Eating calçots in Barcelona is an experience always associated with friends and popularity. And the bad tongues say that the friendships of a person in this city are measured in the number of times you are invited to a calçotada in the spring months. In other words, the more calçots, the more popular. In a country where calçot is religion, the red of the flag is painted romescu and the number of friends is counted in onions gobbled.
The calçots and its derivative, the calçotades, are perhaps, along with the Tió and the sardanes, the most Catalan tradition and, undoubtedly, the most social and fun. Around a humble elongated onion, Catalonia has built a way of socializing that goes beyond eating, to become an authentic identity event. If the Argentines have the asado, the Catalans have the calçotada.
And just like a roast can also be made for one, you don’t need to be a crowd or have barbecues or Sundays off to enjoy a good calçotada. Barcelona and its surroundings are full of farmhouses and restaurants where you can eat calçots in a complete grilled menu where the romescu is the protagonist.
We show you some of the best ones to help you on your way to happiness. Because, although we do not know if the calçots give the popularity, it is clear to us that they bring happiness. Like notches on a revolver or stripes counting the days in a prison, the number of straight stalks of calçot we have ingested in the coming months will determine, with a fair amount of certainty, how happy we have been.
Bodega Joan, where you can eat calçots from November to April
In the heart of Eixample, the calçots of Bodega Joan are cooked on an authentic ember, as it should be. They have more than 80 years of tradition, which will assure you a calçotada at the height of its fame. To accompany your calçots, you have to try their artichokes, Galician octopus and snails.
francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia Ave., 13
💸 Menu at 33,50€
La Foixarda, the unexpected brasserie behind MNAC
In calçot season, enjoying a Mediterranean meal on the terrace is a luxury. Not because you forget you’re in Barcelona and feel like you’re in the countryside, but because it overlooks the equestrian center ring.
francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia Ave., 13
💸 Menu at 32’50€ with 15 calçots tile
Can Punyetes eating calçots in the neighborhood of Gràcia
In Barcelona, Can Punyetes is one of the most famous restaurants where you can eat calçots. They have several locations: one in Gràcia, two in Sarrià and one in Sabadell. We prefer the one in Gràcia because we think it is more authentic.
Since 1981, three friends put the essence in this neighborhood local with the purpose of working with top quality products and a distinctive touch at that time: the ember open to customers.
📍 Various locations
💸 Seasonal menu prices
Can Vador calçotades of Eixample
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Can Vador is one of the discreet classics that one turns to when looking to eat calçots in Barcelona. They dominate the classic recipe book passed through the grill, and their daily menus at 20 euros and weekend menus at 30 euros are quite unbeatable. But today we are busy with the adventure of eating calçots, and as a good traditional Catalan brasserie, Can Vador does not fail in its appointment with the elongated onion.
The chain’s two restaurants offer a calçotada menu where, for 35 euros, we have calçots of the DO Valls with its romescu sauce and a barbecue of meats also with DO that will allow us to enjoy, in the heart of Eixample, a lunch of those of glass, coffee and cigar.
📍 C/ de la Diputació, 367
💸 Calçotada menu, €20 on weekdays, €30 on weekends
Can Borrell for urbanites in the countryside
For those looking for countryside, but not too much either, Can Borrell is the place you hope to find. After a short fifteen-minute walk through the forest from Sant Cugat (and a 20-minute drive from Barcelona), the smoking chimney of this farmhouse announces the desired stop and rest for those for whom going out to the countryside is an excuse to eat well.
The menu offers different menus of traditional Catalan cuisine, and also, for 41 euros, a calçotada menu, with calçots as a starter (up to 25 per person, for the very brave) and grilled meat as a main course. When you’re done, 15 more minutes of walking back to bring the food down and you can say you’ve spent a full day in the countryside.
📍 Carretera d’Horta a Cerdanyola BV-1415, Km 3, 08171 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona
💸 Calçotada menu, 41€
Can Travi Nou the city farmhouse
In the urban density of Barcelona it is easy to forget that much of what is now a city was once countryside, and that the territory was full of farmhouses of peasants who worked the land that are now buildings. Fortunately,some farmhouses survive in the form of a restaurant, allowing us to imagine, not even remotely, what life was like in the Barcelona countryside some time ago.
This is the case of Can Travi Nou, a beautiful seventeenth-century farmhouse owned by the Soler and Ribatallada family, who a few decades ago converted this house into a restaurant that allows you to eat calçots in a farmhouse, but in the heart of Barcelona and in a place with the kitchen and the details very well cared for.
For 43€ or 56,5€ (already with snails, ham and cod fritters to nibble), Can Travi offers a calçotada menu with grilled meat for the main course and Catalan cream for dessert, in a very traditional sequence, but cooked by a chef Salva Zurano, who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants.
