La Paradeta

The line starts outside La Paradeta before it opens; upon entering, you're greeted with a fresh fish market where you select which fish and how much you'd like; it's then weighed, sent to the kitchen and cooked, and you pick it up from a window as it's ready.

Fresh oysters.

Steamed mussels with tomato sauce.

I was sick and this soup was the cure - insanely good broth with mussels and tiny shards of pasta.

Razor clams with green sauce.

Almost too cute to eat baby octopi.

Monvinic

If you're going to Barcelona, go to Monvinic. The space is gorgeous, the cutlery brass, the food amazing. Amuse bouche of avocado gazpacho with crispy fish.

Truffled foie gras terrine with flowers.

Pumpkin soup with pumpkin crisps with chunks of pumpkin.

The lightest, most airy fried fish balls.

Cabbage stuffed with vegetables resembling the texture of ground beef in consomme.

The single best thing I ate: royal style hare. A 3-day preparation involving sous-vide, pancetta, foie gras, white truffles, blood sauce, and more white truffles resulting in the richest, most compact, concentration of meat.

Market fish with veggies.

Suckling goat with beans.

Grilled rockfish - the same fish the girl stepped on in The Blue Lagoon.

Pasta with mushrooms.

Veal with mushrooms and potato cake.

Lovely mango sorbet.

Chocolate mousse, with slices of chocolate, and chocolate crumbs.

A cloud of coconut goodness.

Tickets

Tickets, the tapas bar opened by the Adria brothers in Barcelona after the closing of El Bulli, is a fun, over-the-top theatrical dinner production, with the inventive food as the star.

With more inventive things to come, an intro of iberico jamon and perfectly crunchy pan con tomate was a simple start.

The famous non-olive olives: they look like olives, taste like olives, but deflate entirely upon entering your mouth, with pickled mini mussels.

Fish rinds, like really good pork rinds but fishy.

Paper-thin slices of tuna belly painted with iberican jamon fat and pine nuts.

Cloud-like pastries with manchego cheese.

A quail eggs "nest" with each egg coated in cheesy breadcrumbs.

Oysters with chicken juice and lime seeds.

Galician crab cannelloni with avocado as the shell, with sour cream.

Prawns in a box.

Tuna belly and roasted vegetables.

Clams in green sauce.

Razor clams with ginger sauce, cayenne pepper and lemon foam.

Beautiful bundles of squid with caviar.

The fun cooked mushrooms that arrive in a pouch.

Fried rabbit ribs...mmmm.

Chocolate cake with hazelnut spread and ultra cute mini strawberries.

Cheesecake and sorbet reversed - the sorbet is the yellow globe and the cheesecake the creamy white scoop.

La Torna, Santa Caterina Market

La Torna, a tapas bar in the Santa Caterina market, is a more intimate and possibly more local affair than the stalls in La Boqueria.

Lovely grilled tuna with vegetables.

Asparagus with a healthy amount of sea salt and romesco.

Seafood platter - each item perfectly cooked.

Rich tripe stew with beans and jamon.

Beans and blood sausage.

A surprise (and surprisingly good) chocolate cake with a gooey center and creamy sauce.

Pinotxo Bar, Boqueria Market

Pinotxo Bar (stall #466) in the Boqueria market has great food and a fun vibe.

Beef stew with chunks of meat, liver and peas.

Scrambled eggs with shrimp and veggies.

Unexpectedly good chickpeas - mixed with meat, of course.

Beans with clams - so simple and so delicious.

The octopus was absolutely incredible - simply grilled with olive oil, salt and paprika.

Patatas bravas.

Super soft and creamy flan.