Before I start this if you want a more comprehensive guide for Barcelona check out my friend Tori's! I used hers in addition to Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc. while planning my trip. She's got a lot of great restaurants, sightseeing attractions, and tips for traveling in the city safely. Here is what I ate in the amazing city of Barcelona. A place with the perfect mix of history, contemporary, and a beach.
Where we Ate:
Where do i even start with this restaurant. We literally went twice in two days. Once for a meal and another time for some sweet snacks. Their menu was 5 pages of pure health food. They even had an allergy guide in it + things were marked with abbreviations and images like PB for plantbased of GF for gluten free. They sold pre-made smoothies and juices + snacks (kale chips) + four varieties of gluten free bread + a ton of healthy pastries and sweets. Their menu had everything: smoothies, juices, donuts, pastries, cookies, ice cream, energy balls, smoothie bowls, toast, salads, burgers, tacos, sandwiches, specialty bowls, kombucha, and more. I could’ve eaten there everyday for a month straight and not gotten bored. It’s also all healthy and they include dietary restrictions on their menu + list most/all of the ingredients they use in a dish. I loved the transparency they had there and felt like I was at home eating their food.
First up we've got the Green smoothie. Oh my god this thing was SO good and the ingredients were amazing. It was probably the best green smoothie i’ve ever had from a restaurant or from my own kitchen. I also appreciated how thick it was! They give you a spoon not a straw so you know it’s serious business. I’m deff recreating this one.
Next we have the "My Japanese girlfriend bowl". The flavors in this one were crazy. It was like eating healthy Asian food, which of you know me you know that’s my jam. I also appreciate the sauce on the side because I always order it that way anyways. Oh the best part was the jackfruit though. My dad even thought it was pulled pork at first until I told him otherwise. I loved this bowl a lot.
Next, the paleo bread! AH. Paleo bread usually tastes like a sponge and I’m not the biggest fan, but this bread was somehow so crunchy, crusty, and not overly dense. I actually felt like I was eating real bread and not a grain free alternative to it. It was so toasty and crunchy + covered with seeds on the outside. 10/10. Also the spreads that go along with it are amazing as well. They made a butter alternative out of almonds (but not almond butter) that tasted like the real deal butter and I just need to know how they did that and thank them 100 times for doing it. Definitely order this dish.
Then we came back for a snack the next day and got some sweets. We got a maple donut, maca cinnamon roll, and chocolate ice cream. I could’ve skipped out on the donut because it honestly (and sadly) didn’t taste like anything when i was expecting a bold maple flavor. Also this contains eggs so it’s not vegan, in case you were curious.
The maca cinnamon roll though. Amazing. Get it. That's a command not a suggestion. It tasted like a piece of cinnamon cake I used to devour from the Corner Bakery as a kid. It was so rich, dense, and flavorful. They even add a little drizzle of frosting to your roll when you order it. It was vegan + gluten free too!
THE ICE CREAM. gluten free and plant based. Wow. So we got chocolate cashew and it was so good. It tasted just like real chocolate ice cream and i was 100% there for it. They have lots of different base flavors and each one comes with different toppings. To each they add some fruit (differs by base) and an insane pastry. Guys i would seriously eat this over gelato any night for breakfast, lunch, a snack, dinner, or dessert. Yes it was that good.
The presentation of the food was one of my favorite things about the restaurant. I felt so inspired by all the colors, textures, and substitutes for regular food on their menu. If O were to ever open a restaurant (gotta dream big) I would make it similar to this one with healthy food that’s beautiful, tastes amazing, and shows everyone how fun eating healthy can be.
This was a healthy food cafe with outdoor/indoor seating, great aesthetic, and...iced coffee! With oat milk! Iced coffee is kinda hard to come by in Spain (as is any iced drink) so seeing this on the menu and getting to drink it had me really hyped up.
The acai bowl was so good. You could tell it wasn’t loaded with sugar like some acai bowls. Also peep that presentation and those strawberry tops, love to see it.
Also even though it was only 11 AM the salad was SO good. Like made me wanna eat a salad before noon everyday kinda good. I even made my own little avocado toast. The sourdough they serve is from a local bakery and it tasted amazing.
Where do i even start with this place. It is the cutest aesthetic cafe with amazing lighting, high ceilings, and a cooking/kitchen space you can see them preparing your food in. The menu has so many options from toast, oatmeal, smoothies, smoothie bowls, teas, coffee, vegan + gf pastries/treats, and more. I got an amazing iced coffee with oat milk here. Oat milk being on the menu always makes me so happy no matter what country I'm in. As well as having actual iced coffee on the menu because it’s not a huge thing in Spain like it is in the states (probably the hardest thing for me to deal with there).
