Eixample Barcelona – All our local tips

La Rita is one of my very favorite lunchtime restaurants. I really enjoy taking visiting friends there. To English eyes it looks very formal with white linen tablecloths and napkins, big white china plates and uniformed staff. It’s a great spot for long, chatty lunches.

For just Euro 8.90 (inc. tax) you can enjoy a really good three-course lunch served with bread, water and wine. There’s always a good choice – for example, arroz negro (rice cooked in squid ink) as a starter followed with grilled chicken and green pepper. And there are always a few choices for vegetarians – pumpkin soup in the winter or chilled gazpacho in the summer, and lovely big salads and omelettes.

The desserts here – the chocolate profiteroles for example – are very good.

The service is good – efficient and friendly. It’s very popular with local office workers so get there early to avoid the long lines. When you first arrive don’t be shy to squeeze yourself to the front of the line and let them know you need a table – often the people in front of you will be waiting for a table for six or more.

For visitors, it’s a great location, just 200 meters off the Paseo de Gracia. ¡Buen provecho!

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La Rita | Restaurants (Spanish/Catalan) | Daily menu € 8.90
C/Aragó 279 | Eixample | +34934872376
13:00 – 16:00 & 20:00 – 23:30 daily

Ok, so it’s not the Ritz, and probably one of the scruffiest bars you’ll visit when in Barcelona – but it is, as they say, More than a bar. This is my very local local – you’ll find me in here at least three times a week. It’s called Oller but everyone knows it as Pep’s – after its illustrious former owner who still pops in now and then. If you look around the walls you’ll see pencil portraits of Pep.

Opened in 1929 – as you step into the bar look down at the pavement – you’ll see a plaque celebrating the bar’s contribution to city life.

It’s fairly quiet during the morning and a good place to chill with café con leche, a croissant and a newspaper.

The terrace is perfectly positioned to get the best of the afternoon sunshine.

In the evening it’s a different place altogether. Best time to go is from around 19:00 – the place gets packed with friends and neighbors meeting up for a beer, a bite and a chinwag after work.

During the evening the music is something else – switching from reggae, ska and calypso, through 70s prog rock, 80s indie, driving blues, Sinatra, Van Morrison, jazz etc etc.

The mix of local characters: writers, photographers, musicians, journalists, teachers, artisans and builders make this a lively place to meet up before dinner or going out on the town. If you like strong beer Junior will serve you draft Voll Damm, or, you could try a bottle of Almogavers – a tasty artesanal beer.

The bar is occasionally used as a set for a very well known Catalan TV series. Small bites and sandwiches available: croquetas, bombas, tortillas, cheeses, chorizo and fuet etc.

It’s such a neighborly place I’ve namechecked it in the acknowledgements of my novel After Goya.

Be aware the bar is closed for most of August.

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Bar Oller | Bars, Snacks | Draft beer € 1.20
Paseo San Juan 146 | Eixample | +34934578159
Tue- Sat 09:30 – 22:00, Sun 10:00 -15:00

Home to monuments as famous as the Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera, lined with beaches and bursting with excellent restaurants and shops, Barcelona is a great destination for anyone who wants to mix a sightseeing holiday with relaxing on the beach. Of course a trip to Barcelona isn’t complete without visiting one of Gaudi’s most renowned monuments – La Sagrada Familia.

This unfinished cathedral towers above all the neighbouring buildings and is one of the most distinctive features which makes up the city skyline. To appreciate it at its best you should go and see it by day (early morning) and by night when it is lit up by floodlights. La Sagrada Familia is a must-see in Barcelona.

“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

Don’t be fooled by outward appearances, Can Josep is one of the very best simple restaurants in the city, serving unfussy hearty food. Josep, a lovely, big, bearded bear of a man, sources, buys and prepares all the food himself.

He’s an excellent and discerning cook – only using the freshest and best ingredients – if he’s not happy with the quality of produce on offer he won’t buy it, and the planned meal will be scrubbed from the day’s offerings.

