Watch orders fly like harpoons from one side of the counter to the other at this seafood bar in La Llibertat Market. Alexis Peñalver is at it again with this latest venture, serving traditional Catalan cuisine with simple products and complex dishes. Don’t miss the house specialties, the paella of the day, and the suquet de llotja (fish-market stew). There’s also a cold bar of raw and marinated dishes, everything from fresh oysters to tuna carpaccio to a delicious wild sea bass ceviche.

Lined with Valencian tiles and wooden rafters, this family affair in Sant Antoni is cozy and convivial. The open kitchen at the far end churns out Catalan-Valencian recipes that deftly navigate between familiarity and modernity. They are renowned for their rice dishes: and that means the famous Valencian paella. We’re also fans of the rice with sepionets (baby cuttlefish), tender garlic and clams, as well as fideuá and other seafood rice dishes. All are meant to be shared. Just like home.

Up in Barcelona’s hills, Roser Asensi and chef Fabio Gambirasi’s 2017 project is still getting praise. Years on, we hear words of admiration flying around the room as dishes like marrow in the bone arrive at the table still cooking. Every recipe is a reconceptualization of a classic. Take the calçots: instead of simply fire-grilled, these spring onions are slow cooked, the “grill flavor” evoked through smoked herring eggs. A final touch? Edible flowers that Roser picks in the forest out back.

It’s not easy to find a place that blends quality and fair prices, tradition and modernity, identity and open vision into one easy-going style. Denassus, in Poble Sec, has this touch. Here, the giant face of Bacchus presides over a range of plates, from traditional tapas to well-crafted, hearty meals, and a wine menu with 150 names. Of these, 70% are dedicated to biodynamic and natural wines, and the house wine is one made by the owners, in collaboration with partner wineries around Catalonia.

Catalan Pedro Baño and Mexican Paco Benítez spent years working under the glow of Michelin stars, and they’ve brought that shine down to earth in the long, narrow Fonda Pepa, with its old-school marble tables and cute back patio. The restaurant has the easygoing vibe of a village canteen (fonda), with the flavors of a royal kitchen. A short menu of essentials include ham and roast beef croquets, cod bunyols (fritters), and crispy piglet. Not to be missed are the seasonal off-menu specials.

Chef Carles Pérez de Rozas believes in the basics, which is why everything down to the beer, coffee, wine and bread are specially sourced. Even the water is purified and offered for free, a rarity in Barcelona. The exceptional dishes are based on the “1-2-3” method of the masters: two ingredients and a third one to prop them up. Take the thinly sliced cecina (dried and cured beef, 1) paired with celeriac (2) and a touch of grated lemon and pepper (3). Every visit feels like a high-class venture.

Every bite is an immersive trip across Spain. Noroeste’s two chefs play with a wide variety of ingredients and represent their hometowns of Galicia and Castile and León. They have a small yet powerful menu of 15 tapas. Some carry the common thread of smoke from their Robata grill, which is fueled with vine branches. This includes the hearty mar i muntanya (surf-and-turf) combo of stingray and pig ear in a delicious stew of chickpeas, and seasonal dishes of Maresme peas with uni and fennel.

In 1933, Cal Siscu was a bodega selling bulk wine – the only seafood served came from a can. Now, every day the bar’s counter is covered with trays of majestic treasures from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic like clams, barnacles, and sea snails. Locals dine on monkfish stew and fritters, fresh local prawns from Palamós, and grilled espardeñas (sea cucumbers). Order the iconic lobster in tomato sauce and the owner comes to your table with a selection of live lobster to choose from.

At Mamá Heladera, owner Irene Iborra turns childhood memories submitted by locals (“peaches washed in seawater at the beach” or “swinging under the pine tree with a popsicle”) into ice cream flavors (salted peach or redcurrant with pine honey). Irene is part of the fifth generation of long-standing ice creamery Tío Che, and turned her fascination for her family’s world into a new business model. “I fell in love with what ice cream generates in people – the search for a perfect moment,” she says.