We got the popeye smoothie bowl which was so good. I loved how you could tell it was actually healthy and not loaded with sugar like 8 bananas, a cup of granola, cups of sweetened almond milk, etc. I also loved how I could see from the color and some flecks that there was a lot of spinach in the bowl because a girls gotta have her greens.
We also got the avocado toast. Not kidding when i say this was the best avocado toast I’ve ever had. The bread was from a local bakery and it was the crunchiest, toastiest piece of bread i’ve ever eaten. The avocado was plentiful and tasted so fresh. They also had tomatoes, spinach, and lots of seasoning on it which took the flavors to a new level. We also got a low temp baked egg on the side and it was super runny, but we just dipped the toast into it and it made everything taste even better.
Also they use bamboo straws!!! I brought my metal one but when the waitress brought our drinks out they already had bamboo ones in them. I was overjoyed as some restaurants give you straws without anything being said and people don’t always understand when you ask for no straw in your drink due to language barriers. Spain didn’t use a lot of plastic straws though! It was more paper ones or no straw.
Location wise this restaurant is only a 15-20 minute walk from the beach. Food wise they have the BEST sourdough ever. I mean ever. It's sourdough from a bakery literally right around the corner from the restaurant. It's charcoal sourdough (hence the black color) and it was perfectly thick while also being light and airy. I’m obsessed and wish I could’ve brought a loaf home. The menu had an awesome balance of healthy and unhealthy foods. From smoothies, salads, bagels, omelettes/eggs, benedict’s, potatoes, pancakes, french toast, and more. You could really tell how fresh all of the ingredients were and everything was so flavorful.
Here we have my dish (discussing more in depth in a sec), an egg white omelette with sourdough, and burgers with fried eggs and bacon. My friends all got these and were nice enough to give me a bite and I was DED. This combo is insane to begin with but they give you a chipotle aioli that makes it next level.
As for my dish I ordered the Turkish eggs and I devoured the entire thing. It was the charcoal sourdough with 2 perfectly poached eggs (the yolks were SO orange, love to see it) and a greek yogurt dipping sauce with quinoa and dill in it. All of the flavors came together so well and I thoroughly enjoyed cracked my egg yolks, mixing everything together, then dipping the sourdough (and later my potatoes) in it.
That reminds me that I also got the potatoes and they were amazing. Can never go wrong with potatoes and these had a good balance of being soft on the inside but crispy on the outside.
Another one of my favorite places. Their portions are HUGE! You could easily get two meals out of one order here. The salmon was so fresh and flake that it was falling apart on my for. They also gave me so much quinoa and avocado, which I love both of and appreciated the generous helpings. Usually places are scarce with avocado so I was feeling blessed. I also loved that you could order things off the menu or make your own. You can also take things to go.
They had salads, grain bowls, burgers, wraps, smoothie bowls, and more. OH and that huge puddle of white stuff is tahini. God bless and thank you Flex Bowls. The veggies here were cooked so well too. I felt like this was something that would come out of my kitchen at home, which I really appreciate when i’m traveling but still wanna keep my healthy eating habits.
The burger here was grass fed and the fried egg with a super orange runny yolk on top took it to the next level. I also love that they use manchego cheese on their burgers. Manchego cheese + grass-fed beef + runny egg yolk + avocado = heaven on a bun. The sweet potato fries were also so good. You could tell there were fresh and not the stereotypical french fry by their taste and texture. I would go back here everyday if I could, so if you go to Barcelona go here for me and please send me food pics so I can live/eat vicariously through you.
The spot for vegan gelato in Barcelona!!! They also have lots of gelato made from organic milk plus a large frozen yogurt selection. They have so many cool flavors for each category, beautiful display, and abundant add ins for each flavor.
Acai & Me
This place is right on the beach. I mean seriously we stumbled upon it while going on a walk along the beach. The smoothies were so simple which was a nice change from all the heavier food we had been eating. Mine was literally just acai, banana, vegan vanilla protein, and plant milk with coconut flakes on top. It tasted so fresh, not too sweet, and the portion was huuuuge. The people who worked there were so nice and helpful too. I loved the beachy, chill vibe there so much. They had acai bowls too as well as an entire restaurant you could go to and sit down to eat at.
As you could probably tell by the name this place is somewhere you wanna go for tapas. When you're there you're gonna wanna get the bread with tomato, sautéed garbanzo beans with garlic and spinach (SO GOOD! going to remake this one for sure), assorted cheeses, and steak. The bread was so crunchy and the spread came on the side so you could put as much as you wanted on there.
The garbanzo beans were perfect. They were sauteed with garlic and spinach and the garlic flavor was strong, which I'm always about. I also loved how crispy and crunchy the chickpeas were.
You just can't go wrong with cheese, especially when there's bread involved too.
The steak was cooked to perfection and so tender. It even comes with french fries.