The menu changes regularly according to seasonal availability, though often features such delights as cargols (snails), estofat (rich, thick tasty stew), espàrrec (asparagus) peus de porc (pig’s trotters) and ànec (duck). Slow food. If you can’t read Catalan and can’t speak Spanish you may struggle a bit – the staff are helpful (though do not speak English) – but the struggle will be worth it.

No tablecloths, no fancy waiters, no pretension, just well prepared food and a lively atmosphere.

It’s a very popular spot for locals and you’ll almost certainly need to book ahead for a table on a Friday night.

Just so you know, Josep is an ardent Republican, so it wouldn’t be wise to sing the praises of any kings and queens when enjoying your meal. And you won’t find it listed anywhere – so, if you really do want to go where the locals go … Bon profit!

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Can Josep | Restaurants (Catalan) | main course from € 6.00
Call Roger de Flor 237 | Eixample | +34630816565
Mon – Fri 13:00 – 16:00 & 20:00 – 00:00

Concepción market, situated between Calle Aragón and Calle Valencia, is 120 years old – though you wouldn’t know it as it has been thoroughly modernized. As well as housing a range of excellent cheese, fish, fruit, meat, veg and deli stalls, the market also has: 3 bars; a 24 hour florists (yep – flowers 24 hours a day, 363 days of the year); a large Caprabo supermarket; an electrical appliance store (selling freezers, pcs, washing-machines etc); an underground car-park, and, very interestingly, a well-organized book-crossing point with titles in English, French and German as well as Catalan and Spanish.

If you spend more than €10.00 at any stall you can claim a free car-park ticket. The market also hosts regular events such as tasting sessions and cookery workshops for kids. Well worth a visit if you like good food and want to avoid the crowded La Boqueria market on the Ramblas.

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Concepción market | Shopping | Free
Calle Aragó, 313-317 | Eixample | +34675693616
Mon 08:00 – 15:00, Tue – Fri 08:00 – 20:00, Sat 08:00 – 16:00

Encants is Barcelona’s biggest flea market nearby the Torre Agbbar, Barcelona’s newest architectural high light made by the French star architect Jean Nouvel. Els “Encants Vells” is originally called “La Fira de Bellcaire” and is one of the oldest markets in Europe dating back to the 14th century. Now the market is bigger than 15.000m2 and has 100.000 visitors every week.

Going there is spending half a day looking and snooping for old treasures (books, clothes, furniture, kitchen accessories and many more).

It is not easy to orientate yourself between all these hundreds of little stands and people, but that’s maybe not necessary. Just get lost, let go- but watch your bag! There are always pickpockets around. Don’t be surprised, it’s very likely that you’ll find your stolen bike on sale.

If you are tired from your search for hodgepodge and knick-knacks, grab a coffee to go and sit down in the sun. Watch the people go by, have a chat with a local vendor and let time fly.

Soon enough you’ll find yourself back in Barcelona’s buzzing city centre with Zara’s and Mango’s at every street corner. But here in Encants enjoy time, freedom and atmosphere far beyond Barcelona’s shopping centers.

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Encants Vells market | Shopping
Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, 8 (Glories Metro station) | Eixample
Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat 07:00 – 15:00

This is another of my favorite lunchtime restaurants.
Squeezed into a cosy basement Gira-sol serves a good range of traditional Catalan and Spanish dishes such as llenties guisada (lentil stew) and bacallà (salt-cod). They also serve a select range of traditional latino dishes such as Ecuadorean style churrasco. The food is always well prepared and well presented.

If you enjoy good but unpretentious wine with your food then you’ve come to the right place. The wines here are very good – the owners host a wine-tasting evening every month. If having a menú del dia (lunch menu) it’s worth paying the extra two and a half euros for a good white Penedes, Rioja or rosé. And the desserts are very good too.

The décor and ambience is very well done (especially when you consider there is very little natural light) and even though the place gets busy the atmosphere is usually very relaxing, a perfect spot for gossip over lunch or a more romantic meal in the evening. Be aware that the restaurant only opens in the evening on Friday and Saturday and does not open on Sunday (though this does vary). Check out their website, the lunch menu is updated daily.¡Bon profit!

