Back by popular demand La Maitresse our Montreal bred international guest reviewer, has sent in another special report on the restaurants of Barcelona, Spain after the huge success of her first Restaurants of Barcelona, Spain, special report.

Bossborn Tapas

Bossborn restaurant was good in general, and not as expensive as I feared when I saw the first round of 8 Euro appetizers arrive with such a tiny amount on each plate. About 2 to 3 dishes per person should cut it. Their version of the caprese was delicious with very fresh creamy cheese used between the tomatoes and pesto. The vegetables with honey and cheese is deceiving because it’s really just a lentil salad with a slice of dry cheese on top. The avocado dip with chips was good. Shrimp tempura always a safe bet and the best dish was by far the octopus (pulpo). Here, like most Spanish restos, you will find some variation on a dish consisting of potato wedges covered with a fried egg and some type of dried or cooked pork meat. For desert, the fondant here is a close runner up to that of Sandwich and Friends (according to the EatWellMtl Poll) – but the other deserts were just ok.

Price per Quality: The meal cost about 20 Euros per person with lots of wine though we were not super stuffed.
Atmosphere: Sophisticated and trendy
Food: Nothing so original or mind-blowingly tasty but was a really nice meal.

Bossborn Tapas Information
Website: bossborn.es
13, Placa de Palau, Barcelona
Phone: 93 295 58 66
Hours: Open Tuesday to Saturday from 1:30 pm – 4 pm, and 8:30 pm – 11:30 pm, Sunday from 1:30 pm – 4pm.

Click the link to read reviews on many more Barcelona restaurants

Pizza del Borne

Pizza del Borne a more sophisticated version of Pizza Chez Danny and Madonna Pizza’s $0.99 slices. Pizzaria del Born is still a casual quick meal but is a little more respectable (or in other words not restricted to 4 am hunger attacks). Each slice here costs a Euro and some change but each is made with fresh ingredients like olives, pesto sauce, spicy sausage and fresh mozzarella cheese. The pizzas are pan pizza style and each slice is small so you will want to try more than one. My personal fave was the olives and pesto – delicious. They also have veggie ones, herb ones and MANY choices of meat ones (welcome to Spain); ham and sausage are staples in the Spanish diet so at least half the pizzas are devoted to pork lovers. Definitely stop by here for a snack. And the deserts are not bad either (try the one with Dulce de Lece or the coconut square).

Food: Delicious quality cheap pizza: 9.5899675/10
Atmosphere: Bustling with huge lines and people everywhere: 8.96836/10
Price: no damage to your wallet here /10

Pizzaria del Borne Information
22 Passeig del Born, Barcelona, Spain
Phone: 93 310 62 46

Sagardi update:

Another fun Sagardi location is in the Borne area right near the Santa Maria del Mar cathedral. This one has the benefit of outdoor tables (though you pay an extra 30 cents per pintxo for the prime seating which brings the price up to just over 2 Euros per item). Aside from the mountain of crab and the bacon-shrimp-and-cheese-heart-attack-delight described above, another must-try is the mini-burger. These bite-sized delights put even the prized Toronto Bymark Burger (which costs about $40) to shame. You may have to request these dishes specially, or you can just wait and see what the waiters surprise you with when they come around with the warm pintxos. Definitely find a Sagardi during your stay in Barcelona – as an Australian at our neighboring table remarked, “the only problem is that the plates are too small.” No worries, you can refill as much as your tummy can handle.

