With this article we will give you a tour of those restaurants that marked history and are part of the gastronomic brand of the city of Barcelona. There are many people who visit the city two or three days to discover some of its restaurants with international fame, but Barcelona did not always have great restaurants, since it was not until the eighteenth century that the influence of French cuisine landed on the stoves of Catalonia.
Disappeared restaurants such as maison Dorée, El Gran Restaurante de France or El Suizo, located in the center of Barcelona, sowed the first seeds of the subsequent success and recognition of Catalan cuisine.
- CAN CULLERETES
Open since 1786 and located in the Gothic Quarter, just off the Rambla, the Can Culleretes restaurant is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest restaurant in Barcelona and the second in Spain that has never been closed. It became a restaurant frequented by artists, celebrities and writers. The more than 200 photographs that hang on its walls bear witness to its history, a legacy that remains alive. Currently, it still preserves tiles with more than 200 years old. The most curious thing is that its name, according to its owners, is due to its premature success. It turns out that they always had more customers than spoons and when they saw the waitresses passing by they said – “noies, culleretes!” (girls, spoons!).
- 4 GATS
Located on Carrer Montsió, 4 Gats is a Parisian cabaret venue that opened its doors in 1897. Its founder was Pere Romeu, a waiter at the Parisian restaurant Le Chat Noir who, with the help of Ramón Casas and Santiago Rusiñol, created a tavern with piano music. At its tables have sat poets such as Rubén Darío, the playwright Santiago Rusiñol, a very young Pablo Picasso (who was in charge of creating the design of the restaurant’s menu) and Gaudí among many others. 4 Gats was one of the most inspiring corners of Barcelona, until the arrival of the Civil War, which caused its decline and its reopening was in the 70s.
- 7 PORTES
One of the 120 oldest restaurants in Spain. Its name refers to the number of tickets for the public, since there was an octave, but it was intended for staff. It was built in the mid-nineteenth century, along with the emblematic porches of The Paseo Isabel II by order of the businessman Josep Xifré, the richest Catalan of that time, was obsessed with building houses inspired by the constructions that dressed the squares of Paris and its central Rue de Rivoli. Since 1836 politicians and intellectuals have occupied its tables, illustrious personalities such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Rafael Alberti, Salvador Dalí, Alexandre Flemming and more than 50 Nobel Prizes. Today, some of the seats they occupied are marked with a plaque.
- LOS CARACOLES
Founded by the Bofarull family in 1835, this historic restaurant has acquired its current name due to its star dish: snails. The specialty of the house has attracted to its dining room illustrious characters from the world of art, politics and finance such as: Charlton Heston, Jimmy Carter, Robert de Niro, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala, among others. During all these years, the four generations of the Bofarull family have managed to preserve the essence of the restaurant, as well as maintain the excellence of traditional Catalan cuisine made with the highest quality products. Among its specialties are rice, suquet de peix and cod a la empordesa.
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