Catalan traditional dishes
I’ll start with dishes that can be found literally at every turn throughout Catalonia: they are served in restaurants, cooked at home, sold in supermarkets and ready-to-eat stores. The quality and flavor of the food will vary depending on who prepared it — you can get to know it both in restaurants and grab a takeaway portion in a canteen, but don’t jump to conclusions if you’ve only tried it in a food court. I recommend choosing traditional mid-range Spanish tavernas for your first encounter.
Fideua.
This is an analog of the famous Spanish paella, which is very popular in Catalonia. The difference is that instead of rice, fideua is made with short vermicelli. The dish is prepared with seafood, such as shrimp, mussels, octopus. If you want to try a real paella or fideua, go to a restaurant and remember that these dishes are cooked in special large open pans, and it is two to four portions. The price of one serving starts from 11 €.
Botifarra with white beans (botifarra amb mongetes)
A savory sausage made of minced meat and pork fat, botifarra is a typical Catalan dish. There are two variants of its preparation:
- Raw botifarra is grilled or roasted over charcoal. Serve with garlic mayonnaise (alloli) and cooked white beans.
- Botifarra is dried for a month and then eaten as an appetizer (tapas).
Tomato bread (pa amb tomàquet)
A very popular traditional Catalan appetizer that can replace dinner for Catalans. Very simple to prepare: fresh bread is spread with half a tomato and drizzled with olive oil on top. It is often topped with jamon.
Fricando.
Catalan-style fricando is a large beef stew with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, garlic and white wine. The original 18th century recipe used fresh mushrooms, so this dish was only available in the fall. Nowadays, fricando is available in any season, using dried or canned mushrooms.
Crema catalana (Catalan cream)
A typical and most popular dessert in Catalonia. It is a light version of the French crème brûlée. It is made from milk and egg yolks and topped with caramelized sugar. In restaurants, this dessert is most often served in small clay plates.
If you really like this Catalan dessert, self-cooking kits with a good shelf life are available at grocery stores.
Catalan delicacies
Spain is world famous for its cheese, wine and meat specialties. There are also well-known producers in Catalonia, and their products can be bought in almost any supermarket.
Catalan wine
In Spain, the highest category wines are produced in a specific territory and bottles are marked with the DO (Denominacion de Origen) label. The highest category wines are labeled DOC (Denominació d’Origen Qualificada) and have strict requirements for quality and territory of origin. In Catalonia there is one DOC wine region (there are two in Spain) and 12 regions with the DO label. The most popular ones are:
- DO Terra Alta. About 50 wineries in Catalonia produce and bottle wines with this label. Their distinctive feature is that grapes are grown on terraces at an altitude of 350—550 meters above sea level. With the DO Terra Alta label you can buy dry white, rose or red wine. A bottle of wine costs from 5 €.
- DO Penedès is the largest wine region in Catalonia, located in the provinces of Barcelona and Tarragona. Due to the different soil and climatic conditions, more than 120 grape varieties are grown here, which can officially be used to produce wine or Catalan champagne cava. Under the D. O. Penedès produces wines of the famous brands Torres, Codornu, Freixanet.
- DOC Priorat — the highest category of wines are produced here, mostly red dry wines priced from 25 € per bottle. Grapes are grown on the small mountainous area of Priorat in the center of the province of Tarragona in 12 wineries. Famous brands of wines under the DOC Priorat label are Clos Mogador, Clos I Terrasses, Mas Martinet, Mas Alta.
Catalan cheeses
If you want to try an inexpensive Catalan cheese «for every day», I recommend you to pay attention to the local large producer of food products (including cheese) — BonArea (BonArea). Its products can be found only in company stores located in almost any large settlement in Catalonia. The assortment is large, for example, there are traditional semi-hard cheeses (Semi curado) or soft (tendre) from a mixture of milk of cows, sheep and goats (price from 8 €/kg), hard sheep cheese (Formatge curat d’ovella) 11 €/kg, soft goat cheese (Formatge rulo de cabra) with papaya or pineapple (13 €/kg).
If you choose among exclusive cheeses, visit specialized cheese stores (Formatgeria), which sell products from local cheese factories. For example, you can find some of Spain’s best 2020 cheeses made in Catalonia:
- Farcell Joven young cow cheese from Betara Cheese Factory.
- Blau de Juglar blue mold cheeses from Quesería Reixagó and Blau de Bufala Muntanyola from Fundació Ampans Cheese Factory.
- Puigpedrós soft cheese from Moli de Ger and La Gárgola from Formatgeria del Miracle.
- El Farcell Cabra hard goat cheese from Formatgeria La Frasera.
