That vegetarianism is on the rise and vegan a more than confirmed trend is no surprise, and we are very happy about it. Still, eat a good piece of meat is still a lifelong steakhouse or a contemporary steakhouse is still, for many, the expression of a celebration.
A grilled steak roasted to perfection, a steaming barbecue on the table, a hamburger or a stone-grilled meat cooked at the table of your favorite brasserie still seduces us with its smoky smell and its bright reddish colors. For this reason, we have fallen into the most primitive temptation, that of meat, and we could not resist to elaborate this carnivorous list with the best meat restaurants in Barcelona.
Carnal Steak house
The pretty girl of meat in Barcelona. It opened a year ago with a bang, with a huge place, tropical décor and a fridge of aged meats at the door that begs you to come in from the street. Like someone who changes the language to think, here you think of meat, and beyond the grilled meats, starters such as the matured picaña, butter made meat or the grilled edamame with steak fat break the deck at the beginning of the àpat.
Then, a classic, the steak tartar on marrow, well done and from there to the meats, with matured steaks and entrecôte and also a section of international meats (Argentinean entraña, Uruguayan beef, wagyu…) that are served cooked Basque style, sealed on the outside and red on the inside, but with a hot stone on the table so that everyone can finish it to taste. An unappealable carnivorous festival.
📍 C. d’Enric Granados, 52, L’Eixample
Cabrera
Those in the know know that a barbecue is not the same as an Argentinean asado, and in Barcelona, a city where everyone knows that the Argentinean is one of the largest communities, there are several places where you can learn the difference between the two. Few, however, as La Cabrera, one of the best grills in Buenos Aires, which has just opened a branch in Barcelona.
The restaurant, named best steakhouse in Buenos Aires in 2018 in one of the cities with the best steakhouses in the world, is owned by grill icon Gastón Riveiro, a chef who doesn’t do cartwheels: Traditional grill, the cuts they touch and the exact elaborations. Because here you don’t come to experiment, but to learn the secrets of a way of cooking that has become the symbol of a country.
Brabo
Eating looking at the embers, with a freshly baked bread in the same, is a privilege that we associate before to a country weekend than to a lunch in the city center. In Brabo the thing changes, and it is enough to cross its door of a small street of Gracia to feel the wide heat of the flame and the smell of freshly baked bread, and feel that few things like fire, heat and food to bring us closer to the most primitive sensations of shelter.
In a small room, with a comfortable decoration reminiscent of the living room of a house, with floor lamps to illuminate dining tables, a fire presides, and at the back of the premises is framed a kitchen that functions as a barbecue for meats, as a bakery and as a pass to give the final touch to the dishes before our eyes.
📍C/ de Sèneca, 28, Gràcia
L’Entrecote
It is enough to know that it is French and to see the yellow color of the sauce to say “butter”. And… mustard? lemon? The pools about the components of the sauce that covers the entrecôte at L’Entrecôte are the entertaining game that can be guessed among those who chew too much meat with a face of concentration, trying to understand what is so tasty that they are chewing.
There is nothing like mystery (in novels, in erotica, in food) to get you hooked, and perhaps this is part of the success of L ‘Entrecôte, a French restaurant that has become a chain that fills restaurants, now also in Barcelona, with an improbable proposal: a menu composed of a single dish.
📍 C/ de Pau Claris, 142, L’Eixample
Can Xurrades
Can Xurrades is one of those places where the upper class of the city goes (or those who want to feel part of it for a day) and that shares with the locals of this tribe repeated features. It is alien to fashions and while other places open and close, here go those who know how to find good meat, because, maturation up or steak tartar down, Can Xurrades remains firm in its unique offer: the exclusivity in the sale of beef of Sayaguesa breed, the calf of Galicia and the cow of Avila, all made with oak charcoal grill.
With these same meats, apart from grilled meats, dishes such as osobucco or oxtail, a steak tartar on marrow or a tasting menu that allows you to try different types and cuts of meat. In other words, a luxury.
📍Carrer de Casanova, 212, Eixample
Sirloin steak
A great meat is distinguished at the first bite, but in such a wide world where there are so many different meats, a site like Solomillo is appreciated , where we choose ourselves the origin of the meat we will eat based on its characteristics and, not only that, but we also choose exactly how many grams of sirloin we want to find the perfect balance in the meal.
