Affordable places
Boqueria Market
If you get hungry on La Rambla, the only way not to spend all your money food is going Boqueria Market. It is located on La Rambla, 91.
Laura Lytwyn, the author of the thecreativeadventurer, gives tips on visiting the place:
Keep your money out of public view when paying and always be sure to keep your purse or knapsack closed (or even better – locked). Speaking a bit of Spanish, or even better Catalan, will go far with winning you some favour with the vendors.
Stalls are passed down from one generation to another. Owners often work on a counter themselves. So the reputation here is not just an empty word — all food is tasty and fresh.
This Barcelona market is open every day except for Sundays from 08:00 till 20:00. At lunchtime, the market is very crowded.
You can just snack at the market. The most popular fast food is ham (dry-cured pork) wrapped in paper, fruit salad in a cup, and fresh juice.
Vik009, a tripadvisor user, recommends trying oysters in Joel’s Oyster Bar:
Found this little gem by accident whilst stocking up on meats to take home! In la Boqueria market, this little oyster bar will not disappoint! 3 oysters with a glass of wine for under €10, friendly staff, great decor and a range of other fresh seafood to choose from, a must if you are passing through!!
Prices may differ from a stall to a stall.
By the way, if you decide to buy some ham at the Barcelona market, don’t forget that it is a Spanish dish and Barcelona is a Catalunya capital. Here the traditional delicacy is botifarra, a sausage made of chopped meat. There are several types of it and the most popular is botifarra negra with the addition of pork blood.
You can also have a full meal in one of the Barcelona cafes. The most popular cafe among tourists is Pinotxo bar. It is open from 6:30 till 16:00.
John G, a yelp user, tell what to order here:
Pretty much we had three choices, beans, meat, or squid. We had all three and so glad we did!
The meat was a meat and potatoes type of stew, very good. The chickpea or garbanzo dish was very flavorful. And my favorite was the baby squid, I highly recommend you order that! Coffee served here is excellent. Most visitors are drinking beer or as you will see a white type of wine, which is called cava, this is the locally produced sparkling wine in the area, which I highly recommend as well.
If you are looking for where to eat in Barcelona, another must-visit place is Escriba patisserie near the Boqueria market. Address: Carrer de les Flors, 83.
Chloe Gunning Wanderlust Chloeis delighted by the atmosphere in Escriba:
My time at Escriba made me feel like a little kid again, lost in a fantasy world. I left with a full stomach (you would too if you’d sampled a delicious mallorcan pastry with crème patissiere and their signature red lip truffles!), and a feeling that ‘anything is possible’. It would be hard to find a company with a more positive, inspirational attitude. I just hope there’s someone to continue the family business for another hundred years…
Unlimited buffets
It’s the easiest way to have cheap and tasty food in any city around the world. You pay a fixed sum of money for entrance and eat as much as you want. It’s the best decision where to eat in Barcelona very cheaply, isn’t it?
FresCo buffet is the easiest to find. This is a chain of unlimited buffets. There are six buffets in Barcelona. You can find addresses on the official website. The entrance will cost you 12 Euro. Children under 3 are free to enter.
Another popular place is a Chinese buffet working on the all-you-can-eat-and-drink basis. Look for cafes with the word Wok in their names. Bloggers recommend visiting Wok Dao. The entrance costs 14–16 Euro. Here you’ll find a rich menu of seafood and sushi. The buffet is located on Villarroel 1, 15 minutes away from La Rambla. Here are the working hours of Wok Dao, they are quite complicated.
The famous buffets Lactuca, La Vaca Paca, and Kaitensushi are closed now.
Can Paixano
This xampanyeria is a cult place for tourists. It is open from 09:00 till 22:30 every day except for Sundays. All the time Can Paixano is overcrowded by travelers because the place is very quirky.
Brittany Towers, a user of Google Reviews, tells about some unexpected rules of the bar:
They only take cash (nothing larger than 100), you must order food with your drinks, go up to the counter to order and then you can stand elsewhere – they will remember who you are and what you ordered!
You definitely have to try cava here. Cava is a sparkling wine, Catalunya national drink. A glass of cava + tapas will cost you 5 Euro.
Address: Carrer de la Reina Cristina, 7.
Tapas bars
Tapas bar is a Barcelonians favorite place for chatting and relaxing. There is an expression «ir de tapas» in Spanish that means “going out to drink in bars”. During the evening people go from one place to another several times.
Tapas is any snack for wine. It can be olives, potato chips, a very simple dish, or a small sandwich. The most popular snack in Catalunya is pan catalana or pan con tomate. A tomato is ground, mixed with garlic and olive oil and then put this mass on a toast.
