El Nacional – Barcelona

As you know by now I like to search for the trendiest places in town for food and that wasn’t different during my latest trip to Barcelona. As I was traveling with my fellow-foodie friend A. the expectations were high to find the perfect restaurant for our last Barcelona supper. During my research I read about El Nacional, located at the heart of Passeig de Gràcia and a true reflection of Barcelona’s social and cultural life. The restaurant is located in a beautiful building that housed as a café-theatre, a fabric dye factory, a car dealer’s shop before the Civil War……and finally a garage. Quite some history if you ask me.

El Nacional is the first restaurant in Barcelona with different restaurant areas, where you can try traditional food from all around the Iberian Peninsula and that in unique surroundings. Because of the fact that the place is very popular it’s recommended to make reservations in advance, but with 4 culinary areas and 4 specialized bars it was hard to pick just one! Eventually we decided to go for La Llotja, El Nacional’s fish restaurant.




The night of our reservation we wanted to go early to check out the other parts of the restaurant and man, was I impressed! Upon arrival we were welcomed by a beautiful Christmas three and wonderful decorations throughout the restaurant.

The first restaurant we came across was ‘La Brasseria’, which specializes in meat dishes. Super cool fact is that all the meat is cooked on the spot, in front of the customers. The next one was ‘La Llotja’, were we later had a very yummy Seafood Paella. The main ingredient at La Llotja is quality, fresh fish. And honestly what’s better than that? I particularly loved the fish display where customers can select the fish they want. In ‘La Taperia’ you should go for quality tapas. Everything looked so good, I really wanted to try a few, but I was too stuffed from the paella. And last but not least, ‘La Paradeta’, where you can enjoy some excellent sandwiches, delicious coca pastries and light meals among many other options.



In the middle of the restaurants, you can find the bars, (yes plural!): there’s a wine bar, a beer bar, oyster and champagne bar, and most importantly; a cocktail bar! Salud!


AND also the toilets are worth the visit (even if you don’t have to go)! The powder room is every girl’s dream. I so want this at home!


We had the best time at El Nacional! The food and drinks were amazing and the staff super friendly. I was so delighted to have found this place, because I prefer to eat the local cuisine while travelling and to come across a place that only serves Spanish products, was a dream come true for foodies like us!

Sharing is caring!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *