This petit bar, created in the style of a typical bar in pre-war Marseille by a French exile, opened in 1947 and has hardly changed since.

It’s a cosy little, arty bar, about the size of a small living room, decked with paintings, sketches and prints layered with nicotine, offering chatter, laughter and Edif Piaf, or French accordion music.

Ángel, the owner, serves his own labeled absinthe and pastis, good cold draft beer and a spread of French wines and spirits.

The bar hosts very intimate gigs – chanteueses and tango – there’s only just enough space for two slim performers.

Go there, try it, it’s a one-off. If you’ve any romance in your soul I’m sure you’ll fall in love with the place.

One of R.E.M.’s roadies once called in to buy absinthe for the band. It’s a popular haunt for local transvestites and prostitutes. It’s the sort of place I can imagine Jean Genet hanging out in.

It’s just around the corner from El Cangrejo (see this article)

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Bar Pastis | Bars | Absinthe & pastis € 3.50
C/Santa Monica 4 | El Raval | +34933187980
Mon – Thu 19:00 – 02:00, Fri – Sun 20:00 – 03:00

This place is located in an amazingly dirty and noisy street full of drunk daydreamers. But once you pass the gate you find yourself in a cosy and a little bit retro atmosphere either to eat at the restaurant, have a drink at the bar or hear good music and even dance at the lounge time.

I could not afford to have dinner there myself, but at lunch time they have a good menu at a price I would be able to pay once a month.

I personally recommend their home made desserts. Just like grandma’s!

Just when they close the kitchen, the dj session starts. It lasts until 03:00.

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Before | Bars, Music, Restaurants (lunch) | Beer € 3.50
Santa Monica 2 | El Raval | +34933013503
Mon – Wed 13:00 – 16:00, Thu – Sat 13:00 – 16:00 & 21:00 – 03:00

Barcelona’s oldest cocktail bar, opened in 1933, is just a few steps off the Ramblas, a hundred meters or so down from the Canaletes fountain.

It’s a good central spot to meet up with friends after work before going on to another bar and then dinner. Nonsmokers will likely have a tough time of it here as it’s small, not well-ventilated and soon gets filled with people and smoke.

It’s a classic art deco bar with bartenders in tuxedos who will mix you a cocktail with style. There’s no menu of drinks – but the bartenders are well-practiced at serving over 60 different cocktails. If you’re undecided just ask for the cocktail of the day.

Take a look at the sketches, drawings, photos and letters on the walls here. You’ll see drawings by Miró and a photo of Kevin Costner among portraits of locally known luminaries. It’s a popular haunt for media types and politicians. I’ve often seen locally prominent politicians in here arguing a point of policy, or just gossiping, with senior journalists.

If you visit between 19:00 and 20:00 you’ll likely hear a familiar voice from Catalan radio above the lively, loud chatter. A cool, but smoky, spot for meeting up with friends before a night on the town.

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Boadas | Bars | Cocktail € 6.00
C/Tallers 1 | El Raval | +343189592
Mon – Sat 12:00 – 02:00

“Tourists come in and want to know, ‘Is it a jewelry shop?’ ” Carles Mampel, the multi award-winning pastry-chef genius owner often jokes. And you’ll see why. The brightly lit, pristine interior displays edible artworks in glass cabinets.

Spurred by the deserved success of their shop and tapas bar in El Born Bubó has opened a shop in the Eixample. Situated on Calle Bruc on the corner with Calle Provenza, just off  Diagonal, Bubó sells beautiful cakes, mousses and chocolates such as you never seen or tasted before. Barcelona is home to many, many adventuresome chocolatiers but, for me, Bubó takes the biscuit.

For an unforgettable taste experience stop by for a coffee and a cake or mousse, or treat yourself, or your lover, or your mum, to a little box of exquisite chocolates. And relatively inexpensive when compared with other chocolate shops in the city. Well worth a visit.

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BUBÓ | Shopping, Snacks | Chocolate covered noodle lollipops from € 0.80
C/Bruc 150 | Eixample | +34934590508
Mon 15:00 – 21:00, Tue – Sat 09:30 – 21:00, Sun 09:30 – 15:00

This friendly little bar, about the size of a lock-up or small garage.

