Bar Bocata — Restaurant in Barcelona

That's no secret: as a foodie, I sometimes get invited to eat out. Most restaurant managers behave normally, they let me eat what I wanna eat because I behave normally, ordering what I would order if I had to pay. Some invite me to a definite menu but again, most of the time, these menus are coherent. Sometimes we don't reach an agreement and the collab doesn't happen. And that's normal too. 🤝 For Valentine's day (I know, that was a long time ago but I've been busy and I didn't really know whether to explain this or not 🤔), I had been invited with my wife to a brunch spot. Since the first moment, they had been very restrictive on what we could or could not order. We had settled on a menu, which was less than what I would have ordered but which was ok. Yet, 2 hours before the reservation time, they divided the quantities by 2. 🤬 I found this unacceptable and I decided to go elsewhere. I'd rather pay than be treated like this. (If you wanna know the name of the place, feel free to DM me) But yeah, try to find a table 2h before lunchtime on Valentine's day! 😱 Luckily, we found a spot at Bar Bocata, right in front of our son's school. And I still thank that brunch spot for making me change plans cause we had a GREAT meal. 😃 They offer small dishes that my wife and I decided to share (how romantic, eh!): 🥩 tartare, Russian salad, chickpeas and Perol sausage and, last but not least, a piece of sea bass. As I said, everything was very good, but that sea bass...! 😍 See, I usually don't order 🐟 at restaurants as they usually overcharge for it and, most of the time, they don't prepare it better than what I can do at home. But for some reason I was inspired by this one, when I saw it on the menu... and I'm so, so glad we had it. 🤗 There was nothing special about the way it was prepared, just that it was perfectly executed. I still think about it very often with 🤩. The service was excellent, the price was correct (about €25 each, no drinks, 1 dessert to share and great food) and the place was laid-back. 👍 Plus I was with the best of the companies so what else could I ask for? Thanks @barbocata_ 🙏

Quality & taste: 10/10 Quantities: 9/10 Atmosphere: 7/10 Originality: 8/10 Ratio price / quality: 10/10 Service: 10/10 How I felt...

My top reasons to visit Barcelona again: 1) see the completed segrata familia and 2) eat again at Bar Bocata. This experience was incredible. Some things to note: They take reservations—make one! We made one for 9:45, and they do seatings here. So, we were seated when they turned over the restaurant, closer to 10. This is a young restaurant (in a great way!). I don’t think anyone was over 35 when we visited (staff and patrons), but the food and wine are incredibly well thought out and creative, and the service is wonderful. The ambiance is great. There are candles at every table, couples and friends laughing and enjoying each others company. Here is what we got in order from favorite to least favorite:

1. the Spanish patas torta. This was unbelievable. Savory, salty, familiar, incredible texture. I will never forget this dish!
2. pork tenderloin sandwich OR the endive salad. The sandwich was simple but so well executed. The endive was unlike anything we’ve ever had—a must get! Don’t let the anchovies scare you if you’re concerned about it.
3. pan con tomate
4. gazpacho— so fresh and celebrated the vegetables. Not spicy.
5. baccala (cod) egg omelette. This was still great, but everything else exceeded our expectations

For wine, the 6e white was great and the ancestral pet nat was our favorite. We also had the chocolate dessert, recommended by our great server. As a bonus, I also bought a t-shirt here. We are that in love. We are praying another trip to Barcelona is in our future so we can come back...

Bar Bocata exceeded my expectations. We were a table of 4 — ages 44 to 58 — and noted that the average age of diners was about 28. Bar Bocata is homey, and although you touch elbows with your neighbors, your sacred table space feels intimate.

Travessera de Gràcia isn’t a cool area but it’s nice to have an authentic primarily residents bar above Diagonal. I’ve wanted to visit for a few months because every time I’ve passed by the place has been packed to the gills.

We ordered an underwhelming bottle of Rioja for €25 which was served cold but drank better at room temperature once it breathed in our glasses. We started with a tortilla de patatas that screamed real eggs with a pleasing brown color. Nearby we spied a tomato salad with capers as well as pan con tomate —both plates we wish we had ordered instead of two bocadillos that we shared — although the lomo bocadillo was my favorite. The bright green olives served with our drinks had a slightly bitter flesh that we enjoyed and a pana cotta with 4 spoons at the end delivered amazing hits of salt and honey.

One funny thing: there’s a discreet downstairs that was standing room only. We couldn’t quite figure out what was going on down there. Walking home we joked: downstairs is Burning Man.

Bar Bocata is exactly the kind of bar that I would want to go to were I visiting Barcelona. It’s not perfect but a relaxed authentic Spanish bar. And I loved the gigantes decoration inside — a huge head of a woman suspended overhead — original...