Sagardi Restaurant:
62, Argentería, Barcelona
Phone Number: 93 319 99 93

Milk Restaurant

Well it’s no L’Avenue but if you are craving a British/American style brunch place in a country where omelettes are only served for dinner, this milk restaurant is a good bet. They have your classic bacon eggs and baked beans, eggs Benedict, fruit smoothies and of course your varieties of coffees to go with. Ironically, in this restaurant catered mostly to foreigners, I first understood that the Spanish “café cortado” differs from the usual “corto” which is simply an espresso. The “cortado” is essentially a mini espresso-sized latte and is the perfect amount for my taste. In terms of food, the bacon here was particularly delicious, the eggs and beans were good, and the potatoes not so great – used a bland paprika flavouring with no kick. The croque monsieur inspired sandwich was a hit. One more plus about the place is that it’s right in the old city and you can walk through the small streets to burn off some of that bacon. Watch your bags in this area though, lots of thievery here.

Location: 8.363834/10
Price: On the pricey side for Barcelona but catered to foreigners so is expected/10
Food: 7.78076/10

Milk Restaurant Information
21 Gignas, Barcelona
Phone: 932 680 922
Metro: M Jaume I Line 4
Website milkbarcelona.com
Happy Hour Cocktails 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Brunch Saturday & Sunday 11:00 am – 4:00 pm; Lunch 11:00 am – 4:00 pm daily

Sandwich and Friends Restaurant

Sandwich and Friends is a restaurant chain with several locations around the city, and most of the stuff we ordered here was good. I must skip to the best part though, the warm chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream. Truthfully, I’ve never had a bad fondant – how can you go wrong – a chocolate brownie with a gooey melted chocolate centre served with vanilla ice cream on top. Still, this was an especially good one (and is still in the running for the best fondant in the city according to the EatWellMtl polls). Another must-try here is the gazpacho. It was a bit creamy but still light and refreshing and you could really taste the blend of flavours from the tomatoes, cucumbers and spices. Their specialty I suppose is these rolled sandwiches – both hot and cold, but they weren’t that great. The cold turkey was good, better than the hot chicken with spinach and cheese (good idea but bad execution – too dry).

Atmosphere: modern and kind of trendy décor – keep in mind it’s a chain resto though but still intimate.
Food: Safe bet but try the gazpacho and fondant – you will thank me
Quality to Price: 7.3/10

Sandwich and Friends Information
27, Passeig del Born, Barcelona
Phone: 93 310 07 86

OR
5 (Gran Via) Rambla Catalunya, Barcelona
Phone: 93 342 73 76
See website for full list of other locations

Ciao Bella Restaurant

Unfortunately, restaurant Ciao Bella was a disappointment. To be fair, might be better to sit at the bar part of this restaurant for nibbles and drinks. The pizza was average, but the veal was like a cheap bring-your-own-wine resto in Little Italy, or sort of like Lombardi’s on Duluth posing as a really nice Italian restaurant. The place was quite nice-looking but the food just wasn’t that good. They make a creation somewhere between a pizza and a calzone which seems like a great idea but the components did not spread well inside so some bites were delicious and others just empty crust. Nothing too special about this place.

Price to Quality: Not impressive
Atmosphere: Modern Décor and good service
Food: Average

Ciao Bella Restaurant Information
210, C/ Mallorca
Phone Number: 934 519 348

Lasal Delvarador Xiringuito

Lasal Delvarador Xiringuito is actually outside of Barcelona in Mataró – about a half-hour drive from the city. It’s right on the beach, and in the summer is lively and packed with people spilling out of the restaurant onto a boardwalk of outside tables doubling as dance floor. But on the quiet cool-ish September evening when I went, the intimacy of the place, excellent service and good food really shone. They hire good djs and are open year-round. They make a good brava sauce (the red saucy component accompanying the mayo-ish sauce and fried potato chunks known as patatas bravas), and the hamburger, though served with no bread, was delicious and good quality.

