O perfil de beardydaly

Welcome respite from the Christmas Market outside La Seu, beer at €2.30, coffee, ice-cream available all day. Food looked good.

Very busy Friday evening, managed to get 2 stools at the bar. Queue for the restaurant was out to the street. Tapas from €5, patatas bravas and ensalda russa were both very good, first ensalada russa I’ve had with tuna. Draught beer is Estrella, good selection of imported bottles, wine list is reasonably priced. If you’re visiting the Gaudi buildings nearby, well worth a visit.

Cheap and cheerful.
Book on-line for the best value. We got 4 nights for €156. Rack rate is €110 per night. Don’t bother with the breakfast buffet, €7.50, not worth it. Instead go to IKEA, 5 minutes walk away, 2 sandwiches and as much coffee as you like for less than €7. Free wi-fi available in the bar/diner for 30 minutes.
Will be a lot more accessible when line 9 of the metro opens. Bus 46 from the airport drops you off at IKEA, all buses go to Placa Espanya and L94 and L95 go to Placa Catalunya.

Irish pub run by Bengalis in Barcelona, full English breakfast available all day, sangria on draught. Just about as odd as it gets. Oh and they have O’Haras Stout from Carlow in bottles ( at €6 a pop ). Worth visiting just for its idiosyncrasy.

Normally would not go to an ‘’ Irish ’’ bar anywhere on the Continent but they had Estrella Galicia at €1.90 advertised outside. Bit loud, mixed clientele, seems popular with the ex-pat community, worth a visit.

Good beer, produced on site, good beer import list, good food. Job done.
Free wi-fi, friendly staff, slightly off the beaten track but well worth the effort.

One of the best places to eat and drink in all of Barcelona.
Order a maximum of two dishes per person unless you are seriously hungry.
The octopus is properly cooked, the croquetas de jamon just melt in the mouth, the morcilla de arroz is perfect and the pimientos de Padron have been turned down to keep the locals happy, ie no shockers.
The wine list is well balanced and not expensive compared to places closer to the Ramblas.
Has been open for over 20 years under the same ownership and hopefully won’t change.

Avoid at all costs!
The worst octopus I’ve ever had, could have been used to re-sole my boots.
And €3.50 plus vat at 8% for a 25 cl glass of San Miguel, possibly the biggest rip-off in Barcelona, and it isn’t even on the Rambla, AVOID!!!!

Second edition of Pigs Ear beer festival successfully held here last week, lots of lovely beers and ciders from all round the country. A big highlight though was the selection of cask beers from Italy, one of which, a double IPA at 9% was the hoppiest monster I’ve had in ages.
Festival ran from Tuesday til Saturday, would like to have seen the faces on the congregation on Sunday morning, ‘’ holy spirit? ’’ ‘’no, just beer ’’