Bar Celta Pulpería

Tourists and locals/residents can be, at times, a heady cocktail in Barcelona. Many foreigners living here now complain about them but were once tourists themselves and these camera-wielding, path-blocking visitors undeniably contribute vast sums of money to the local economy, as well as of course having every right to come and experience and devour this beautiful city. This is somewhat offset, however, by some of the problems they also bring such as drunkenness, noise, crowded streets and the thieving that follows them, particularly in the barri Gotic. The city council continues, with varying degrees of success, to try and find ways to disperse visitors to other areas of the city.

There are some places though where the cocktail is perfectly shaken or stirred and everyone rubs along just fine and dandy. One of these places is Bar Celta Pulpería.This is a rustic, Galician tapas bar which is always packed out with those who live here and those who are visiting and it’s one place that has improved immeasurably since the smoking ban. A long L-shaped bar area is lined with tapas to be selected and ordered from the waiters, who after sweat and hard work deserve every cent of their salary as they are constantly rushed off their feet. Inside, walls are lined with panelling, bowls are attached to the wall to hang your jacket and the place is littered with nic-nacs and bottles.

If, like me, you sometimes find sitting on a bar stool with your feet dangling a little uncomfortable then there is a small, cramped dining area at the rear of the bar.Name a classic tapas dish and they probably serve it here. The glass cabinets that line the bar make decisions difficult, rows of dishes of patatas bravas, razor clams, mussels, pa amb tomaquet, pimientos de padrón, whitebait, pinchos, sardines and of course this being a pulpería, octopus.With the exception of commenting that they were a little heavy-handed with the salt shaker before serving, especially with the pimientos de padrón, there are no complaints about this food. It is simple and honest fayre and at a reasonable price. Follow our lead and order a few things and then fill up more if needed, much more pleasurable than placing one bulk order and having too many plates in front of you. Here’s a few things we ate that survived for a photo opportunity:

Sweet, tender pulpo a la gallega (Galician octopus)

Crispy, salted pescaditos fritos (whitebait)

Pa amb tomaquet (Bread with tomato)

Oversalted pimientos de padron that washed the wine down quicker than expected

Other dishes that didn’t make the photo call due to our absent mindedness and hunger were pieces of warm, paprika-oozing chorizo and buñuelos de bacalao deep-fried salt cod dough balls.

On an evening in the city take a stroll along the seafront, do some fantasy yacht shopping at the harbour and then skip to C/de la Merce just behind Passeig de Colom and sample some of this for yourself. Soak up the buzz of the bar and admire the harmonious relationship between the insiders and outsiders.

Bar Celta Pulpería, C/de la Merce 16, Gotic

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Maoz

It’s a rare day when I will sing exaltations about a chain of fast food outlets. I’m no fan of the generally poor quality, low nutritional content food they churn out and the excessive waste packaging eating at them often produces. I also hate how the evolution of chains, food or otherwise, has homogenised many town and city high streets, especially in the UK. Luckily Spain seems to have resisted being engulfed by them thus far but they are here and it’s a creeping process, one I’m sure will continue.

However, maybe it was the Pope being in town this weekend, but I’m feeling all evangelical and am going to praise Maoz the falafel and salad bar which is a stones throw from the Boquería on the Rambla and their other branch a short walk away on C/Ferran. Maybe this is the first thing I like about it, that in this vast city there are only two of them, they’re not clogging up every street corner, although there’s no shortage of kebab shops and falafel in some neighbourhoods.

So why do I like Maoz? Firstly, and most importantly the food is good and what they offer is simple. Falafel. I’ve seen them make them on the premises, not empty a bag of frozen ones into the fryer. You can choose them in a salad bowl or in a pitta. Go for the wholemeal integral option as my one criticism of this place is that the bread is not great, the wholemeal far exceeds the white choice. If you fancy some houmous or feta cheese in with your nuggets you just have to ask. Then the best bit, the salad. When they’ve popped your pieces of falafel in the pitta or dish then it’s over to you.