It’s a cute place, almost like a shrine to the Costa Brava, its walls decorated with early 1970s photos and maps, and shelves packed with canned seafood, sauces and wines.

The specialties here are draft vermut and anchovies from L’Escala, and they serve a good range of cold tapas – sea-snails, prawns, ham etc. Football fans should know that the owner is a ‘periquito’ – little parrot – a supporter of Espanyol, so it may not be the brightest thing to do to go there wearing a Barça shirt!

The bar’s bigger brother – a restaurant where you can sit down and enjoy a larger meal – also called Cala del Vermut – is just 100 meters along the street. I really like this spot, a really good place for a stop-off when en route to or from El Borne.

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Cala del Vermut | Bars, Snacks | Vermut € 2.00
C/Magdalenes 6 | El Barrio Gotico | +34933179623
Mon – Sat 11:00 – 16:00 & 18:00 – 23:00

My favourite cinema, Cinema Verdi in Gràcia, has two separate entrances (C/Verdi, 32 & C/Torrijos, 49), in effect it’s two cinemas, one with five screens and the other with four.

Even though it has nine screens it doesn’t feel like a multiplex, it still has the feel of an independent cinema. I used to programmed a single-screen cinema in the UK so I appreciate the effort involved in running a nine-screen cinema.

The picture and sound quality here is always very good and the seats comfortable. The cinema is a member of the Europa network so there’s always a good choice of quality films in the original language with subtitles, and free notes with every film. Every now and then they’ll screen a new film free of charge.

It’s not the place to go to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster. And, when you come out after seeing a film, you’re surrounded by dozens of really good nearby bars, cafés and restaurants where you can go with friends and swap opinions.

p.s. Hey, I must be right – seven months after publishing the above Time Out Barcelona magazine voted Verdi as the BEST CINEMA IN THE CITY.

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Cines Verdi | Cinemas | Ticket € 7.00
C/Verdi 32 | Gracia | +34932387990
depends on play

You’re in the very center of the city, stood on the great square framed by the Generalitat (autonomous government H.Q.) and the Ayuntamiento (City Hall). You’re hungry but you don’t really have time for a sit-down restaurant meal or even a café-bar snack. If you stand in the center of Plaça Sant Jaume facing the Ayuntamiento and look to the right of the square you’ll see a newsagents and then just a couple of meters beyond, sort of on the cusp of the curve of the passageway that leads into Plaça Sant Miquel, you’ll see the  entrance to the tiny takeaway grill Frankfurt.

Here they’ll serve you a very reasonably priced hamburger, butifarra (Catalan sausage), sobrassada (Mallorcan pressed pork) chicken fillet, frankfurter, or bratwurst sandwich, with or without grilled cheese, onion, pepper and tomato and with or without ketchup, mustard or salsa verde, in a ciabatta type bun.

They’ll serve you a cold beer or soft drink too. Excellent value if you’re on the run. Take your sandwich and your beer and sit yourself on a bench just a few meters away in Plaça Sant Miquel. Cheap, cheerful and quick. Hope it’s not raining when you try it.

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Frankfurt, Sant Jaume | Snacks | Hamburger € 2.80
Plaza Sant Jaume 2 | El Barrio Gotico
Mon – Sat 13:00 – 16:00 & 19:00 – 23:00

This excellent Japanese-Brazilian fusion restaurant-lounge bar is situated on the very edge of El Born.

The first thing you’ll notice as you approach the door are the big fat carp swimming on the floor – you have to walk over the fish when you enter.

Watch as your steps create ripples in the pool and the fish scatter in all directions. Kids (like me!) love it, and keeps them amused during the short wait for food. And, when tired of the swimming touch-sensitive fish you can watch a large-screen projection of life under the ocean. Amusingly the undersea scenes are cut in with a live feed from the kitchen – so you can watch the expert chefs prepare your sashimis, tempuras, makis and sushis.

The food here is excellent. A very good friend (Hi Krystyna!) who loves Japanese food, and has probably visited most Japanese restaurants in the city, eats here every Friday lunchtime. The lunchtime set menu is only 12 euros and worth every cent.

Good, lively, very friendly atmosphere. And it has already gained a deserved reputation among locals for excellent food, friendly service and good value. If going in the evening you’ll probably need to book ahead or be prepared to wait for a while.

p.s. My taste must be impeccable – four months after posting the above (and less than a year after Iki Bana opened) Time Out Barcelona magazine voted it as one of the best 50 places in Barcelona to eat sushi  – even though they don’t specialize in sushi! Go there, try it, you’ll see and taste why.