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Gira-sol | Restaurants (Catalan) | Lunch menu € 9.50
C/Provença 332, bajos | Eixample | +34934575708
Mon – Thu 09:00 – 16:30, Fri – Sat 09:00 – 16:30 & 20:00 – 23:00

One of the best things about living where we do in the city is that within a five minute walk we have a choice of Argentinian, Chinese, Colombian, Ecuadorean, Egyptian, Indian, Japanese, Lebanese, Morrocan, Pakistani, Peruvian, Portuguese, Syrian, Turkish, Vietnamese, as well as Basque, Catalan, Gallego and Spanish restaurants, where we can take our tastebuds out to play. Some are more authentic than others, some good, some not so good.

One of my favorites is Kathmandû – a Nepalese restaurant, which serves the best curries in Barcelona. The décor – blue and orange walls and prayer flags – is simple, the ambience relaxed, the staff friendly and attentive, and the food unfussy and delicious. They have a good selection of vegetarian meals. Try the tasting menu (€ 32.00 for two people) where you get a little bit of everything, then finish off your meal with a cup of chai, a bottle of Indian beer, and/or a refreshing lassi. Very good value.

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Kathmandû | Restaurants (Nepalese) | Daily menu € 9.75
Calle Corsega 421 | Eixample | +34934593769
Mon – Sat 12:00 – 15:45 & 20:00 – 00:00

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

Another of my favourite lunchtime spots is right next door to La Rita (see the La Rita article) . So, if La Rita is full, or there’s a long line, just step a few metres to the left and enter La Gramola (the Gramophone) where you’ll enjoy an excellent 3 course lunch with bread and wine for just € 8.80.

The menu here is a curious but tasty fusion of Mediterranean and Japanese. So, for your first course you could try sushi, and for your second course: paella, or steak with roquefort sauce. Or, the other way around, you could start with a Catalan, Spanish or Italian dish and follow up with a Japanese rice or noodle dish. All good, tasty fun.

The restaurant is set in a series of connected rooms, tastefully decorated with prints and paintings, and there’s a space at the back for smokers. Excellent value – and a good, central stopping-off point if visiting Gaudí’s Casa Battló or La Pedrera (see La Pedrera article), as it’s just 200 meters off the bustling, and expensive, Passeig de Gràcia.

A really good spot for long, lingering, chatty lunches with friends.

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La Gramola | Restaurants (Mediterranean-Japanese) | Daily menu from € 8.80
C/Aragó 277 | Eixample | +34934874231
Mon – Sat 13:00 – 16:00 & 20:00 – 00:00, Sun 13:00 – 16:00

An exhibition space I visit regularly – sometimes re-visiting the same exhibition three or four times – is situated in La Pedrera – the famous apartment building designed by Gaudí.

They have an excellent exhibition program with related talks and debates.

Though a tour of the building, and spectacular rooftop, will cost you 8 euros entrance to the exhibition space is FREE.

The exhibition program promotes a good balance of solo retrospectives and shows about movements or moments in art history. The shows, always accompanied with well-written notes, help you re-appraise or re-contextualize work by artists often overlooked because they didn’t quite fit with the prevailing mood or movement of the time. I’ve learned a lot about art from attending exhibitions here.

If you can understand Spanish it’s worth doing one of the free guided tours of the current exhibition on Fridays at 18:00. The staff here are friendly and helpful, and will look after your bags and coats at no charge. And, just so you know, the exhibition space has a public toilet, handy if you’re on the Paseo de Gràcia, as most of the cafés now only allow customers to use their facilities.

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La Pedrera | Art & culture
Passeig de Gràcia 92 | Eixample | +34902400973
10:00 – 20:00 daily

Though it may sound a bit chauvinistic: you will have fun with the typical macho wrestler bartending and teasing the chacha maid that plays as waitress.

All in one in a centric spot at the very heart of the city and, most importantly, at an affordable price.

Don’t miss the frituras trajineras: a dish of fried plantains with apples coated in breadcrumbs with black sugar and cinnamon.

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La Trajinera | Bars, Restaurants (Mexican) | Frituras trajineras & flautin € 10.00
Gran via de les corts catalanes 459 | Eixample
Sun – Wed 13:00 – 00:00, Thu – Sat 13:00 – 03:00

Located next to the Universitat square, one of the neuralgic centres of Barcelona, you will find all kind of traditional Spanish products like the nougat we have at Christmas time or “horchata“, an orgeat, very typical in Valencia, almond milk….