Atmosphere: adapts to the time-of-day and to the season but I imagine always good
Service: lovely staff both at the bar and the tables
Price to Quality: 7/10

Lasal Delvarador Xiringuito Information
190 Passeig Maítim, Mataró, Spain
Phone Number: 93 114 05 80
Website: lasal.com

La Singular

La Singular has quickly become one of my favorites. One caveat – there is only one waitress and she does her job well but will not be bossed around by her clients. Sometimes the service can be slow but be patient it is worth it! It’s a small casual looking place in Gracia, an area with small village-like streets. And I can finally rave about a restaurant’s food as being interesting and delicious. They have great (and thankfully some unique kinds of) tapas to start. You must order the eggplant with brie and figs – it’s amazing. Also, potatoes with cream cheese and salmon, and the guacamole (which is so well flavored with cilantro, lime and more but served with a smoked fish on top which personally I could do without). And as for main dishes, the calamari with pesto sauce was brilliant, the duck with sweet sauce served with bananas was seriously a must-have, the lamb with the mint sauce (they have several great lamb dishes here) was well prepared and another recommendation is the grilled tuna with vegetables and soya sauce. The only thing that was not so great was the salmon lasagna (though they have another lasagna which is ok). For desert, a pyramid of chocolate – very rich and looked better than it tasted, a fondant (delicious but has not quite beaten the Sandwich and Friends fondant according to the EatWellMtl poll) or lemon cake which was dry. Everyone should come to this restaurant.

Price for quality: 25 Euros per person to eat well and drink (8-10 Euro appetizers to share plus 10 to 16 euro mains) – worth every penny!
Atmosphere: Bustling casual place with lots of locals.
Food: I don’t need to repeat – everything amazing except for the salmon lasagna and lemon cake – must try lots of tapas.

La Singular Information
50, Francisco Giner, Gracia, Barcelona
Metro: M Gracia
Phone: 93 237 50 98
Payment: Major credit cards accepted

Unico Restaurant

Unico restaurant was a bit of a disappointment, the restaurant was fine but just it seemed so much more promising. On an adorable stretch of a quiet street in the gay area of Eixample, I was one of the few females in this resto. For dinner, the 16 Euro menu came with an appetizer, main, desert and a small carafe of wine – is a good deal, despite that it was one of the pricier ones on that strip. I ordered a salad with fruit as a starter which was weird with its creamy savory dressing. The tomato mozzarella did not consist of fresh cheese. The best thing was probably the salmon because the cooking was perfectly timed and thankfully not overwhelmed with any sort of sauce – it’s accompanying vegetables were so salty from soya sauce they were inedible. As for desert, the cheesecake is really similar to the one sold at the Kosher Quality Bakery on Victoria in Montreal. The crema catalan was nice but probably could be made better.

Price to Quality: Fine but there are better
Atmosphere: Trendy and mainly gay clientèle
Food: Average

Unico Restaurant Information
176, Diputación, Eixample, Barcelona
Phone Number: 934 530 484
Website: unicorestaurant.com

Champaneria Restaurant

If you can manage to find Champaneria, you must go. The bottles of Cava (Spanish champagne) are 2 Euros a piece, though you must order food to go with it. The Cava Rosada (rosé) is sweet and delish, or you can try one of each of blanca and rosada. For food, they have the usual tapas of croquettes, charcuteries and cheeses, and then cold sandwiches of sliced meats and hot choices of chicken breast, pork and even hamburgers. This is not fine dining by any means though – the place is a zoo – you have to force your way outside through a crowd of people (which is not a line so do not wait) and shove yourselves into whatever little corner (hopefully with some sort of ledge) that you can find. Is a blast and a must go.

Price for Quality: 2 bottles of cava, four hot sandwiches and a plate of croquettes cost 19 euros – need I say more.
Atmosphere: totally crazy and so much fun – very conducive to chatting with the neighboring group as their elbows are in your food and they hold your glasses while you open your next bottle of cava.
Service: Be patient and pushy – you really need to fight for service at the bar but all the patrons are congenial and help each other out passing back the pork sandwiches down an assembly line of people to reach your group in the back corner.

Champaneria Information
7, Reina Cristina, Barcelona
Hours: Daily 3:30 pm – 10:30 pm