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Ikibana – Japanese | Bars, Restaurants (Japanese-Brazilian) | Daily menu € 12.00
Passeig Picasso 32 | El Borne | +34932956732
13:00 – 16:00 & 20:00 – 02:30 daily

A cute, fun little snack bar situated on Roger de Flor just above Aragón.

Flor, the Argentine owner, makes and serves the tastiest empanadas in Barcelona. I can honestly say, hand on heart, I’ve never tasted better meat and olive empanadas – the pastry is nice and light and fresh, and the substantial filling perfect.

Just the thing for a mid-afternoon or late evening snack when chasing errands across the city. Kuk also offers a good, tasty range of veggie empanadas and exquisite little quiches and portions of pizza – or you can buy a whole pizza.

Eat in with a drink or take out. And Flor is such a sunny person, it’s a pleasure to call in – free smile with every order.

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Kuk | Snacks | Meat empanada € 1.90
Roger de Flor 167 | Eixample | +34934585722
Tue – Sun 12:00 – 16.00 and 19:00 – 23:00

Situated on one of the most interesting little streets in the barrio, linking Calle Portaferrissa with Placa del Pi, La Pallaresa has been serving locals with thick, sticky hot chocolate since 1940.

It’s a very traditional granja – or snack bar – serving light bites such as croissants, melindros and bikinis (toasted ham and cheese sandwiches). Just the place to rest your feet and read the newspaper when out shopping or just sightseeing around the barrio.

It’s just a few doors up the street from Sala Parés (check the Sala Parés article), the wellknown art gallery. I often call in for a good cup of chocolate or coffee, or a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice after visiting an exhibition.

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La Pallaresa | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Coffee € 1.10
Calle Petritxol 11 | El Barrio Gotico | +34933022036
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 13:00 & 16:00 – 21:00, Sat 09:00 – 13:00 & 17:00 – 21:00

If you are a nighthawk, just wear your pair of vintage Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers and be yourself enjoying music with personality and other fellows willing to enjoy the black gold of the night life in Barcelona, dark atmosphere, drinks at good prices and keen bartenders.

The place to meet people and have short distance chats.

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Manchester Bar | Bars, Music | Beer € 2.00
Carrer de Milans 3 | El Barrio Gotico | +34663071748
20:00 – 03:00 daily

Nakupenda is an exotic salads, sandwiches, soups, cocktails and smoothies day and night/ summer and winter bar.

The name means ‘I love you’ in Swahili, but if when courtship dancing or just flirting you share a huge cup of mango madness, banana kiss or vanilla sky smoothie with two straws words might become unnecessary. It could end up in the most wonderful and chaotic way of starting a relationship. But you take the risk of losing every breath of life at the gate of climax.

It may seem as something planned, and you may look like a brazen-faced, but there’s nothing you can do about it.

You can sit on the terrace when there is good weather or find that cosy corner inside.

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Nakupenda | Bars | Smoothies € 3.00
Av. Marques de Argentera 7 | El Borne | +34932680435
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 03:00, Sat – Sun 10:00 – 03:00

Situated on one of the most interesting streets in the Barrio Gotico Sala Parés is probably the oldest privately owned commercial art gallery in the world.

Though the nameplate in the photo above says 1877 the gallery has been in business since 1840.

The gallery has the distinction of being the first gallery to publicly exhibit Picasso’s work.

The gallery has three public showing spaces and a private salon for clients to buy and sell work and have work they own valued.

The gallery represents a strong stable of international artists and has an impressive collection of 19th and 20th century Catalan and Spanish work.

At the start of the 20th century Parés had a significant role in launching the careers of many fine artists.

It would be unfair to singularly characterize the range of artwork you’ll encounter here — save to say it’s of consistently excellent quality. Well worth a visit.

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Sala Parés | Art & culture | Free
Carrer Petritxol 5 | El Barrio Gotico | +34933187020
Mon 16:00 – 20:00, Tue – Sat 10:30 – 14:00 & 16:00 – 20:30
Sun (Sep – May) 11:30 – 14:00