They also do very tasty ice-creams with various flavours, good cakes and they serve you all kind of coffees and juices. They do everything in a homemade style.

During lunch time they prepare good salads.

This has been one of the oldest and most traditional places in Barcelona since it opened in 1910 and it’s the only place where you can have orgeat all year long.

It’s a true reference for all the Barceloneses.

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La Valenciana | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Coffee & cake € 4.50
Calle Aribau, 16 | Eixample | +34933172771
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 01:35, Sun 16:00 – 22:30

This very big store has a lot of different furniture and objects to decorate your house in a very original way. You will find all kind of plates, glasses, tablecloths, curtains, frames, mirrors, tables, armchairs, garlands, beds and much more.

The store is a mix between classical, bohemian, colonial and ethnic style. So you can be sure that you will find what you are looking for.

Everything matches in this store and it’s a pleasure to hang out there just for the eyes even if you are not going to buy anything.

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Maisons du Monde | Shopping
Via Diagonal, 405 | Eixample | +34933683207
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 20:30

This is one of my favorite year-round spots to chill out.

During the summer the garden is a great place to cool off, maybe have a packed lunch and read a book, or visit an exhibition, before going back to work. Given its location at the junction of Passeig de Gracìa it’s surprisingly quiet and peaceful.

In the cooler months it’s a good place to pass time between appointments, maybe check out one of, say, three exhibitions. The exhibitions here, often about an aspect of live as is lived, or was lived, in Catalunya, are always interesting and often excellent. Exhibitions have included: the aborted People’s Olympics in 1936 (set up to counter the official Nazi Olympics), a surprisingly excellent exhibition about Catalunya’s future infrastructure needs, Marilyn Monroe’s dresses, and a series of beautiful aerial photographs showing the rich diversity of the regional landscape.

The pavilion in the garden often hosts music gigs as well as exhibitions and talks.

The Information Center here is very good with very knowledgeable and helpful staff who manage a comprehensive range of materials in all the main European languages. If I’m planning a trip out of the city I’ll go along and get advice and information on walking routes, themed trails, museums, hostels and refugios, and local food and drink. A visit here could save you time lining up for information at the main, and very busy, tourist information center in Plaza Catalunya.

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Palau Robert | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Passeig de Gràcia, 107 | Eixample | +34932388091
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 19:00, Sun 10:00 – 14:30

Before 1985 there were the ugly railways, as if the city was stabbed to death and was losing its bowels, but then an enlightened and visionary soul started turning it into a relaxing space.

This piece of Gaudian art was finished in 1991 by Beverly Pepper, who achieved the harmonic coexistence of nature and manly intervention to create a magic atmosphere that exerts a strange influence over people that go there for a picnic.  After eating, sooner or later, picnics turn into a kissing event in this park.

It is also said though, that there is a dark mob that operates in this park stealing dogs in order to sell them to some labs that need living victims for their sinister tests and evil experiments with chemical products.

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Parc de l’Estació del Nord | Relaxing | Free
Napols 42 | Eixample
07:00 – 23:00 daily

The perfect match on your second date: dinner and afterwards cinema.

Imagine you spent a great day on the beach and you meet someone you really like. Next day you meet again, you talk all day long and you still really like each other.

You start to get hungry but the restaurants won’t open before 20.30, except for Laurel, a cosy and delicious Argentinean/Uruguayan restaurant in the Eixample district nearby Placa Universitat.

Although there are plenty of argentinean restaurants all over the city, this place offers the best empanadas (Argentinean pies) in all kinds of colors and flavors (€ 2.00 – € 3.00). After trying some empanadas you should go for some goat cheese salad (€ 7.00), some homemade pumpkin-walnut-pasta (€ 9.00), or share a delicious pizza (about € 10.00).

Also try the Argentinean red wine (Malbec) and you will be surprised of its flavor and quality.

Last but not least try the world’s famous divine and unbeatable Havana alfajor (caramel fudge filled cookie covered with either white or dark chocolate or meringue).