📍 c/ Jorge Manrique s/n
💸 Calçotada menu, 43€/56,50€
Can Jané a farmhouse only 10 minutes from Barcelona
His specialty is Catalan cuisine and grilled meats, and what a grill it is! In addition, the vegetables are from their own garden and seasonal. All this in a natural environment, in a family farmhouse of the eighteenth century located in the Serra de Collserola and only 10 minutes from Barcelona. In the middle of nature, next to the Ermita de Sant Medir, it is the perfect place to disconnect from the city without having to go far away. It’s also the perfect excuse to take advantage and climb Tibidabo.
camí de Can Jané s/n 08196 Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona)
calçotada menu, from 39,50€.
The Painter grilled calçots in the heart of the Gothic Quarter
The roots of a farmhouse like Can Travi Nou go deep and reach all the corners of Barcelona. The restaurant owners also have, just 10 minutes away, Can Cortada a similar space that also offers country calçotadas in the middle of the city. But if you want to enjoy the pleasure of grilled onions without leaving the city center, this group has a third option just 20 meters from Plaza Sant Jaume.
El Pintor occupies the former workshop of an artist in Sant Honorat street. In a beautiful place, with arches and exposed bricks, the same calçots of Can Travi Nou can be eaten looking, literally, to one of the sides of the Town Hall. For 41 euros, a menu similar to the previous ones, with calçots and grilled meat or bacallà a la llauna. Few better plans for those who want to exercise the catalanor of the calçotada without leaving the natural habitat of the Barcelonian.
📍 c/ Sant Honorat, 7
💸 Calçotada menu, 41€
Cal Ganxo | Restaurant i calçotades calçots in the place of origin of the calçot
Going to eat calçots in Valls is a tradition that never goes out of fashion. Going down to the city of calçots par excellence is practically a ritual; the perfect excuse to escape from Barcelona and savor other territories.
Although there are several restaurants known for their calçots, one of the most famous is Cal Ganxo. In fact, it is the only one in Catalonia that only serves calçotades. In addition to them, they serve yearling meats, llonganissa, black botifarra sausage from Valls, fesols de ganxet and typical Catalan products.
Cal Ganxo is located in Masmolets, a small village surrounded by fields, vineyards, roads and mountains. An old 18th century house converted into a restaurant and full of history, but above all of delicious food.
📍 Carrer de la Font F, 14, 43813 Masmolets, Tarragona
💸 Calçotada menu, 45€
Belbo terrenal, embers on the terrace of a hotel
Always in the center of Barcelona, but now with a more modern feel. Belbo Terrenal is one of those hotel restaurants that are becoming so fashionable in the city, and that seek to attract an audience that goes beyond the tourists staying in the building.
For this reason, the restaurant now organizes calçotadas that, during the whole season, will make the beautiful interior courtyard of the Eixample that occupies this restaurant smoke. Starting in February, every Saturday and Sunday Belbo Terrenal will offer a menu where, for 41 euros, they will serve you a full menu with unlimited calçots, grilled meat, crema catalana and porrón of wine and the whole Eixample sky to look at while you raise your head to drink it.
📍 Carrer de Casp, 1-13, 08010 Barcelona
💸 Calçotada menu, Sundays from February to April, 41€
Taverna La Parra, an old school inn
This former inn transformed into an urban tavern is a classic of the Sants district. Mushrooms are an indispensable element of their menu, but what brings us to the case today is the primordial ingredient of social gatherings in Primavera: calçots.
The portion is about 14 euros, and the pity is that there is no calçotada menu, but that’s okay! Because for two, between the coca del Maresme toast with tomato and olive oil, snails (8 euros), scrambled mushrooms (16 euros), sausage Garriga and drink, you plant with a full stomach and happy for less about 45 euros.
📍 Carrer de Joanot Martorell, 3 (Sants)
💸 Seasonal menu prices
Casa Masana, Catalan embers in the middle of the Eixample district
Casa Masana is the Catalan restaurant you are looking for in the mountains, but in the heart of Eixample. What’s more, in the middle of Balmes Street. A small oasis that for these dates brings out a calçotada menu with everything you need. For 38 euros you get grilled artichokes and calçots in their tile, with romesco sauce, of course.
For the second course, grilled meat (sausage, lamb or pork rib) with potatoes and dried beans (or mongetes, ja ensenem) and , obviously, allioli. Plus dessert, wine and coffee. Another day you will try the classic dishes of the menu, but today is to inflate yourself with calçots and return home with your seatbelt untied and without worrying about the car.
📍 C/Balmes nº 129 bis
💸 38€ calçotada menu