Breakfast, snacks & sandwiches in Barcelona

For breakfast, you can get coffee and bread or croissants almost anywhere (including your hotel), but a few café-bars and specialist places - granjas and orxaterias especially - are worth looking out for. Most tempting are the traditional pan con tomate ( pa amb tomàquet in Catalan - bread rubbed with tomato, olive oil and garlic), ensaimadas (pastry spirals), tostadas ( torrades in Catalan; toast with oil or butter and jam), chocolate con churros ( xocolata amb xurros - long, fried tubular doughnuts with thick drinking chocolate) and cakes at any bakery or patisserie - which, incidentally, are among the few shops to open on Sundays. Most places also serve substantial egg dishes ( huevos fritos are fried eggs, ous fregits in Catalan), and cold tortilla (Catalan truita ) makes an excellent breakfast.

Takeaway pizza slices and burgers are ubiquitous, with chains well represented on the Ramblas and on the main streets in the Eixample. There's a fast-growing number of falafel/kebab outlets, too, especially in the old town and Gràcia: the best are on Plaça Reial, on the Ramblas near c/de Ferran, or in c/Torrent d'Olla and Plaça del Sol in Gràcia

Some Handy Chains: Cafés And Bars

Breakfast, Snacks And Sandwiches

Tapas Bars

Restaurants

Markets, Supermarkets And Delis