The tortilla de patatas, like the croquettes or the ensaladilla, are the thermometer of the quality of any self-respecting tasca. And it is not necessary to have four Michelin stars to do any of these dishes well, because when someone handles the stove with skill, it shows, and not for nothing, in the old days, when there were no curricula, the first test for a chef to enter a kitchen was to prepare an omelette.
Good tortillas, we say, there are many in Barcelona, and here are just a few of our favorites, because embracing the totality is always impossible.
Oh, and of the the debate on whether the omelette is with or without onion is already settled.. And as to whether it should be creamy inside or rather dry, we all know what we’re talking about here.
Flash Flash, classic of classics
This tortillería is one of the mythical ones and its place is spectacular, or at least, special. A space anchored in the 70’s that tells us about the history of a kitchen that has been the mecca of the city’s omelette for decades.
From here have come out mythical as the tortilla of bravas or croissant (which are still in his letter), and, for their tables have passed all the relevant personalities of Barcelona, including the kings of the country. If you are in the mood for innovation and want to go beyond the classic tortilla (or feel regal eating a tortilla), this is one of the places for you.
📍 Carrer de la Granada del Penedès, 25
Fismuler, high gastronomy omelets
Your tortilla is, along with its escalope (which we have also tasted) one of its classics. The last one we tried was codfish and it was spectacular, it melted in your mouth. Like many of his dishes: lifelong classics passed through the filter of elevated cuisine.
Fismuler is a good example of how a restaurant can grow and expand while still doing things right. In fact,recently opened Molino de Pez, where they make an omelette with yolk foam that makes you pretty crazy. Incidentally, it also leaves a space for its cheesecake, one of the best in Barcelona.
📍 Carrer del Rec Comtal, 17
El Pollo, the modern tortilla
From this bar (and its tortilla) we have already talked to you. A bar of all the life that now a young cook of Bilbao has taken to give him a second life in which the tapas, also of all the life, but made with very good hand, are the sign of identity.
Tortillas are their main flag. The classic one is already great, but here is one of the few places in the city where they also make the Basque omelette with txapela, that is, omelette with a side dish on top. The one with tuna or the one with mushrooms and truffle are of another level.
📍 Carrer del Tigre, 31
Local 225, simplicity at the forefront
A menu full of renewed classics: appetizers, portions and watch out for their sandwiches. And a menu like this could not miss a good tortilla de patatas. They usually have two: the classic and the special, which varies, all of them well prepared and just enough curdled. One of those little jewels made in Poblenou any better idea than having an omelette skewer for breakfast?
📍 Carrer del Dr. Trueta, 225
Bar Alegria, the tortillas that were born at El Bulli
Bar Alegría is run by Tomás Abellán, son of Carles Abellán, one of elBulli’s best students. Tomás has followed in his father’s footsteps: offering traditional tapas but improving their quality and turning them into accessible haute cuisine.
Alegria is a beautiful modernist place, which has updated the space and has respected classics such as the tortilla. Here they make it truffled very creamy inside, and as you can imagine, it tastes like glory. And if truffles are your thing, keep an eye on the “Bikini of my childhood” with Iberian ham and truffle, which is a scandal.
📍 Carrer del Comte Borrell, 133
Les Truites, the name says it all
Another of the mythical tortillerías, perhaps the most famous one, with 50.000 followers on Instagram. Here the debate about whether the omelet has onion or not is totally outdated , since any omelet you can imagine has already been cooked by them, such as this one of croissants or this one of panellets.
At you can consult the tortillas of the day on their website and discover that, when it comes to tortillas, the sky is the limit. On the day of writing this article we found, among many others, Galician octopus, pesto macaroni and prawns with gulas.
📍 Carrer d’Arimon, 22
Koska Taverna, a dyke oasis in Blai
A must stop in Poble Sec for those who are lost in Blai street, looking for a quality place among so many places with poor quality pinchos. Here you have your shelter.
This tavern abounds in good vermouth and, of course, good portions. It is essential to try their potato omelette with baby squid in its ink or the one we see in the photo, with tripe on top.
📍 Carrer de Blai, 8
Mantequerias Pirenaicas, winning classics
Many have spoken of their tortillas as some of the best in the city. They are located in the uptown Zone, but they also deliver to your home, so you have no excuse. Your tortilla is with onion of course, but caramelized.
His recipe is a tribute to tradition. A potato omelet with caramelized onion very well done, toasted and rough on the outside, and with an amber color on the inside, liquid but not too much. A real treat.
📍 Carrer de Muntaner, 460
North, tortillas from the Cantabrian Sea
A store is doing something right when it is only open in the mornings . The tortillas of Norte are inspired by that, in the north of the country, which is why the best tortillas come out of Galicia or the Basque Country. Here they make them at the moment, in skewer or in sandwich (at noon of cod) and in the quiet hours, they can make them to your taste and you can even buy a whole one.
The venue has an anecdote that explains the passions it arouses. In pandemic the locals put money into sponsoring restaurants through El Tenedor, and Norte was the restaurant that raised the most money in Spain in the shortest time. So you can see that faith (and the tortilla) moves mountains.
📍 Carrer de la Diputació, 321
TORTILLEZ, another tortilla house in Barcelona
It has only been open for three months and has already become an essential for the city’s tortilleros. It has a curious history: Tortillez occupies the premises where the Ria de Mera used to be for 32 years. The couple who ran the place didn’t want to leave it to just anyone, so they held a casting that consisted of spending a week cooking in the old place. Luckily, Tortillez’s tortillas won it.
Thanks to this, we now have a classic tapas bar with well-cooked tapas (ensaladilla, beef mellowed with port wine…) where the omelettes can be chosen as if it were a steak: done, undercooked, overcooked, rare… The most sold is the Cayetana, with truffle, Iberian ham, caramelized onion and goat cheese or the Olivia, with spinach and idiazabal cheese
📍 Carrer del Consell de Cent, 299
Tremendous, in-house omelette, Michelin star technique
Tremendous answers a simple question: What do you eat when you go hiking in the countryside? Tortilla and chicken emapanao. Well, those are Tremendo’s specialties: tortilla on one side, and Kentucky-style fried chicken on the other. Both emerged from making a popular food restaurant but with a chef who has been forged in Michelin-starred cooking bars in London.
The tortillas here are made with caramelized onion for 4 hours (although they can make them without it, pesadx). They don’t make them very well done, for convenience in the kitchen, and they always have 3 or 4 tortillas off the menu that change every week.
📍 C. del Consell de Cent, 12, 08014 Barcelona