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Barcelona is once again the world epicentre of electronic music and cultural innovation with a new edition of Sónar that will bring together dance music pioneers, techno stars and innovative profiles from different eras, scenes and disciplines.
To make it easier for you to manage during the festival, and so that you know where to go to satisfy your appetite between the lapses and rhythms of the shows and DJ sets, we recommend a series of venues for all tastes: from a haute cuisine restaurant to a trendy trattoria.
Maggiorata
Barcelona’s trendy Italian trattoria is called Maggiorata. A minimalist restaurant located on Enrique Granados street, run by the partners of the legendary Bar Galán, which presents an ode to good food and good pasta with traditional dishes made with authentic Italian products. Its menu, inspired by the favourites of its chef Daniele de Luca, has 27 proposals framed in categories such as antipasti, main courses and desserts.
Among its dishes are a number of classics: polpette with tomato in the form of meatballs on a tomato sauce and a cream of parmesan and milk, sirloin rossini or the traditional recipe for spaghetti carbonara with guanciale and a mixture of egg yolks and pecorino cheese.
Casa Costa
La Barceloneta is home to one of the city’s most aesthetically pleasing restaurants. It’s called Casa Costa, and is reminiscent of the legendary seaside beach bars in a modern version decorated with flowers and works of art, where you can enjoy dishes ranging from classic tapas such as bravas or a well-made Russian salad, to more innovative dishes such as fried prawns with fried egg or grilled fish of the day.
Compartir, T de Oro de Tapas 2023
More than 25 years of friendship and several ongoing businesses endorse the careers of Oriol Castro, Mateu Casañas and Eduard Xatruch. Three chefs whose work can only be understood as a team, and who are largely responsible for keeping the legacy of elBulli alive. After Compartir (Cadaqués) and Disfrutar (Barcelona), the chefs have transferred the essence of Compartir to Barcelona, this time with the incorporation of Nil Dulcet as partner and director. Here they work with the best raw materials, mostly from the sea, which take the form of delicate dishes to share, some of which are iconic of the Cadaqués restaurant, such as the sea ox with avocado and river trout roe.
Brabo, Tapas Best New Restaurant 24′
They define themselves as ‘an unpretentious steakhouse’, where everything that is cooked, smoked or grilled are local ingredients that they select themselves from their trusted suppliers. At the helm of this modern, product-focused steakhouse are Rafa Panatieri and Jorge Sastre, a professional couple who in just a few months have managed to turn their restaurant in the centre of Barcelona into a veritable temple of fire, where the ember predominates above all else. They make their own sausages and cheeses, ensuring that all the products have been grown in a sustainable and ecological way.
Colmado Wilmot, Tapas Best New Restaurant 24′
Going back to the origins is something that Eugeni de Diego knows how to do very well. And it is with this space, which was born to sell takeaway food and soon evolved into a restaurant, where he shows it. There are memories of his beginnings at Ca L’Isidre, such as the cap i pota omelette, but also simple cuisine, with flavour and produce that Adrián Redondo and David Guitart bring to the table on a day-to-day basis. For breakfast, with its succulent sandwiches, for lunch and dinner or simply to take a few products home. Any time is perfect in the grocer’s shop of passion for things well done.
A Restaurant
A Restaurant is the restaurant that houses the Hotel Neri. An urban oasis characterised by serving a gastronomic proposal that worships the product and proximity. It serves the diverse and evolving cuisine of its chef Alain Guiard, who proposes dishes such as a delicious sea bass, cockle and mussel ragout with orange and coconut, or grilled cannelloni with tender almond béchamel sauce and teriyaki. The menu also includes a series of dishes designed for sharing, such as innovative tapas or lobster croquettes.
Mae, Tapas Best New Restaurant 24′
Mae opened its doors in 2023 under the direction of Germán Espinosa, together with Colombian chef Diego Mondragón and restaurateur Mariella Rodríguez. His gastronomic religion is based on globalism and localism reflected through a multicultural virtuosity with which he builds elaborations such as red shrimp with pig’s feet and tree tomato, cauliflower foam, changurro and mussel gelée with fresh herbs or rack of lamb and tupinambo.
Sartoria Panatieri
Sartoria Panatieri is known for being one of the best pizzerias in Barcelona, and in the world. An Italian restaurant co-directed by Jorge and Rafa that specialises in artisan pizzas that respect the true tradition in a wood-fired oven. The dough, made with stone-ground local organic flour, is made and fermented over a long period of time to create pizzas such as the delicious burrata stracciatella, along with their sausages and pickles created from scratch in their kitchens. Among the most popular are the ‘Best Pizza in Europe 2023’ with roasted cherry tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil hollandaise or the Pizza with bacon, mozzarella, jacket potato, egg yolk and tuna bottarga.
Alapar Bcn
Alapar Bcn is a restaurant inspired by the classic Japanese izakayas with influences from Mediterranean cuisine and its products. This sort of ‘traditional bodega with an Asian vision’, run by Jaume Marambio and Vicky Maccarone, stands out for its unique proposal that fuses Mediterranean and Japanese gastronomy based on the concept of temporality. There, diners can experience different sensations in the mouth through its classic sea and Iberian bacon montadito, its gyozas of three sausages and broad beans or its pea stew with baby squid and katsuobushi.
Rollo’s
Fast good on the move’ is the slogan that defines Rollo’s, BCN’s new gastronomic concept based on rolls made with fresh, local ingredients.
Rollo’s innovative offer receives a powerful international influence, with rolls to suit all tastes. This intrinsic variety in its DNA is reflected in its eight different types of hummus, lentil, tomato, curry, beetroot, activated charcoal, plain and spinach wafers. But also in their ingredient combinations (protein + 4 ingredients + 1 topping + 1 sauce), resulting in rolls like their Mexican roll with pulled pork cochinita pibil style, queso fresco blanco, pico de gallo with red onion or courgette; as well as their Chinese roll with lentil wafer, pulled chicken, goat cheese or red cabbage and olives.
Bodega Bonay
In the design restaurant of the Casa Bonay hotel you can discover the grandeur of the cellar dishes created by chef Giacomo Hassan. In his space, he mixes a curated selection of natural wines with his slow food cuisine based on seasonality and sustainability: the signs of identity that he transfers to dishes such as his grilled pork cheek with tomato bread or his puff pastry with grilled artichoke.
The Green Spot
The Green Spot is the vegetarian restaurant in Port Vell where you can enjoy vegetables in a space designed by Isay Weinfeld, one of the greatest figures of Brazilian architecture who stands out for his creativity and innovation in the field. The restaurant’s menu is based on seasonal produce and is structured around sharing and individual dishes designed by its new chef Leandro Ortega, such as sweet potato tagliatelle with macadamia sauce and black truffle, maitake mushrooms with baked aubergine or organic jackfruit, pico de gallo and guacamole tacos.
Bosco de Lobos
A forest located in the centre of Barcelona. This is Bosco de Lobos, from the Tragaluz group: a benchmark restaurant in Madrid that has had a culinary extension in Barcelona since last year, where you can eat between trees, from salads to high quality pasta or Roman pizzas. Before you visit, take note of their suggestions: the octopus carpaccio with fennel and the radiccio trevisano with pear, gorgonzola and hazelnuts.
