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The BEST Barcelona Food Tour

When my daughter and I went to Spain, we had to do a food tour. This was absolutely the best Barcelona food tour, and thank you to Barcelona Eat Local for comping my child and me.

Food samples from Barcelona Eat Local

One of the best things about traveling is experiencing the local life. For me, that’s the local neighborhoods and food. No matter where we went on our last trip, we explored places slightly off the beaten path, and it makes for an extra special trip.

Doing local food can be a bigger challenge, however. You only have so many shots to get it right, and just like at home – some restaurants are great and some I wonder why they’re still in business.

That right there is why I love food tours, no matter where I am. A good food tour finds the best of the best, and you get to try bites from each of those restuarants. That also helps you figure out where you want to return and enjoy a full meal.

Barcelona Eat Local does a masterful job of creating a food tour that fits local Barcelona neighborhoods. Our trek lasted over the promised three hours, and we were absolutely stuffed at the end of the tour.

Every restaurant we visited had a story, and all provided delicious bites. Many tastes were foods I’d never heard of before, and many I probably wouldn’t have ordered on my own. By the time you waddle away at the end, you’ll agree you experienced the best Barcelona food tour, too.

We’ve done food tours in other places from Quebec to Portland to Paris, and more. I’ve only ever been disappointed in one tour, and I highly recommend checking them out wherever you go.

We loved the food in Spain and Portugal, so branch out from just Barcelona if you can. The town of Villajoyosa in Alicante is a great one to check out, especially if you love chocolate.

What to Expect on the best Barcelona food tour

Barcelona Eat Local offers several options. We chose the daytime tour, which visits five restaurants and offers nine tapas – in addition to drinks. The tour costs 69 euro for adults, while children 13-16 have a reduced price of 55 euro, and children 5-12 cost just 35 euro.

Tours run generally Wednesday to Saturday at 11:30am. Definitely show up 10-15 minutes early, however, so the tour can start on time.

Our tour met outside Els Tres Tombes in the Sant Antoni Market, although interestingly, that was not a stop on the tour. Our tour guide was there at least 15 minutes early, and we started our tour early because we also arrived early. I appreciated not having to stand around.

All guides with Barcelona Eat Local are experienced and share not just details about the food. You learn about the history of the area and many local traditions, as well.

Come hungry. I got that heads up before I came and wouldn’t let my daughter snack at any of the places we passed on our way to the meeting point. Trust me, no matter how hungry you are when you start the tour, you’ll end with a happily full belly, always the mark of a good food tour.

The tour involves quite a bit of walking, but it isn’t overly strenuous. While the first two locations are around the corner from each other, the remaining restaurants all require between a five and ten minute walk.

There is a slight hill but nothing that requires a great deal of exertion. The streets and sidewalks are all fairly smooth, which means that this is a fairly handicap accessible tour, but make sure you let the tour company know ahead of time.

The same holds true for any food allergies. If you let them know you restrictions ahead of time, they can work with them. If you don’t share in advance, you may not be able to enjoy all the delicious food.

The tour ends at a different location from where you meet your guide, but it isn’t far from the pickup point. Our guide, Andrea, did an amazing job of figuring out where we needed to go after the tour and actually helped ensure we made it on the right metro line to meet a friend after the tour.

In addition to the cost of the tour, you absolutely can tip, and if you have a good experience, please do so! Typical tips range from 10-20% of the cost of the food tour.

Stops on the Best Barcelona Food Tour

BCN

BCN Bar Cafeteria

This small hole in the wall owned by two former truck drivers who picked up the restaurant as a second career is a fantastic find. Located just around the corner from the meeting place, you may never find it without this tour. Once you take a bite, you’ll never forget it, however.

You first receive a drink, vermouth with lemon and olive stuffed with anchovies. I never knew I liked vermouth before I tried this, but it was amazingly sweet and the olive provided the perfect complement. My daughter had her choice of juices in place of the alcohol, so no one got left out.

