Best of Barcelona 2019 Foodie in Barcelona

Best of Barcelona 2019

2019 has been the best year for restaurants in Barcelona yet! The Gastro Restaurant theme that tentatively appeared in 2018, blossomed in 2019.

How to describe the Gastro Restaurant? Typically, small in size with a chef that is invested in the business and front of house with knowledge and enthusiasm to match what comes out of the kitchen. Extra points for an open kitchen, seasonal produce and tweaking traditional dishes. Originally only places like La Pubilla, Bar Canete or Gresca Bar were doing this well.  Now they have competition.

Everyone swooned over Berbena. A tiny spot in Gràcia that takes vegetables seriously. La Pubilla opened Extra Bar, tiny, even smaller kitchen serving excellent bites. Gresca Bar came up with Bar Torpedo all about good things to drink and fancy fried foods to go with them. Betlem opened the large Bicnic next door where I had some of my most memorable dishes of the year.

It’s the year that some of the most interesting restaurants I found were on the peripheries or less visited areas of the city. Orval Coffee shop in Fort Pienc (that bit to the left of Arc de Triomf). Taverna Oniric in Gracia Nova. And Olivos Comida y Vinos in Sants. And in the hills of El Coll, complete with outdoor escalators: Agreste Fabio & Roser.

Coffee and coffee shops exploded. Enough that I curated a post with the best of them in my Barcelona Coffee Guide.

Feeling the pressure from Google indexing, I made a few compilation posts during the year. Google seems to love these. And it turns out – so do you! If you want to see more, tell me the subject and I will be off.
Foodie in Barcelona 2019 compilations were:
Barcelona Where to Eat
Top 10 Places to Eat in Sitges
Top 5 Barcelona Page

My favourite bites of 2019 were:

1. Trofie pasta with guanciale and bottarga at Berbena
2. The pluma Iberica with mashed potatoes at Olivos Comida y Vinos
3. The coarse pate with house-pickled vegetables at Bicnic and the homemade snickers bar with ice cream.
4. The much-improved ensaladilla russa with cockles, seaweed and fish roe along with the fried milk at the Galician restaurant Bicos
5. Yellowtail sashimi at Mr Porter restaurant in Sir Victor Hotel
6. The tangle of noodles with mysterious black stuff at the Chinese restaurant Uniko
7. The coconut ice cream at DelaCreme Obrador 
8. The quarter grilled pineapple at the high-end rotisserie place A Pluma
9. Mint chocolate chip ice cream from newcomer Natas
10. The almond croissant from Mayer bakery
11. Three Marks Sobrasada roll that is made for them by Cloudstreet Bakery

I took part in some exciting projects in 2019.
– The pocketbook Eat Like a Local Barcelona came out. Published by Bloomsbury and written and curated by me.
-Along with regularly updating the Foodie in Barcelona App (available on iTunes $3.99), I launched my first audio tour VoiceMap tour – A Culinary Tour of El Born ($3.99).
– I gave a trend forecasting presentations for a couple of big brands.
– I even carried out bespoke food tours for some great people.

What did I think was hot last year? Read Best of Barcelona 2018.

Thanks for reading, for commenting, for telling me where to eat next. Bring on the new decade!

Foodie in Barcelona Posts of 2019 (newest first)

• Agreste, El Coll
• Bicos, Galician Food, Eixample 
• Olivos Comida y Vinos, European, Sants
• Oaxaca, Mexican, Barceloneta 
• Capet, Catalan, Gothic Quarter 
• Ferment 9, Fermentation Superstore, El Born
• Bicnic, Gastro Rustic Cooking, Eixample
• Taverna Oniric, Catalan, Gracia Nova 
• Iakni, Lebanese Bar, Sant Antoni
• Chongqing Liuishou Hotpot, Eixample
• Orval Coffee, Plants & Coffee, Fort Pienc
• Coffee Guide Barcelona
• Morro Fi, Vermouth & Tapas, Eixample 
• Barcelona Where to Eat
• Last Monkey, Pan Asian Fusion, Sant Antoni 
• Lemonade Social App
• La Catalista, Wine Bar, El Born 
• Wild Lulita, Vegan Desserts, Gràcia 
• Forn Mistral, Bakery, El Raval 
• Delacrem Obrador, Ice Cream, Eixample 
• Petit Comite, Catalan Fine Dining, Eixample
• Mr Porter Barcelona in Sir Victor Hotel
• Can Framis Museum
• Quillo Bar Tapas, El Born 
• Eat Like a Local Barcelona
• Les Filles A Good Looking Cafe in Gracia
• Wanderbeak, Experience, Delta Del Ebro
• A Pluma, The Chicken Gourmet Place
• La Barra Carles Abellan, Seafood
• Bar Central, Cafe with oasis
• Top 10 Places to Eat in Sitges
• Cinc Sentits, Catalan
• Context Travel Barcelona, Tapas Tour
• Proxim, Filipino Market, El Raval 
• Natas Ice Cream, Artisanal Ice Cream
• A Culinary Tour of El Born – Audio VoiceMap Tour!
• Fat Barbies, BBQ & Smoke
• La Masala Cafe, Café, El Born
• Berbena, Seasonal Bistro, Gracia
• Bar Torpedo, Drinks & Snacks
• Extra Bar Gracia, Platillos
• Culinary Backstreets, Food Tour
• Milla’s Lunch Barcelona, Delivery Lunch Service
• Baby Jalebi Barcelona, Punjabi Food
• Pandan Barcelona, Rolls, Sant Gervasi-Galvany
• Mayer Bakery, French Traditional
• New! Top 5 Barcelona Page
• Xiringuito Miramar, Beach, Vilanova
• Uniko Chinese, Gràcia Nova
• Somni, Mediterranean, Eixample
• Casa Rafols, Spanish, El Born
• Quatre Coses, Classic Catalan & Cake
• Honest Greens, Flexitarian
• Kobuta Ramen i Mes, Sants
• Media Manga, Haute Tapas, Eixample 
• El Puestu Barcelona, Small Plates
• Three Marks Coffee, Eixample
• Chi Nanit Chinese, Shanghai Cuisine, Gràcia