Tarragona)
This is the calçotada restaurant par excellence. This traditional, family-run establishment offers quality products that have made it a benchmark for typical Catalan gastronomy. For more than 40 years it has been serving calçots as a main course on a menu for 45 euros, which also includes grilled lamb, sausage and black sausage accompanied by beans and artichoke, and for dessert Catalan cream with carquinyoli and orange; as well as bread, wine and “brut nature” cava. The sauce for the calçots is the original recipe of grandmother Cisqueta de Cal Ganxo. And, without a doubt, it is another of the keys to the success of its gastronomic proposal.
Casa Fèlix (Valls, Tarragona)
This restaurant, located in the Hotel Fèlix, has been offering the calçotada de Valls for more than 50 years. They have a menu for 44 euros that, in addition to calçots with sauce, also includes sausage with beans, grilled lamb with garnish and all-i-oli, Catalan cream and wine. If you want to make a getaway, you have the possibility to enjoy the complete pack in this hotel-restaurant. But you can also order your calçotada to take away.
El Vinyet (Tarragona)
This restaurant is located in the Alt Camp region, in Vila-rodona (Tarragona), next to the river Gaià and very close to Santes Creus and in the middle of the Cistercian Route. It was an old barn dating from 1900 that was restored as a wine cellar in the 1960s, then it became a farmhouse and finally a restaurant. They have a traditional menu with calçots and their sauce, sausage and black sausage with ganxet beans, lamb with artichoke and potato and, for dessert, a Catalan cream and an orange. All washed down with wine and cava from the region and coffee from Valls. But they also offer the possibility of having a calçotada a la carte, accompanied by other dishes.
Can Vador (Barcelona)
In this restaurant with a rustic essence located in Barcelona’s Eixample district, you can enjoy a Calçotada menu for 35 euros (to order), which includes: Toast of farmhouse bread from a wood-fired oven, Calçots D.O. Valles accompanied by Romesco sauce, a choice of main course, along with Crema catalana quemada (burnt Catalan cream) and wine. For over a decade they have been reinterpreting the most traditional Mediterranean cuisine to give it a contemporary twist. If you’re in the Catalan capital in the mood for calçots, this is a great option.
Bodega Joan (Barcelona)
This restaurant was founded 80 years ago as a bulk wine shop. Today, this celler guarantees a great gastronomic adventure that offers classics of Catalan cuisine with an innovative touch. What’s more, they are now in the middle of the calçots season and offer a menu for only 29.50 euros, which also includes a grilled meat with chicken, churrasco, butifarra sausage and bacon, accompanied by grilled artichokes or their potatoes “al caliu”. Of course, crema catalana for dessert.
Pasa Tapas (Barcelona)
Ideal for a meal with friends. This restaurant in Barcelona offers different calçotada menus (for 26, 30 and 35 euros) and prepares the calçots on a real charcoal grill (they’ve been doing it this way for 25 years). You’ll feel like you’re in the middle of a farmhouse but next to the sea.
Can Travi Nou (Barcelona)
This restaurant is an authentic Catalan farmhouse located in the heart of the city. With more than 30 years of service, it has become a gastronomic reference in Barcelona, offering market cuisine, which also includes the traditional calçots (spring onions). All in a rustic and cosy corner where you can enjoy a delicious cuisine in contact with nature. If you want to enjoy the Calçotada menu, you must order it and it will cost you 43 euros. You will also have at your disposal coca del Maresme toast with tomato and olive oil, grilled meat, Catalan cream and wine.
Belbo Terrenal (Barcelona)
Located inside the hotel Me and with an excellent indoor terrace, at Belbo Terrenal you can enjoy a calçots menu for 41 euros every weekend. You’ll be able to see live how they prepare the calçots (you can have unlimited calçots) and also taste other delicacies such as a glass of vermouth, secallona and olives, bread with tomato, grilled meat and the traditional Catalan cream.
You can also enjoy calçots in Madrid
Although it is a typical Catalan dish, in Madrid you can also take a route to try some magnificent calçots. One of the most typical is Calsot, in Hoyo del Manzanares, where you can enjoy a calçot menu for 26 euros all year round. Another option is Can Punyetes, whose original restaurant is in Barcelona. In Madrid they have two locations (one in Huertas and the other near Plaza Mayor). In the Candeli restaurant, in Ponzano, they also prepare a special calçots menu which is very popular in the area. And here are a few more restaurants where you can enjoy calçots in the capital.
We could go on highlighting restaurants whose speciality is calçot because there is a wide range of quality dishes. Which one would you choose for a good calçotada?