Barcelona is a paradise for sweet-toothed travellers and coffee addicts alike. The city is dotted with bakeries selling delicious pastries and potent coffee, which locals like to drink with milk (Spanish: café con leche). If you prefer espresso, order 'café solo'.
Although even chain bakeries in Barcelona seem to offer exciting range of sugar fix, the real gem of Barcelona are small private chocolate bars (xocolateria), usually tucked away in side streets. These are real local institutions where both pensioners and office workers would come for a coffee, churros with hot chocolate and a chat.
One of these old-fashioned chocolate bars is La Pallaresa, conveniently located in one of the narrow streets of Gothic Quarter. Despite being smack in the touristy centre of Barcelona, La Pallaresa is very much of a local affair. It has been around since 1940s and its wooden decor, marble tabletops, mirrors and paintings still conjure up a nostalgic feel.
When we visited on an early afternoon, we noticed a few locals chatting over churros and hot chocolate. Churros are fried-dough pastry-based snacks, popular all over Spain. The knotted churros are best eaten dipped into hot chocolate - a popular Spanish snack.
As we already had our share of churros at a very small xocolateria next to our hotel Guillermo Tell (which by the way offers exellent value for money!) we ordered crema catalana, which is a Catalan dish similar to crème brûlée. Crema catalana is basically custard flavoured with lemon and orange zest and cinnamon. Traditionally the sugar on top of crema catalana is caramelised under an iron broiler, but at La Pallaresa they use a flame. They do it at the counter right before serving the dish, so watch out for the staff playing with fire after you order yours.
Crema catalana at La Pallaresa is rich, very tasty and the portion is generous. Their coffee is good too, which makes La Pallaresa a perfect energising stop while exploring Gothic Quarter of Barcelona.
Location: Carrer de Petritxol 11. Metro: Liceu. Open: Mon-Sat 9am-1pm & 4pm-9pm. Sun: 9am-1pm & 5pm-9pm. Web: www.lapallaresa.com