The hamburger is the most popular snack on the planet. The chronology of the dish dates back to Mongolian times, but its origin has been diluted in the face of its rabid (and eternal) present. Its etymology takes us to the German city of Hamburg, but if we have to grant nationality to the dish we will not hesitate to point to the United States as the unofficial home of the most famous round sandwich of all.
From its worldwide expansion thanks to the large fast food chains, to the recent boom in gourmet burgers, to the even more recent success of smash burgers and veggie burgers. The hamburger, like matter, never disappears, it only transforms, because, like matter, it seems that we need it to survive.
Therefore, because beyond any of its forms, today the hamburger is an essential dish for us, we bring you some of the best in town and you know how to decide when the craving comes… or you feel the need.
Chivuo’s, sandwiches & beers
For us, Chivuo’s burgers crown this list in their own right, although this is purely subjective, of course. But there is something about Chivuo’s, beyond the quality of the burgers’ buns, the ingredients and sauces that accompany them, the appetizers and craft beers that complete the menu: the quality of the meat.
Their burgers are so delicious that they could be eaten on their own, like a Russian steak with fries … .They also have an extra called cheese drop, which is nothing more than smearing your burgers with melted cheese from top to bottom for 1.5 € and the experience is fun and caloric.
📍 Carrer del Torrent de l’Olla, 175 (Gràcia) | Carrer del Pintor Fortuny, 15 (Raval) | Rambla del Poblenou, 99 (Poblenou) | Carrer de Potosí, 2 (La Maquinista)
💸 Cheeseburger (Burger Melt) – 12,9€.
Central Burger, the artisanal burger without artifice in Via Laietana
Big burgers, fresh products, artisanal elaborations and sauces, freshly baked bread, hand-cut potatoes… and a clear philosophy: in Central Burger burgers there are no frills and what matters is the taste.
In addition, its extensive menu allows you to customize their burgers to suit your tastes: different types of bread -or without bread, directly-, choosing the type of meat (with vegan option, chicken, 100% Galician beef without preservatives…). And you can pair each hamburger totem with their hearty starters (tequeños, onion rings), with some of the craft beers they have on their menu and their delicious desserts.
📍 Via Laietana 45 (Urquinaona)
💸 Ask for the house recipe (Burger Central) – 10,95 €.
Bar Torpedo, burgers (and natural wines) for cooks.
Here you will find some of the best sandwiches in Barcelona and burgers were not going to be less. Bar Torpedo is a gem, a rara avis that has become a haven for late workers, nightlife enthusiasts and, the best sign, a place where chefs go to eat.
Their hamburger is mistress and mistress of the menu, but without detracting from their meatball sandwich, soft shell crab or tongue pastrami. They also have tripe or Russian salad sandwiches. All of them have the signature of the chef Rafa Peña, responsible for the restaurant Gresca, which has earned him 2 Soles from the Repsol Guide.
📍 Carrer d’Aribau, 143
💸 Classic Burger – 10,9€.
La Sagrada, American style
They have just arrived in the city, specifically in the streets of La Barceloneta, and they already deserve all the good things that can be said about them. Grilled hamburgers cooked on volcanic stone with a menu that, at least once a month, incorporates some temporary novelty.
In fact, perhaps these, their burgers of the month, are the most interesting bets of La Sagrada because of the innovation of some of their proposals, such as their hamburger with Lotus cracker sauce .
And tequeños, of course. They also have tequeños.
📍 Carrer de Sant Carles, 11 (Barceloneta)
💸 Burger La Sagrada – 14,30€.
Hideout, the first smash burger in town.
Possibly the most brutal ‘smash burgers’ we have ever tasted despite the simplicity of its offer. Lucas and Beatriz, its founders, claim that they were the first to bring to Barcelona this technique that consists of smashing the meat on the griddle to force the caramelization and enhance the flavors.
And although the smash burgers have already spread throughout the city, Hideout’s burgers are still a must, as are their bravas.
Now, by the way, they have revamped their menu. The first to arrive are the first to see that the party is over, so, fed up with the smash, they have created the fat smash, a burger with more meat, halfway between the classic and the smash, which is caramelized but maintains the juiciness inside. In addition, new nods to the Brazilian origin of its owners, with a coixinha that wants to become the star star starter.