Everything there was so flavorful. They have a huge menu and great portion sizes. My favorite dish was the sauteed garbanzo beans because they were so simple and healthy yet flavorful and crunchy.
This place was so good I went twice.
They're known for being a great tapas restaurant in Barcelona and do not disappoint. Get the fries with aioli if you go because they are to die for. Other than that you could get the carrot sticks with yogurt sauce because your body desperately needs a vegetable after being in Spain for two weeks. You could also get the fried eggplant with honey, which was good but wasn't my favorite because I was expecting savory and got sweet. Some other great items from the menu were the tuna with red peppers, bread with tomato, fried cod, and fried potatoes with eggs and chorizo/jamon.
The tuna was some of the freshest fish I've ever had. It was seared on the outside but raw on the inside and so flakey.
The bread there was so crispy and crusty and paired perfectly with their tart tomato spread.
Although the cod was fried you could still see and taste how fresh it was when you but into each one.
Okay and one of my favorite dishes of the entire trip: the fried potatoes with eggs and chorizo/jamón. So this dish is a base off french fries, then they throw two fried eggs (with runny yolks) on top of it, then they put your choice of chorizo or jamón in there too. Once you crack the eggs and the meat has been sitting there it's basically just a huge bowl of fried, greasy goodness and even though I love my health food I could probably eat it everyday and be happy.
La Boqueria
This place was what I want in a grocery store and more. There was so. much. fresh. fruit!!! and juices! You could buy fruit there then eat it as a snack. They sold a lot of locals eggs, fish, meat, produce, chocolates, nuts, pastries, etc. If i lived in Barcelona I would grocery shop here 100%. It’s cool too because a lot of restaurants will source their ingredients from the market. It’s obvious when they do too because the quality and freshness of the food is unmatched.
We stopped at a little jamón butcher and got a cup of jamón with a couple of breadsticks crackers in it. It it was so simple but so good. the Jamón here is so good. The quality and freshness of it can’t be beat, especially by our processed flappy ham here in the states. I would compare the ham in Spain more to prosciutto.
Fresh Fruit/Juice Stands
If you just walk around the city you’ll find plenty of them. I loved them because they have a more authentic, local feel. You can also tell how fresh everything is and they’ll often make it right in front on you so you can see all of the fresh ingredients they’re putting into it. Also it’s always great to support small, local businesses. We stopped to get a green juice at one but I can't remember the name of it. Either way it was so authentic (the menu was in Spanish, really racked my "I haven't taken Spanish since senior yea of hight school" brain) and energizing as it was packed with greens, lemon, ginger, and apple.
Salad del Mar
This restaurant is a super easy walk from the beach. Since it's by the beach they have a seafood heavy menu and they’re good at it. The fried calamari with aioli was so good. It didn’t feel as greasy or heavy as calamari normally does and tasted more like fish than fried food.
We also got croquettes de jamón, which is very typical item on tapas menus in Spain and oh so fried on the outside but creamy on the inside when you bite in.
We also got the paella here and it was mouthwatering. The fish in it was so fresh, the rice was super flavorful, and the portion was huge. What more could you want?
Must Gelato
Honestly I just wanted something sweet my last night there and it was next door to where we ate dinner, but turned out really good. It's right by the beach, so it's the perfect treat on a hot summer beach day. They also served churros, crepes, and macaron ice cream sandwiches (fun fact: i hate churros). As for gelato they had so many flavors and I loved how they had special ones. They served more than just chocolate or vanilla but ones that had specific candies like Oreos, Ferro Rocher, Kinder, etc. I tried the Oreo and Kinder flavor. SO GOOD! The chunks of both candies were plentiful in the vanilla gelato itself but didn’t overpower the gelato’s actual richness and flavor. It was a solid balance of chocolate and vanilla as well as ice cream and add-ins.
Also if you’ve never tried Kinder chocolate GET SOME. It's the same brand as those fun eggs banned in the U.S. but they sell little chocolate bars filled with cream. I tried them for the first time when I went to Germany back in 4th grade when my diet was composed of pasta, Pop-tarts, chicken nuggets, bacon, and waffles. Needless to say I ate a minimum of 2 bars of that stuff a day. Every time I’m in Europe I make sure I get a bar or something composed with it and this time it was my ice cream.
I didn’t get to go to this one and I’m so sad. We even walked all the way there and the kitchen was closing in 5 minutes so we couldn’t eat there. It looks so good! my friends DID go though! They were kind enough to send me pictures and give me a review of what they got there so here it is:
The smoothies were bomb but were more similar to juices than smoothies.
The burrito was so good and has a lot of flavors in each bite, but it wasn’t as good as they thought it was going to be.
The restaurant is more appearance based than flavor based, but the avocado toast was as good as it looked.