Catalan meat delicacies
In Catalonia, you can find the famous Spanish jamón in any grocery store, as well as other raw meat delicacies such as fuet, chorizo or longaniza.
Fuet is a black pepper cured sausage in a white mold casing. One of the best Fuet Espetec is made in Bic at the Casa Taradellas factory. The price is about 2 € per piece (180 gr).
Chorizo is a red colored sausage with paprika in a natural casing. Longaniza is a cured sausage with more meat than fat. A good range of these delicacies is produced by Casademont, a Catalan company known outside Spain. Longaniza costs from 17 €/kg, chorizo from 10 €/kg.
What and when to eat in Catalonia?
The rhythm of life of a Spaniard is different from ours. They like to eat out or meet friends outside the house, and in houses instead of a large kitchen there is often only a small corner with a mini stove. It is easy for even a tourist to feel this rhythm of life.
Breakfast in Barcelona
You can have breakfast in Barcelona’s cafes and bars from 8am to 10am. Locals like to eat breakfast out of the house, so the range of dishes is impressive. The most popular in Catalonia:
- Croissant with chocolate (croissant con chocolate) and croissant without filling (croissant normal). Price: from 2 €.
- Sandwiches (bocadillos) with local delicacy hamon, spicy pork chorizo, longaniza or salmon. Price: 5 — 8 €.
- Scrambled eggs (huevos fritos) with bacon, mushrooms, spinach or salmon. Price: 5 — 7 €.
The most common beverages ordered are coffee, orange juice, beer or wine. Catalans rarely drink tea, so it is not easy to find it in cafes.
For an inexpensive breakfast, I recommend going to the bakeries (panaderia) — choose the same croissant as in the cafe, but cheaper, or any other fresh pastries.
Lunch in Barcelona
Look for full lunches in the bar-restaurante (bar-restaurante). An economical option is the daily menu (menu del dia or menu diario), available weekdays from 13:00 to 15:00 — 16:00. For a fixed price (from 11 € depending on the establishment), you can choose one dish from the list in each category. The daily menu is updated daily and the dishes are prepared for lunch, so they are served quickly. The assortment includes Catalan favorites, 3—5 in each category. The menu is usually posted at the entrance to the restaurant, and the price of the combined daily meal is also listed there.
Popular first courses here are: cold tomato gazpacho soup, pasta with various sauces (without meat), black rice (colored with cuttlefish ink), melon with jamon.
Fish or chicken soup is rarely on the menu. But there is a mixed salad (ensalada mixta) with different types of leaf lettuce, pieces of fresh vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, sometimes carrots and beets), olives and tuna. If you choose it, don’t forget to salt it yourself and add olive oil.
Another popular salad in Catalonia is the Russian salad (ensaladilla rusa). It is a simplified analog of our Olivier with boiled potatoes, carrots, tuna and a lot of mayonnaise. Sometimes it is garnished with olives or pickled peppers.
The second thing on the daily menu is the main course. It can be a large cutlet, chicken variations, entrecote, braised pork on the bone, fish dishes (mostly salmon, cod or sea bass). If the menu does not specify a side dish for the main course, you will be served french fries.
The third item on the menu is dessert. It is usually yogurt, ice cream, cheesecake, homemade pie (e.g. almond or yogurt cream), seasonal fruit, local dessert Catalan cream or egg mousse flan.
Be careful, the price of the daily menu usually includes bread and drinks, but some restaurants may list the price without them, in which case you will have to pay a few € extra. If the menu says «pan y bebida incluida» (bread and drinks included), the price of a full meal is final. You will be offered a choice of drinks:
- Water — bottled or filtered and chilled in a carafe.
- Spanish red dry wine — a 0.5 liter bottle from the store or a carafe of homemade wine.
- Refreshing drinks made by Coca-Cola.
Dinner in Barcelona
Dinner in Catalonia is late, from about 20:00 — 22:00. On weekdays, many people make do with numerous variations of small tapas (tapas). Weekend or holiday dinners are an occasion for families or groups to get together in a restaurant and have a good meal, ordering traditional Catalan dishes.
Useful information
- Portions in Spain are average, so you will not get hungry.
- Tipping is optional, leave a tip if you wish.
- Some restaurant and cafe tables are placed outdoors under canopies or umbrellas. But be aware that smoking is allowed at these tables. If you don’t like to dine surrounded by cigarette smoke, take a seat inside the restaurant.
- Most restaurants and bars in Spain close from about 16:00 to 18:00. It is not possible to have a full meal during this time.
- For the duration of the pandemic, masks must be worn when traveling in restaurants and cafes and removed when eating at tables. Masklessness is always allowed on the terraces.