In front of you lies a selection of salad accompaniments and you can have a limitless amount, best to eat in if you fancy doing this though, too many times I’ve dashed through from a language class to the train to work, my eyes having been bigger than my belly and precariously balanced a mountain of salad up the street. There’s something for everyone on the salad bar: taboulleh, tomato and cucumber salad, sun dried tomatoes, mixed olives, chickpea salad, coleslaw, aubergine salad, sauces, green peppers and my favourite, the moreish fried, slightly spiced cauliflower. And that’s not a exhaustive list.If that lot doesn’t satisfy your hunger they do serve fries and there’s a selection of soft drinks, fruit juice and cans of cerveza. All the above in a ‘meal deal’ is around 5€. The unlimited salad bar alone is also an option for around 3€.

I checked the nutrition information on their website, convinced they must have something to hide. Where were all those transfats, extra calories hidden in their salad like that other mega-chain McDonald’s? Well, thankfully they don’t seem to be there. Another big thumbs up.

Having lots of vegetarian friends who are going to be visitors at some point, I am often trying to absorb places they’ll be able to eat in this decidely limited vegetarian option city. I’m not saying places don’t exist but unless you want to live on bread, cheese and tortilla sandwiches it can be a difficult place to eat, especially on the move. Maoz is a haven for vegetarians and vegans.

So, are there any downsides? Well, the location means you have to be very vigilant with your belongings whilst you’re ordering and eating, this tourist mecca part of town is rampant with theft, but that’s no fault of Maoz and they do have a warning notice displayed. The other is that this is a small eatery and there are few seats to sit and enjoy your food and take advantage of returning to that salad-fest, the other branch on C/Ferran has even fewer places to park your bottom. However, they don’t appear to commit many sins, hallelujah.

Maoz, La Rambla 95 and C/Ferran 13, Barri Gotic – Non smoking.

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L’Antic Bocoi del Gotic

I’m not sure if we didn’t spend more time looking for ‘L’Antic Bocoi del Gotic’ than we actually spent eating there. Not because the food was terrible and we walked out before finishing our meal, rather that I still haven’t completely got my head round the narrow, winding streets of the barri Gotic. After asking several disgruntled bartenders and a hotel receptionist we finally stumbled upon this delightful restaurant on Baixada de Viladecols.

The stone walls and beamed ceiling interior are especially inviting and I suspect that some of the large stone slabs in the wall at the rear of the restaurant may be from the Roman city of Barcino which pop up in and around various shops and buildings in this part of the city.

The restaurant specialises in coca, a yeast dough base topped with vegetables, meat, fish and is sometimes referred to as ‘Catalan (or Spanish if you are elsewhere on the peninsula) pizza’.

And they didn’t disappoint, even for the two incredibly fussy eaters I had accompanying me. I chose the salt cod and roasted peppers which was wonderful, more so because this was my first experience of salt cod which was moist and juicy and perfectly complimented by the peppers.

Salt cod and roasted peppers coca

The least fussy guest, adventurously for him, chose the duck ham topping and the other incredibly fussy and non-meating one, who I will not honour with the title vegetarian as most vegetarians plump for more than a few vegetables, chips and chocolate in various forms,  played safe with mushrooms and courgette, which they both chomped down without a single complaint, a huge result.

Duck ham coca

Mushroom and courgette coca

Alongside these we shared a spinach, mushrooms and walnut salad topped with slices of duck ham, which were duly picked out by fussy quasi veggie, which was very good, if a little overdressed.

Spinach, mushroom and walnut salad

The only real letdown to the meal was the choice of starters. Fussy eater number one sampled fuet for the first time which was good quality and again went down without any complaints, but the limited choice and fussy eater number two meant we plumped for nachos and guacomole, which was completely out of keeping with the rest of the menu, had a disproportionate amount of guacomole to the number of nachos, i.e. too much of the former and not enough of the latter, and had come straight out of the fridge so was teeth wincingly cold.

Only one of us could squeeze in a dessert and the small square of moist, chocolate brownie style dessert had the two of saying we didn’t want dessert asking for extra spoons.

Chocolate brownie dessert

Overall there is little to complain about here, the setting, food and price (a coca will typically set you back about €8.50) are all more than agreeable and I look forward to returning, I just hope I spend a little less time tracking it down next time.

L’Antic Bocoi del Gotic, Baixada de Viladecols, 3 Gotic

Non-smoking

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