Filled up and happy, you and your date should move over to the Cinema Renoir Floridablanca right in front of Laurel for the 20:15 session.

The cinema is one of the few in the city showing mostly independent movies in their original language with spanish subtitles. On Mondays “dia del espectador” you get a special deal for only € 4.20 Euros. The rest of the week is € 5.80 Euros, and on the weekend and on bank holidays you would have to pay 6 Euros.

After having a delicious dinner and watching a great movie it is up to you how you finish off the evening. Barcelona has boundless opportunities 24 hours, every day…

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Restaurant Laurel | Cinemas, Restaurants (Intern.) | Gnocchi € 9.00
Calle Floridablanca 140, bajos | Eixample | +34933256292
20:00 – 00:00 daily

Sant Antoni is in one of Barcelona’s very Catalan (= very boring) neighborhoods. Nothing is happening over there, the streets are clean and the inhabitants are close to marriage – or pension.

But once a week, the neighborhood is waking up: Sant Antoni’s flea market calls people from all over town. All ages and nationalities come to have a look at a variety of books, DVDs, computer games, old magazines, posters…

Maybe you are collecting Claudia Schiffers first Vogue-covers, or you are just interested in how to construct of a WW 1 missile- this is your place.

Combine your snooping for old treasures with a visit of Barcelona’s goldies:

Els tres Tombs (Ronda San Antoni 11), a tapas bar located on one of Barcelona’s most noisy street corners, invites you for a drink and some delicious and typical Spanish snacks. Talking? impossible. This place is for watching and observing – one of the Barcelona’s best terraces to just shut up and gawk.

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Sant Antoni flea-market | Shopping
Ronda Sant Antoni | Eixample
Sun 10:00 – 13:00

Leave the overcrowded and buzzing city center behind you and get impressed by the dignified halls of the University.

Feel like you just left Hogwarts express and entered the School for witchcraft and wizardry for the first time, before you will discover the real hidden secret of this mystic place: The University’s garden.

Wandering around among some of the oldest trees of the city, playing with the baby kittens, watching the herons sitting in the trees, the fishes, and the frogs in the pond will probably make you hungry and thirsty.

Get an authentic “bocadillo de jamon y queso” (ham and cheese sandwich for € 2.00) and a “cafe con leche” (€ 1.00) at the cafeteria in the basement, sit somewhere on a shady park-bench, have a siesta, breath deeply, and continue shopping.

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The garden of the University | Relaxing | Cafe con Leche € 1.00
Plaça de la Universitat | Eixample
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 21:00 (entrance Plaça de la Universitat) Sat – Sun 10: 00 – sunset (entrance Carrer de la Diputaci)

This welcoming bar-restaurant, with its bohemian vibe and quirky art and decor, has become one of my favorite places for meeting up with a friend for a drink, a bite and a good old chinwag. There’s no TV blaring away in the corner, no slot machines and no crap music. But there is good, reasonably priced food and drink.

The owner is an artist-photographer and the collection of artwork is worth a closer look. The rooms at the back are cosy and intimate, ideal for project meetings or just gossip.

Try one of their sartens (small frying-pans) of provolone cheese, served with breadsticks, or chorizo or morcilla (black pudding) with scrambled egg – delicious. They also have a tasty range of larger meals, such as ciervo (venison). The menu is refreshingly different – and the wines are good too.

And, a real bonus, they serve probably the best gin and tonics in the city. Honest. Even if you don’t try one – just watching the bar staff prepare them is fun.

If you’re interested in architecture then another bonus is that Salvador Valeri i Pupurell’s magnificent Casa Comalat is just a hundred meters away, on the opposite side of the street.

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Úbeda | Bars, Snacks, Restaurants (Spanish) | Sarten € 5.00
Còrsega 339 | Eixample | +34934152537
Mon – Thu 07:30 – 00:30, Fri – Sat 09:30 – 13:00 & 20:00 – 02:00

Vinçon is a design store situated in what was once the painter Ramon Casas’s family house – just a few meters from Gaudí’s famous apartment building La Pedrera.