📍 Carrer del Consell de Cent, 242 (Eixample) | Avinguda Diagonal, 121 (Poblenou)
💸 HideOut Burger – 12,40€.
Mirch Barcelona, indian style burger
In the words of Ivan Surinder, its manager and also founder of the Indian restaurant Tandoor, Mirch is the little brother and rebel of this one. There you will find creamy curries and full of flavor, a small but groundbreaking menu in a place where it is difficult to find space for many days.
But if there is one thing that chef Surinder excels in, it is his vada pavs, Indian butter chicken burgers, the classic and mellow curry sandwiched in brioche bread (they also have a vegetarian alternative with their potato-based burger). A different and irresistible burger that opens a new path in the world of the most popular sandwich in the world. By the way… Their bravas! You have to try their bravas!
📍 Carrer dels Àngels, 12
💸 Butter Chicken Pav – 10€.
Acero, hamburger refuge in the Borne
Located on that border where the Born ends and Barceloneta begins, Acero is an unpretentious burger joint, which is how all burger joints should be. There are no tables, just a bar in a place that simulates a food truck. There are no desserts either and at 23:00 they close the kitchen. And in spite of everything the place is a bomb.
Call in advance with the intention of trying their “Trufada”, because they literally run out of burgers before closing time.
📍 Carrer de l’Espaseria, 10 (Born)
💸 Acero Burger – 9€.
La Porca
The double burger with bacon is their undisputed leader. So much so that in 2019 they won the Best Burger in Barcelona contest. Two 90gr beef smashed burgers with crispy bacon, English and smoked cheddar cheese, mayonnaise made with the roast juices and pickle relish on brioche bread.
Their bravas, served with grilled porchetta and chipotle mayonnaise, are also another must-try and one of the most sought-after in the city.
📍 Carrer de Mata, 16 (Poble Sec)
💸 Double Bacon Cheese Burger – 11,50€.
Fast Eddie’s, when all it takes is two burgers to get to heaven
You have to have a lot of confidence in yourself to open a restaurant with only two dishes on the menu. At Fast Eddie’s they clearly have it: a cheeseburger and a fried chicken burger (and a couple of sides), and the rest, as they say, is extra.
Both sandwiches are tremendous, and make you understand why a small, smoky little joint in the Borne has achieved success with such a short menu. Tasty bites, clear flavors and the sensation that you could eat three in one sitting.
📍 Carrer de Carders, 6 (Borne)
💸 Cheese Burger – 8€.
Kemako, Japanese burgers
From Japan we know about sushi, ramen and even Japanese-Barcelonian supermarkets, but what you surely didn’t know were their burgers, which have nothing to envy to the ones you had already registered.
At Kemako they make burgers with a Japanese accent using from Wagyu beef in some, to sunomono (pickled cucumber) or miso and wasabi dressings in others. Their Tori no karaage (fried chicken) is also dizzying, and so are their sauces, so there are few excuses left to order a burger with a difference.
📍 Carrer de Carders, 6 (Borne)
💸 Cheese Burger – 8€.
La Vrutal, vegan hamburgers exist
Enough excuses, vegan food is the present, and most likely, the future. So no more excuses that meat can only be from animals and hamburgers only from McDonalds. La Vrutal shows us that there is life beyond the carnivorous burger and that it is not necessary to be vegan to enjoy burgers that are good without having to compare them with anything else.
In other words, plant-based burgers with ingredients that adapt to each recipe. Jackfruit, falafel? Each burger has its own thing, and all of them have their own great taste, so go ahead and stop fooling around, the vegan burger is as good a burger as any other.
📍 Rambla del Poblenou 16 (Poblenou)
💸 Blind Date – 14,20€.
Big Al’s, one burger, three meats
We have already said at the beginning that if the origin of the hamburger is difficult to trace, the adoptive father of the dish is clear: the United States. A good part of the burgers as we know them come from there, but everywhere there are classes, and those of Big Al’s, which claim to be authentic American sandwiches, play at another level.