For food, you enjoy a slice of potato tortilla. It’s like nothing you think of when it comes to tortilla. Tortilla in Spain is an entirely different animal. It’s more like a potato and onion omelet, but how they get so much flavor from such a simple dish, I have no idea.

Barcelona Potato Tortilla

The food is a full size slice, so you already feel no skimping. If you start to feel the effects of the vermouth, the potato tortilla quickly soaks it up as you head to your next stop.

Sant Antoni Market

Sant Antoni Barcelona market

The Sant Antoni Market recently reopened in its full time home. Ten years ago, they discovered Roan ruins underneath the building and spent time uncovering them. As you walk in, you can see a bit of the ruins underneath the building.

At this stop, you enjoy and learn about the importance of cod in the local diet and culture. You receive three tastes of cod in different forms, and it’s amazing to see how varied the flavor and texture is.

Barcelona cod appetizers

Try the croquettes first. It’s bechamel with cod and onion, battered in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried. Again, for such simple ingredients, you’ll be amazed at the flavor.

Enjoy the bunuelo next. While it’s also fried, it is more garlicky and stronger tasting. They are salted cod fritters, and another item I might never have fried but for this tour.

The last one to try is more like bruschetta. You enjoy raw cod on bread with chopped peppers and more. It isn’t the easiest bite to eat, but it’s well worth the attempt!

Sucursal Aceiteera

Aceites angles Barcelona

I could definitely see myself spending time at this little restaurant. It’s built over ancient olive oil storage tanks, and you can still see them through windows in the floor in a few spots.

Here you receive a glass of cava, the famous Spanish sparkling wine. In addition, you receive a lesson on cava and the different types.

Spanish sparkling wine

It’s made from three grapes grown only in Catalonia, and it requires a second fermentation that causes the bubbles. If the vintners add add sugar, it becomes Brut or extra Brut. Without the added sugar, they call it natural.

The type of cava depends on how long it stays in the bottle. When aged 15-30 months, you enjoy cava reserve. If it ages 30+ months, savor a  grand reserve, which develops more flavors – becoming toasted and silky. Young cava has more sharp flavors and gets aged 9 to 30 months.

How do you tell the difference? If has a pale yellow color, you’re drinking young cava. If it’s gold and a deeper color, you have grand reserve. Make sure you smell before drinking, as you can identify the fruits you taste.

The food here is a shared dish. It’s reminiscent of potato salad but so much more – ensaladilla rusa. In it, you’ll enjoy canned tuna, eggs, potatoes, olives, carrots, mayonnaise, and vinegar.

Barcelona ensaladilla rusa

Dig in with little pieces of bread or the fork. Just make sure you don’t double dip! It’s a rich dish and hard to finish – delicious as it is.

A side note: If you need a bathroom break, take it here. This is your best stop for a restroom.

El Sortidor

El Sortidor Barcelona

The next stop is a more art deco, modernist, but yet the food remains traditional. This is the longest walk of the food tour, but it isn’t strenuous.

The restaurant has been around since 1908 with new owners, but the same location – and a fascinating story on how it evolved over tie. They actually have the original ice boxes in the restaurant that now serve as storage.

When you walk in, adults have their choice of beer or wine with your choice of red or white. Kids choose a juice option, and then the food rolls in.

Wine for lunch
Juice for kids

The food here alone is almost enough to satisfy for a meal, and it’s so good, you’ll want to gobble it all. 

A plate quickly appears piled with Iberico jamon. This is a higher quality than serrano, which eats whatever the farmer feeds it. The highest quality available is bellota, where they only eat acorns.

Spanish Iberico ham

All ham comes from the black foot pigs local to Spain. You see the legs where jamon gets shaved throughout Barcelona, and you don’t want to miss it.

Along with the jamon, you receive a platter with the implements to create pan con tomate. Thankfully, your guide shows you how to prep your bread for those who have never tried it before.