The menu is a delight, with explanations of each meat, hints on the quantities needed depending on hunger, adjusted prices and a very attractive list of side dishes to build a combined dish to measure, with classic sauces (bearnaise, café Paris …), salads, sides such as macaroni au gratin, vegetables or potatoes in different forms. Oh, and all in a wonderful indoor terrace in the Eixample.
📍 C/ de Mallorca, 251, L’Eixample (inside Hotel Alexandra)
Bardeni
The meat of the know. In Barcelona there are several restaurant radars and not all of them reach the same depth layers. While the first reviews may not lead you to Bardeni, once you get to know Barcelona’s foodie circle you will start to hear its name attached to an epithet: the best steak restaurant in town.
And unlike others, Bardeni is not a rotisserie or brasserie, or not only, which is why it is called meatbar. Here, the aesthetics and cuisine of a neo-tavern, in the style of a Gresca, for example, are applied to meat, to make great elaborations. That picanha turned into sausage that you now see everywhere has been here for years. Their steak tartar is iconic and so is their onglet (or entraña). A mecca for believers.
📍C/ de València, 454, L’Eixample
Sagardi
If the pescaíto frito is Andalusian and the fricandó Catalan, the Basques are, without a doubt, the great defenders of the meat beast (the joke is self-made) in the country, and the chuletón its main reliquary. Eating a steak in a steakhouse in the Basque Country is like having a vermouth in Barcelona or a beer in Madrid, a necessity, and that is why we are glad to have in Sagardi an embassy of this tradition installed in Barcelona.
Sagardi is a Basque restaurant group that has long been established in Barcelona, but has made a fortune with its traditional Basque steakhouse format. As a ticket, but as a main element, Galician beef purchased in the best slaughterhouses and Basque grill with all the artisan technology to make the steak comes out as it should, red point and almost raw inside, but well roasted and caramelized on the outside.
📍carr. de Muntaner, 72, L’Eixample
Basement Parking
Yes, you are right. Basement Parking is the same, or almost the same, as Parking Pizza. So much so that it is, precisely, in the basement of the pizzeria that has made its fortune in Barcelona. But here, instead of masses, they dispatch meats, specifically, only one: entrecotes. Like L’Entrecote in Barcelona, this restaurant only serves one dish, a 500 gram entrecote that they nail.
First class meat, clean, filleted and designed for two people. For the rest, garnishes such as potato and gruyere gratin, assorted salads and various sauces to accompany the great dish.
📍Passatge de Marimon, 5, Bajo, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
Maison Carne, steak only
And we continue in the line of one-dish restaurants. Hardly anything is decided here (what a relief). When you sit down, you already know that you will be eating the steak, for about 34 euros, to enjoy alone or with company. Before, to wait, the pâté and then, to accompany, the salad and french fries.
And that’s it. Wine, by the way, works the same way. There is a menu, but the star is the house wine, which is paid per centimeter consumed from the bottle. For dessert, two cheese boards and five classic desserts (crema catalana, babà…). And now, why else? By the way, if we liked it, the T-bone steak can be taken home raw.
📍 C/ de Mallorca, 204, L’Eixample, 08036 Barcelona
High back & low back
Another of the deans of high-flying meat in Barcelona, and one of the first to start introducing matured meat in the city. The establishment’s name game is replicated on the premises, with Lomo Alto, an upscale steak house, upstairs and Lomo Bajo, its more casual version, downstairs.
Upstairs grill with all the law, luxury meats and cuts and varied maturities (and prices according to the theme, we are next to Passeig de Gràcia). Downstairs, the more affordable casual version, with sandwiches made with the same meats as above, obviously focusing on steak tartar rolls, beef nuggets in various shapes and, of course, burgers. Check out their formula of sandwich, side dish and drink for 17,5€.
Tanso Izakaya
Tanso’s specialty is Wagyu beef, one of the best meats in the world, which they import directly from Japan. The other specialty is that you prepare it yourself at the table, with integrated barbecues in the middle of the tables and to your liking, thanks to a tasting menu offering different cuts of Wagyu beef for a complete experience. By the way, attention their hamburgers cooked over firewood and with truffle sauce.
Passeig de Sant Joan Bosco, 47