A very personal list of this resident’s favourite restaurants and bars in Barcelona
A Spot of Lunch in Barcelona
Disfrutar, Barcelona
For a long time Disfrutar has been my all time favourite venue, and, to me, defined what all top end dining should aspire to. I have made an annual pilgrimage to worship at the pass since it first opened its doors in 2014. The day after my first visit it was voted the best new restaurant in Europe. It is now rated the best in the world.
El Celler de Can Roca, Girona
Very much a family affair, the Celler is run by the three Roca brothers. Joan, is head chef, Josep the sommelier and Jordi, the youngest, the pastry chef. They grew up in their parents’ modest restaurant, Can Roca, There, in 1986, they started their own place in an adjoining building, relocating to the current venue 20 years later. The year after they were awarded their third Michelin star.
King Charles I, Kings Cross
On the wall, above a stack of takeaway menus, a large sign pronounces ‘Bring your own food or order locally and have it delivered’ To me this succinctly encompasses the spirit of one of London’s finest boozers. Ale is the order of the day so why not let ravenous drinkers feed themselves.
The Coach and Horses, Soho
Landlord Norman Balon once threw a customer out of The Coach & Horses for ordering a snakebite. “We don’t serve cocktails here. Get out!” he announced. Notorious as ‘London’s rudest landlord’, inscribed on matchbooks and writ large over the door, he had worked there for 63 years until his retirement in 2006, aged 79. Somebody once complained that his beer was flat. Norman poured it into a new glass, frothed it up with his fingers and gave it back.
The Eagle, Farringdon
Along came chef David Eyre who, unable to afford a restaurant, took on The Eagle pub, stuck a range and grill behind one end of the bar, coined the term ‘gastropub’, and got cooking. You ordered at the bar from the day’s menu chalked on the bar wall above. Food was just brought to you when ready. Great grub it was too. Large plates of British fare at its best for a most reasonable price. Crucially it was still a pub though.
The French House, Soho
Is it possible to describe the French House pub without reverting to ‘bohemian’ like everyone else? Bugger, too late. To catalogue all the famous and the infamous who ever took wine in there would take a small volume in itself. Just assume that all the good, bad and ugly luminaries who have ever alighted in Soho in the last 100 years have dropped by for a glass or three and be done with it. Notably they are treated with the same friendly indifference by the regulars as anyone else.
The Three Chimneys, Kent
The Chims, as it is affectionately known by its hardened irregulars, was, at that time, a tiny, ancient, rural ale house in the middle of bloody nowhere
Wetherspoons
Wetherspoon is not the largest pub chain in the UK, that goes to the Stonegate Pub Company, with almost 5,000, but it is certainly the most visible. To its detractors, Spoons are down market scruff houses for pensioners, benefit scroungers and general riff-raff, which sell cheap beer to the poor and needy. The regulars agree; that’s why we go there.