Pan con tomate

How good is it? This is the one dish my daughter insists we do back home… as often as possible. Scrape the garlic on the bread, then take a tomato half and rub it over the bread. Drizzle with olive oil and an optional touch of salt. So. Good.

It doesn’t end there, however. Save room – if you can – for patatas bravas. This recipe comes from Madrid and tends to be spicy. The dish contains fried potatoes with two sauces, an aoli plus a tomato sauce with almonds and hazelnuts.

Patatas bravas

Everything gets topped with green onion, and it’s amazing. A word to the wise: this version is specific to El Sortidor. If order elsewhere, will be a very different dish.

Restaurante Casa Isidro

Restaurante casa Isidro

Your last stop provides dessert. If you’ve never had crema catalana, you’re in for a treat.

Part of the reason Barcelona Eat Local provides the best Barcelona food tour? They find little local haunts, not touristy restaurants. Yet you always experience authentic food with fabulous flavor.

This is a hidden restaurant that serves typical Catalan food. It’s relatively pricey, but they treat you like family. The owner even came over to chat with us as we enjoyed our dessert. Inside, it’s set up like a house, but it has a modern feel.

This restaurant is a favorite of Woody Allen, and they close entirely when he comes. In fact, you often see politicians in private rooms for meetings and other famous people dining there.

The same people have owned it for 50 years. They do so well with their business that they need to advertising, and all their business comes from word of mouth.

Once you try the crema catalana, you’ll understand. The dessert will remind you of creme brulee, but it’s slightly different and uses no cream. It include eggs, sugar, milk, cinnamon, and lemon zest.

Crema catalana

Other Barcelona Eat Local Food Tour Options

We enjoyed the Food Tour of Authentic Barcelona, their most popular tour. Beyond that, they offer four other food tours, as well as private tours. No matter what you choose, I know you’ll be convinced you found the best Barcelona food tour.

The Tapas, Taverns, and Traditions Tour runs Wednesdays and Thursdays with periodic Friday offerings. You depart at 5:30pm, and this tour is open to those 13 and older. The cost for this tour is 79 euro. 

This tour enjoys a different set of tapas in the Gothic Quarter and La Barceloneta neighborhoods, and yes, it includes plenty of traditional drinks, as well.

Wines and Tapas Tasting is another three hour evening tour running Thursday nights at 5:15pm. While you visit “just” three locations, you learn far more about wine – specifically Spanish wine – and still enjoy plenty of food to keep you happy.

You must be 18+ for this tour, given its focus on wine, and tickets cost 89 euro. If you’re a wine lover, this is the tour you want to enjoy!

Clandestine Dinner Gathering  – this is food how I’ve always wanted to enjoy it. Think of this as a pop up restaurant. It’s a “secret” gathering place that becomes your restaurant for the night and varies by night from a medieval building to a trendy penthouse.

This four hour experience includes an open bar, demonstration cooking by a master chef, and live music in addition to the eight course Mediterranean dinner. Join them (ages 13+) Wednesday to Saturday nights at 8pm for 125 euro – and the time of your life.

Barcelona Like a Local is another evening food tour, but it lasts two and a half hours. While visiting three local restaurants, you enjoy five tapas and most popular local drinks from cava to vermut to craft beers.

You explore a new neighborhood in Barcelona’s Old Town, which means you could do all Barcelona Eat Local tours and never repeat an experience. This tour heads out every Friday night at 6:15pm. You must be 18 or older with the focus on alcohol, and the tour costs 45 euro.

Are you ready to book the best Barcelona food tour?

You see why I recommend coming hungry, as do the guides. With Barcelona Eat Local, you enjoy such a variety of local, authentic food and drink. As you walk, you also enjoy a history of the neighborhood and more. Don’t visit without enjoying the best Barcelona food tour.

The best Barcelona food tour - enjoy this walking food tour for local Barcelona food and drinks. It's a perfect way to explore Barcelona and learn about the neighborhoods. Come hungry because this is a food tour that gives you more food than you can eat! #barcelona #foodtour #travel #traveltips

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