Barcelona
has restaurants
to suit every taste and pocket. Most are located in Old Barcelona and
El Ensanche. The most expensive can be found in El Ensanche and the
residential area, whilst those frequented by young people are located
in Gracia and La Ribera. Restaurants specialising in fish are found
in La Barceloneta. The most typical are the "tabernas Catalanas"
(Catalan inns) which offer traditional home cooking. Modern restaurants
have been set up by young university students specialising in the "nouvelle
cuisine". The inns offer quantity and home cooking whereas the
modern restaurants offer selection, imagination and extravagance. Between
these two extremes there is also a very wide selection. There are two
important and long established restaurants. One is "Can cullaretes"
in Quintana street and the other is "Les Set Portes" in the
Plaça del Palau. Foreign restaurants include Arab, Argentinian,
Korean, Japanese, German, French, Chinese, etc.
The main Catalan dishes include "escudella i carn d´olla"•
(vegetable, stew, rice, noodles and potatoes served as a soup), followed
by "el cocido" (stew) with haricot beans, "botifarra"
(Catalan sausage), "pilota" (minced beef), bread, eggs and
selected spices. Valencian "paella" comes under the name of
"arros a la cassola". "La Zarzuela" is a dish consisting
of monk fish, grouper, prawns or king prawns, squid and mussels. If
lobsters used instead of king prawns it is known as "opera",
"Suqet de peix" is another dish containing a variety of fish.
Other typical dishes include "bacalla a la Llauna" (cod cooked
and seasoned in a metal boiling-pan), "faves a la catalana"
(large haricot beans), and "botifarra amb mongetes" (Catalan
sausage with beans). There is also a wide variety of confectionery.
For example "crema catalan", "mel i mato" (cottage
cheese with honey, "torrons" (a kind of nougat), "postre
de music" (pine kernels and raisins), etc. Important wines include
those from Peralada, Alella, Taragona, Priorat (red wine), El Penedes
(red and white) and the sparkling wines from El Penedés and Peralada.
As far as accommodation is concerned, there are hotels, hostels, and
boarding houses. The former are naturally more expensive than the latter.
Boarding houses abound in Old Barcelona whereas in La Rambla, near to
the Cathedral and El Ensanche, there are fine hotels. This is also the
case of the upper and residential areas of the city. Barcelona is more
than prepared to cater for the millions of visitors it welcomes each
year.
There are bars to be found in every district of the city, but some areas
specialise in them more than other. For example: the district of La
Ribera, the area around Santa Maria del mar, La Rambla, the districts
of Raval, Gracia and Sarria. The more refined bars are found in the
Rambla de Catalunya, the Passeig de Gracia, the Diagonal, the Plaça
de Francesc Macia and the residential area in general.
Variety theatres enjoy a great tradition in the city and are located
in El Parallel, where there are many revues and night clubs. There are
other in Tapies street such as "Barcelona de Noche" (Barcelona
at Night), the streets of Arc del Teatro, Escudeller, Aribau, Muntaner,
Sant Gervasi and in the Diagonal. Those interested in dancing and discotheques
will find dozens all over the city.
For weekly information regarding bars, restaurants, cinemas, theatres
and concerts there is the magazine "Guia del Ocio" (Leisure
Guide), and for news items and information about the city there is the
magazine "Barcelona" and another called "Vivir en Barcelona"
(Barcelona Life). Tourist Information Centres provide leaflets on the
different cultural and business aspects of the city as well as the different
public services.