Casas, together with his collaborator Rusiñol, was a witty, clever arts activist who did a lot to prepare the way for the following generation of artists such as Picasso. In keeping with the building’s cultural history the store features a gallery at its heart – La Sala Vinçon – showing work by artists, photographers and product designers.

The current exhibition features well-known landmark Barcelona buildings made from recycled cardboard and plastic by artist Valentino Menghi with a little bit of help from passing members of the public.

During the Christmas period the gallery promotes a very succesful art supermarket where you can pick up an original print or painting for less than € 100. Even the carrier bags are artist designed – and have become collectors’ items.

I really enjoy visiting this shop – not to buy things, I could never afford to, but for two reasons: firstly to enjoy the arts and crafts decorative stone, tile and ironwork, and secondly to pick up ideas. Call in, have a wander around, check out the quirky toys and gadgets and the kitchen department, climb the stairs to the first floor and marvel at the huge fireplace.

Wander out onto the patio at the back, where you’ll see what was the family chapel, and the trees which grow from inside the shop. Turn around and look up at the back of La Pedrera.

If only Vinçon had a coffee shop and a place to sit and read a book. Like a Catalan Ikea for grown ups with platinum credit cards.

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Vinçon | Art & culture, Shopping
Passeig de Gràcia 96 | Eixample | +34932156050
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 20:00

It’s a weekday, you’ve agreed to meet a friend for lunch, you’ve got €10 in your pocket, you’re hungry, but you feel like something different. Well, you could do a lot worse than try Wok Yutaka – an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet. And, there’s a good sample of Argentinian and Spanish food on offer too.

There’s been quite a few all-you-can-eat buffets open up over the past couple of years but, so far, Wok Yutaka is the best I’ve found in terms of variety, quality and value. The range and quality of food on offer is staggering – noodles, rice, salads, seaweeds, as well as clams, frogs’ legs, mussels, octopus, prawns, tuna, salmon and, of course, sushis, makis, tempuras and terriyakis.

They also have two barbecue grills – one for meat, the other for fish, seafood and veggies. Put what you want cooked – tuna steak maybe, or a seafood brochetta, or ribs and a spicy sausage (criollo) on a plate and pass it over and they’ll cook it there and then.

Excellent value. It is a very popular lunchtime spot, so be prepared to wait for maybe 10 minutes or more for a table.

LATEST NEWS: Because of their undeniable success there is now a Wok Yutaka II (check the Wok Yutaka II article), just around the corner from where I live. You’ll find Wok Yutaka II on the same street, a few blocks over, at C/Rossello 373 , on the corner with C/Napols.

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Wok Yutaka | Restaurants (Japanese) | Lunch € 9.50
Calle Rossellon 307 | Eixample | +34934580494
13:30 -16:30 & 20:00 – 00:00 daily

The last time I visited the original Wok Yutaka (check the Wok Yutaka article) we had an half-hour lunchtime wait for a table for four. As ever the food was really very good, but it was so busy and bustly it was a bit like eating on a rail station concourse.

Barcelonins know a lunchtime bargain when they see one, and so I wasn’t so surprised to see Yutaka open a second all you can eat buffet. And it is very, very good.

Yutaka II is slightly different to its older brother, the dining-room is airier, and the range of fresh seafood is much more extensive, and it’s 55 cents cheaper, though the range of salads is more limited. But, there isn’t the long wait for a table.

Ostras! I said. “Don’t swear in front of the kids,” my partner said. “No, I’m not swearing, they’ve got oysters!” I replied, and piled my plate with half a dozen oysters. We’d passed by a restaurant the day before where oysters were priced at 4 euros each. And they have four different types of mussels, three different types of clams, four different types of prawns, four different versions of octopus, and squid and …the kids loved it – especially the selection of sweets, lollipops and jellies.

Sushis, makis, sashimis, rice dishes, noodles, the whole works, as much as you can eat for less than 9 euros!

If visiting the Sagrada Familia it’s really not so very far – about a six minute stroll. Have fun!

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Wok Yutaka II | Restaurants (Japanese) | Lunch buffet € 8.95
Carrer Rossello 373 | Eixample | +34932082755
13:00 – 16:00 & 20:00 – 00;00 daily