Local dishes you must try in Barcelona
To get to know the Catalonian culture better, you must try some of the local dishes in Barcelona. Typical Spanish dishes are rather simple and usually made of local products. The most common ingredients are vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, artichokes, eggplants), meat, especially pork sausages and cured hams, and many kinds of seafood.
In bars and restaurants you will find two kinds of dishes: tapas and raciones. The famous tapas are small portion of a dish, served on little plates. Meanwhile raciones are bigger and more complex. But as they is such a large selection of these, we are going to help you choose the ones you MUST taste before leaving.
Patatas Bravas
This simple tapas appears on the menu in almost every bar and restaurant in Barcelona! The dish consists of fried cubes of potatoes served with a spicy tomato or garlic aioli sauce. The authentic patatas bravas should be freshly fried, as crispy outside as they’re soft on the inside, accompanied with an homemade sauce and a pinch of aromatic smoked paprika.
Pa amb Tomàquet
Basic “Bread with Tomato” is both an excellent as an additional food to your main plate or as a little snack. This is the perfect easy comfort food. This Catalonian’s specialty is definitely tasty: toasted bread with a special mixture of ripe tomatoes and fresh seasoned, olive oil and garlic can never go wrong. It is usually accompanied with olives, anchovies, ham or cheese.
Embotit
The name embotit comes from the Catalan language and is a plater of various cured meats and sausages. In a typical embotit you will find regional products such as sweet or spicy chorizo, pork sausage botifarra, blood morcilla, dry fuet and the world famous Iberian ham. If you want to try it, you should head to some original Spanish tapas bars or bodegas in which the meat is delivered by butchers who usually use traditional recipes.
Bombas
Another dish made of potatoes, but totally different in its taste and structure is “The Bombs”. This dish consists of little balls of smoothy smashed potatoes, stuffed with meat or vegetables. They are all fried with breadcrumbs and served with mayonnaise, aioli or salsa brava. The cooks of those restaurants usually compete for the best recipes, thanks to which, you can have an incredible dish there!
Calçots and Romesco Sauce
If you really want to eat like a local, Calçots with romesco sauce is a must-eat. The Calçots is a special kind of green onion from the region of Tarragona. This unique vegetable is very important for Catalans; they celebrate its harvest during the annual event Calçotada. On this day, people gather and prepare a special barbecue with calçots. When the onion is well grilled, they wrap it up in newspaper and serve it with a romesco sauce. During the season for Calçots, from November to April, you can find this special dish in some of the restaurants in Barcelona.
Crema Catalana
Every meal should end with something sweet. Which is why Crema Catalana is the perfect dish to eat here. It’s a dessert that is similar to the French crème brûlée, with its main ingredients being milk, egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and cinnamon. It has a creamy structure topped with a crispy layer of burned sugar.
Check out our trips and parties here.
Discover more on our Facebook page and instagram, @erasmusbarcelona!