Bars are often named by the tapas it specializes in. For example, one of the most affordable bars is La Bombeta. The staff doesn’t speak English. But if you a not afraid to get lost in translation, you’ll try the best “bomba” in the city.
Babette-Scarlett Schossau, the author of the bibimbites blog, explains what “bombas”are:
Bombas are a deep-fried mix of mashed potato and minced meat in the shape of a bomb (those round ones you know from cartoons), topped with alioli (a Mediterranean garlic and olive oil mayonnaise) and a spicy sauce, which may include cayenne as well as tabasco. They are a little like croquetas but bigger and fatter, with a crisp outer shell of deliciousness and a soft, flavour-explosive interior, filling every little gap in your mouth for a heavenly warm and mushy experience.
But Jennifer P, a tripadvisor user, wat not satisfied with food:
The food quality did not live up to expectations based on the other reviews.
The bar is located on Carrer de la Maquinista, 3. It works from 12:00 till 00:00 every day except for Wednesdays.
Other ways to save money
1. When you are on the beach don’t be afraid to eat in a chiringuito. This is a temporary wooden kiosk. They appear only in summer. One dish will cost you 6–15 Euro, one cocktail 10 Euro.
2. In any Barcelona cafe ask for menu del dia, business lunch in Spanish. This menu is valid from 12:00 till 16:00. On weekdays lunch will cost you 12 Euro, on weekends — 14 Euro.
3. Supermarkets.
The authors of barcelonasecret.blogspot made a list of the best supermarkets in the city:
1. BON PREU STORES IN BARCELONA
It is a middle range supermarket, with all the top brands plus their own brand products.2. VERITAS STORES
In fact, it is a franchise, so the range of products available depends on the size of the store.3. CAPRABO
There are many “Caprabos”. Some big ones and some small ones.4. SUPERCOR
It is a convenience store so prices are high. They sell a wide variety of products.5. MERCADONA
They mostly sell their own brand products, which are ok.
Restaurants
Renée Christensen, the author of the devourbarcelonafoodtours website, tells working hours of restaurants in Barcelona:
We have lunch late in Spain. If you try to have lunch at 12 p.m, you will be sorely disappointed! Not many restaurants are even open until 1 or 1.30 p.m, and even then, they are often half-empty. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and many restaurants open the kitchen between 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Just like at lunch hour, many restaurants don’t even open for until 8 p.m. Most locals go out around 9 or 10 p.m., and even later on the weekends. And because it’s so late, it’s best to do it light—cue the tapas!
Seafood restaurants
Most of them are located in the Barceloneta district.
For example, the famous Shakira’s and Gerard Piqué’s restaurant Blue Spot can also be found here.
R P., a yelp user, liked the food and the view but was disappointed with prices:
Rooftop has a great open-air view. Work stopping by for a drink if you can take time out of your busy tourist schedule.
Staff is polite and attentive. This is a nice restaurant. More of like where business folk will come to eat for lunch. This isn’t tourist at all. Everything we ordered was tasty but on the expensive side. Don’t come here for a ‘tapas’ experience.
Catalan cuisine
Catalunya authorities asked USESCO to place Catalan cuisine in the List of World Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. So the Cuina Catalana brand is being popularized now.
If you see this symbol it means that at least half of the menu is Catalan cuisine.
The oldest national restaurant in Barcelona is Les Set Portes (Seven Doors). It works since 1838.
Lorraine Elliott Not Quite Nigellaexplains why the restaurant is so famous and notable:
7 Portes or 7 doors is known for their paella and for their autograph room. Here a vast array of celebrities have visited and left their pen marks. These are framed and displayed in the second dining room which appears closed for lunch despite the queue outside. We are in the main dining room and we immediately zero in on the paella section in which there are eight varieties.
She also tells what to order:
We try the “Rich Man’s Paella” and the “Arroz Negre” or black rice. The rich man’s paella is also nicknamed the lazy man’s paella so called because the seafood is taken out of the shell and the meat deboned for easy eating. For good measure we also order a serve of the the cannelloni, a house specialty.
Restaurant with history
This is another place where Pablo Picasso and Antonio Gaudie loved to eat — 4 Gats (Four Cats). It works since 1897. Vicky Cristina Barcelona movie was shot here so you can sit at the table where Scarlett Johansson had dinner.
Conclusion
Affordable and tasty national food is not difficult to find in Barcelona. Just turn away from tourist passes and you’ll see lots of quirky cafes for locals.
