Barcelona - fun spots for lunch

Perhaps since I grew up in Southern California and have a natural Type-B personality, I find it easy to succumb to the more relaxed rhythm of life of Mediterranean Spain.  I'm a staunch supporter of siestas, 3-hour lunch breaks and dinner at 11 pm.  Frankly, I find it's a more sane and civilized way to live our only too short lives.

I'm particularly fond of the Spanish approach to lunch.  As in much of the rest of the world, the midday meal has always been the main meal of the day.  In order to preserve this tradition, the Spanish government (or some pro-labor lobby) took an enlightened approach to protect its workforce from succumbing to the corporate pressure for increased productivity which inevitably leads to a bag of greasy, chemically preserved God-only-knows-what mindlessly devoured during "working lunches" or behind cubicle walls.

Some brilliant Spanish law actually requires restaurants (not tapas bars) to provide a three-course menú del día.  What this means for the tourist is that you can join the Spaniards in tucking into a very civilized lunch consisting of an appetizer, entrée, dessert, bread and wine, often for just 7-10 Euros.  So long as you avoid the awful restaurants catering to tourists and go where the locals go, you can get a taste of something very close to Spanish home cooking.

While I was in Barcelona, I felt it was my duty to ferret out some of these great lunch spots and report back.  For my tips, I relied on recommendations by Barcelona natives and transplants who wrote into eGullet and by Colman Andrews, editor of Saveur  and author of Catalan Cuisine.  Of the places I tried, these three very different restaurants are my favorites.

First, the homiest, yet wackiest, of the three is undoubtedly Can Bertram (Carrer Rogent 4, tel. 93-265-46-04, Metro: Clot).  I adored this place.  When you step through the door of Can Bertram, it's like walking into a Spanish version César's bar in Marcel Pagnol's Fanny Trilogy.  Taking the place of César, Panisse and Marius are three women, ranging in age from about 50 to 85, who are as endearing and hysterical as the characters in the Pagnol films.  The youngest of the three tells you what's available that day (there is no menu) and takes your order, while the next oldest (in the picture above on the left) does the cooking, and the oldest (on the right) tries to help out with simple tasks like cutting melon, but spends most of her time bossing the other two around.  The food is simple, what the contributor to eGullet, Barcelona native "asola," called "authentic grandmother cooking," later adding "I don't know any restaurant where the food resembles more my parent's." (Click here to read his witty post on eGullet).  For 8€, I ate a salad, followed by a pan-fried veal cutlet with French fries, and cold, sweet watermelon for dessert, all simple yet perfect for a hot summer day.  According to "asola," on other days you may get "a fish soup, a fideuà, simple salads, an assortment of fried small fish, a roasted chicken, a butifarra with beans."

My second recommendation also originated with "asola."  Goliard (Carrer Progrés 6) would make a great lunch after visiting Antoni Gaudí's Casa Milà (also known as "La Pedrera"), as it's just a 10-minute walk away, across Avenida Diagonal in the Gràcia neighborhood.  The food is typically Catalan, yet the setting is modern and the wine a step up from Can Bertram.  I started with a simple rice with vegetables, followed by a butterflied whole orada (dorada in Spanish, gilt-head bream in English), and dessert, all for 10€, including bread and wine.  Other choices on the menú included potato and anchovy salad and gazpacho to start, salt cod and sheftalia, a glorified Catalan burger, as entrées.

From Colman Andrews, I learned of the cafeteria downstairs at the Coŀlegi d'Arquitectes Catalunyes, the College of Catalan Architecture (Plaça Nova 5, tel. 93-306-78-50), right in front of the Cathedral in the Barri Gòtic (Gothic neighborhood).  For 9€, I enjoyed another traditional Catalan three-course lunch, starting with esparracada (pork stewed with wild mushrooms and tomato), followed by pop guisats (tender baby octopus with peas and a hint of ginger), and a so-so crema catalana (similar to a crème brûlée).  The setting for this excellent meal is indeed a cafeteria so you end up sharing your table with several other lunch goers, creating a convivial and fun experience.
   

Comments

[Nopisto]

Good post Brett,

This is how spanish workers, icluding me, eat every working day. It's not easy to find really good quality lunch menu restaurants, but some of them are really worth the visit.

[Brett]

nopisto, you are so much luckier in Spain to be given the time for a nice lunch! Here in the States we usually only have an hour, sometimes less, and often there is pressure to bring your own and eat it at the desk while you continue to work, all in the name of higher productivity.

[asola]

Hi, Brett, I'm "asola". Let me tell you I'm delighted you like the place and that I'll be showing your picture to the girls soon!. It's a pity you didn't try Foxos, another big hit for me.

Alas, it's also a pity I went to SanFran two years ago, I could've asked YOU for recommendations.

Hope you come again soon,
alfred

BTW, Maine lobster in Catalan is called "llamàntol", you typed it wrong in another post

[Brett]

Alfred, thank you for stopping by my blog and thank you for the recommendations. Tell the girls at Can Bertram I said "hola!"

[Jennifer]

I loved reading this! Heading to Barcelona on 27/9.

JennyUptown