Txapella, Barcelona

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Craving real tapas in pintxos (small portions), or the tasty and flavourful canapes? Head down to Passeig de Gracia near Placa Catalunya and you will find this restaurant, at the ground floor or a Modernist building. It's a Basque bar complete with various drinks you could think of with kegs and the whole works.

The restaurant area gives you a cosy Spanish feel, with Spanish paintings and black and white photos decorating the wall. But wait till you see the menu. Tapas galore! Everything is so inventive, you would want to try every single choice on the menu!

Favorite Dish: Pintxos, they are really good! There are over 40 canapes to choose from, 51 to be exact. I suggest you go on an empty stomach with your friends or special someone, and try various items on the menu. Trust me, every choice is a delight to the palate.

We had a very pleasant evening at the Cafe De Le Radio in Casp Street. We had wine two course dinner (typical local tapas not plastic) a couple of beers and two brandies and coffee to follow. This came to 36 euros because they shut at one we walked a round the corner to Txapella.
We asked for two brandies and two coffees and sat at the bar talking we had another two brandies and coffees and asked for then bill. This came to 37 euros the brandies had been charged at 7.50 euros each. This was a rip off they just stitched us up with their best brandy, all the other bars gave us extremely good brand such as Mango or one of the good reasonably priced local brandies. If you want to be ripped off go here.

Favorite Dish: None

Walk passed and go to Le Glop, El Mussol in Casp Street 200meters next to Hotel Barcelona the same drinks cost 11 euros and the atmosphere is much nicer full of locals not tourists.

Not really local from Barcelona but also very popular with the locals. They have a place-mat with pictures so you know what you order and you are going to eat.
In the evening it get very crowded and people queue to get seats at the tables. When I came alone I always got a seat at the bar.
There is also a restaurant at Passeig de Gràcia, 58.

Favorite Dish: Everything ;-)

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Txapela is the place where I would always take visitors who wanted to have good food but still stay in the touristy parts of the city. Informed visitors to Barcelona know that tapas are not a specialty of the Catalans and that any establishment claiming to offer "Catalan tapas" is a blatant liar. That's what's so great about Txapela: it doesn't even try to be Barcelona-esque and prefers to offer its clientele a taste of the home of some of the greatest tapa inventors, Euskadi. Everything at Txapela is Basque themed, and the food is great. There are no set courses here: you simply sit at a table, order a glass/carafe/bottle of cider or wine and the tell your server which tasty morsels you want and how many. You needn't order all at once and the selection is made easy by the handy placemat with numbered pictures of the offerings. Most of the tapas come on toasted slices of baguette (things like sagardoa/cider sausage, melted brie, anchovies, sardines, octopus, eel, morcilla/black sausage) but some are also served à la skewer (shrimp and barbecued pork).

If you plan to come on the weekend, either come early or be prepared to wait, as there is always a line up Thursday through Saturday. Sometimes even in winter, even for the tables outdoors.

Favorite Dish: They're all so tasty!!! Nevertheless, my favourites include the sagardoak, which are flavourful little sausages that really go with cider, the melted brie, the morcilla (it sounds gross, but turns out to be quite tasty) and the anchovies. The skewered shrimp are good, but beware the excess of garlic sauce!

If you walk along Passeig de Gracia , you will not miss this restaurant . You may have to wait for a while but its definitely worth it.

If you dont know which type of pasta to choose from , then this is the place for you , with over 50 plus types of tapas , its going to spoil you right there . I have concouered about 20 plus types ...so the next time there I would have tasted all of them . counting the calories though.

Its reasonably priced from Euro 1.2 to Euro 1.80 for each little serving . Most of them come with a small slice of bread so its quite full as well.

Whats better than having it with a jug of Sangria ?

Nice restaurant and fantastic location (just along from Casa Batllo & Mila), was a bit disappointed with the food though. They have 51 options I think and very few don't contain meat or fish, so best to give it a miss if you’re a veggie. I only eat chicken and turkey so there was very little on the menu for me and even my husband (who eats anything) didn't think it was up to much. Shame as it had a great reputation. Wasn't too expensive though, we had about 6 tapas each and they don't cost a lot - so it's worth trying if you like meat.

I passed by this restaurant quite a few times, it looks chic and classy so I dare not step in expecting it to be very expensive. Boy was I lucky to discover that I was wrong in time! The prices of pintxos (or small tapas) roughly range between 1.10€ and 1.65€. I tried around 13 or 14 tapas, it is pure indulgence... Thinking about them now, my stomach growls!

Favorite Dish: I'm quite a fan of cod so I recommend you try pintxo ajoarriero (salt cod with garlic) and pintxo txapela (sauteed salt cod gratineed with garlic mayonnaise). Greato! Those pintxos with dublin bay prawns in them are also very delicious. The prawns are sweet, fresh and tender. :P

Ahh..the moment I remember of this restaurant, I just starts to crave for their tapas..hmm..yummy! =9
My whole stay in Barcelona, I never got sick eating there everyday. They serves different kinds of Tapas and it's like choose & pick..like ordering sushi; from the pictured menu. It's quite affordably cheap.
This is a 2 level restaurants..and if you sit on the first floor, you can sit around the moving tables with Tapas just like in those Japanese Restaurants. They also have individual tables tho. But if you prefer to have more "privacy"(as the 2nd level is overlooking the 1st floor), then it's better to sit on the 2nd floor :)
One thing I must remind you is to come here earlier cos by lunch time, it can be difficult to find a seat as it's always crowded. Finally, don't forget to quench you thirst with their "fresh" Sangria.. ;)

Favorite Dish: Don't forget to try their desset ;)

This is my "first discovery" in Barcelona. When I was dating Javi and came to visit back in 98, I had to wait for him to finish work and Txapella was located a few buildings away from jis work. I would go walking to Ramblas and shopping at El Corte Ingles, and met him here. While waiting, I would have a cofee and a TAPA.
After a couple of yeard this became the place to meet with family and friends since it is located mear a main part of Barcelona, easy to find and the food is great. And now, we take all out visitors here to try the sanfria and a few tapas.
If you want to have lunch or dine, order about 4-5 tapas per person and bread; this should be enough, but if you are still hungry, you can always order more, since they are quickly prepared.
DO NOT MISS the sangria made here, but don´t drive afterwards :-)

Favorite Dish: Sanfria and all tapas.
There is a variety of them for everyone, vegetarians included.

Txapela is a basque tapas bar located on the Passeig de Gracia. (fyi: Pinxto is the basque word for small tapas often served on a stick and on a slice of bread)

Apart from the great variety in tapas, this place is also great for foreigners who are not very familiar with tapas yet. When sitting at the bar, you simply point out the things that you want. When sitting at a table you receive a place-mat with pictures (+spanish description) of all the tapas served. They also have menus available with English/French/German/etc. translations of the same tapas. So combine the place-mat and the menu and you exactly know what you order.

A perfect place to eat some 3 or 4 small tapas per person at the end of the afternoon, if you will have a late dinner.

ps: Without generalizing: most people drink beer with their tapas.