Here is the paradise of gochismo that we imagine. Although they are all worth a try, keep an eye on the Three Ways, which has a veal burger, battered beef and pulled pork (we swear it’s a delight) or the Luther Burger, with double meat between two artisan donuts from Boldú (we swear, again, that it’s another delight). In other words, the gochada we wait for when we want the hamburger to fulfill the function of clogging our arteries.
📍Carrer de Còrsega 178 (Eixample)
💸 The BBC – 13,90€.
Tío Joe, rustic style
Few things make you feel at home than the comfort of familiar food.Here the surprise is not so much in the combinations, but in the great ingredients, and rustic fries, in tune with the place, that do not disappoint.
Mozzarella, brie, ham… Tio Joe’s burgers have recognizable flavors so that you don’t have to worry about anything but enjoying them while you forget about the additions: the burger (no smash, no vegan, no nothing…), simply, a good burger.
📍Via Augusta, 9
💸 Tita Lola – 10,80€.
Tanso Izakaya, Wagyu burger
Tanso’s burger is not Tanso’s specialty. Tanso’s specialty is Wagyu beef, one of the best meats in the world, and that’s why the burger they make with Wagyu beef is excellent. A deep flavor to which they add a truffled sauce that takes the burgers to heaven.
📍 Passeig de Sant Joan Bosco, 47
💸 Wagyu Hanabaga – 18,90€.
Machaka, smashed of the good ones
The smashed burgers have become a stable trend in Barcelona, a fad that has filled the city with places that flatten their burgers. That is why it is a merit to stand out in this list. Machaka does it from the name, with a local born to focus on that, in crushing burgers to achieve mastery of the subject.
They smash them to the limit, thinning and caramelizing them to a crispy crust that doesn’t ruin a juicy interior. Coupled with a fluffy brioche bread, you don’t need much more. We tried the one of the month, La Clandestina, with American cheese and bacon, but any of the others on the menu will help you understand the hype of the (good) smashed burgers in the city.
📍C/ de Balmes, 165/ deC/ l Consell de Cent, 421.
💸 La de siempre – 8,90€.
Bemba Smash Burger
Who has only 3 dishes on the menu is that it is clear that it does three things well. At Bemba, a good smash joint, they sell a cheeseburger, a cheesebacon and the bemba burger, with sautéed and caramelized beef and chorizo criollo, with homemade chimichurri mayonnaise, creole sauce and mustard and cheese. Yes, we know, it makes you hungry just listening to it. Imagine when you are in front of it watching how they make it.
📍C/ de l’Encarnació, 38, Gràcia
💸 Bemba Burger – 12€.
Mad Mad Vegan
After five years, two locations and many successes in Madrid, Mad Mad Vegan arrives in Barcelona with the desire to revolutionize the world of burgers . Its menu, with a selection of vegan and vegetarian burgers and sides that are really hard to choose from, puts this vegan restaurant in competition, in its own right, with the best carnivorous burger joints in the city.
Our favorites were the battered calamari, with a texture, taste and appearance that almost forces you to confirm with the waitress that they are vegan and, of course, the burgers, juicy, plentiful and with a perfect fit between flavors.
Deleito
Some chains are not so bad and Deleito, the burger joint that competes with Vicio (founded by ex-Masterchef, blue vs. red, Deleito vs. Vicio… in short, marketing) makes tasty and well-balanced burgers. The truffled one does not fail and neither does the classic one, and if you want to eat it in person, they have just converted a movie theater into a burger-discotheque that makes the experience of eating a simple burger something different.
Maash burger
Faste Eddie’s is an institution in the Borne, but in the same neighborhood a humble competitor has been born, Maash burger, which is good for when you don’t want to wait in line at the first one, you’re tired of its hipster atmosphere or you feel like paying a little less for a simple smash burger.
But don’t let anything detract from Maash. Their burgers are tasty, their bread is tasty and their only two options on the menu are nailed, with homemade and fried rooms well achieved, and all with that magnificent feeling of gocheo that leaves a well-made smash burger and that mixes the flavor of the meat, the sweetness of the bun and the dripping of cheese and sauces. A hit.
📍Location: Maash – Example, Carrer d’Aribau, 91/ Maash – El Borne,Carrer dels Flassaders, 17
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