breakfast in barcelona
pancakes, pomegranates and pizzas
I arrived in Barcelona just before noon after a very early plane ride with a friend. I’m not usually a breakfast person, but after waking up at 3 a.m. to catch the bus to the airport, I was craving some pancakes and coffee. Luckily, Barcelona had the best food in Spain, at least that’s what I’ve heard.
It was my first time in the city and a very tired and hungry me was ready to walk the streets around my hotel and find a Friday morning breakfast. There were many restaurants around, but several were closed for the lunch hours. We walked around the block, glancing into cafes that weren’t quite what we were looking for.
It was a sunny November day and a bit crisp outside, not many people were around this quiet street of Barcelona. The restaurant I found was made for tourists like me who just wanted a nice American breakfast after being in Spain for months.
The Toast Maker led to a great experience and a full tummy. It wasn’t too busy when we arrived as it was most likely transitioning to lunch hours at that time. I chose to sit inside by the window overlooking the plaza. It was a nice, sunny spot. There were others eating outside in the plaza, but the warmed seats near the sun were calling my name. The waiter gave us one Spanish menu and one English menu (that’s when you know the food is going to be a bit pricey, but also the perfect cuisine that we were searching for). And then we proceeded to order nearly the entire menu: 2 orders of fruit pancakes, 2 orders of orange juice, 1 order of eggs on toast, 2 waters and 1 cappuccino please.
We ate every bite. There is no food as good as the food you eat when you are actually hungry. The pancakes were piled with bananas, strawberries, and blueberries with a dash of powdered sugar and plops of whip cream around. It was a nice sweet balance between bites of perfectly salted scrambled eggs. The orange juice was freshly squeezed goodness. I still remember the first taste of my orange juice: fireworks of citrus brightened my tastebuds. I could feel my mood lift after a single sip. My cappuccino was fairly large for a coffee in Spain and tasted amazing, the perfect pick-me-up.
It’s not the experience that most people travel to Spain for, but it was exactly what we needed to fuel us for the busy day ahead.
The next morning, we ventured into Mercat de la Boqueria for breakfast. It is a very popular vendor’s market situated along the famous La Rambla boardwalk. The building is shaped like a very large tent with big opening on all four sides. Once you step in, the paths get a bit jumbled together and it’s easy to lose your bearings due to the sheer size of the place.
Market stalls line the pathways full of every food you can imagine. Along the entrance, the scent of chocolates, nuts, dried fruits, and other sweet delicacies from the stalls filled the air. The craftsmanship of the chocolates and candies were impressive as they came in different shapes and sizes, some decorated with other small colorful candy. The vendors gave out bags for customers to pick their own chocolates from the bottomless containers with tongs and small spoons.
The abundance of fruits seemed to go on forever, casting a rainbow of color across the shelves with some fruits that I had never even seen in a grocery store before. Dates, mangos, pomegranates, papayas, watermelons, dragonfruits, and pineapples all stand on the market counters, chilled on ice and decorated with foliage and florals.
As I walked a little further back in the market, the smell of seafood took over the senses. Crabs, fish, shrimp, oysters, octopi and other types of sea creatures lined the pathways. Some cooked and ready to eat, and others still alive and ready to be prepared. The stores in Europe are so drastically different when it comes to the protein sections. Where I come from, everything is prepackaged in a pretty little bag or styrofoam tray. It is so easy to forget where our food comes from and how it is made. At this point, I thought to myself: I’m too American for this. My friend, of course, wanted to try the octopus for breakfast. I tried not to watch.
The other parts of the market contained other ready to eat foods from a variety of cuisines like sandwiches, gyros, paella, and pastas. Some vendors were selling jars of fruits and jams of all kinds. Pastries and cakes were carefully placed on the counters by others. It was a great experience, but a bit crowded. We enjoyed it and I settled for pomegranate and mango for breakfast that day.
On the third day, we passed by a cafe near our hotel. Inside the window, pizza that looked so good it seemed to be sent from heaven caught our eye. We were coming back to the hotel after site seeing in the city early that morning. We planned to grab some breakfast and bring it back with us to the room to rest for a couple of hours.
Inside the cafe, there were more options at the counter to choose from—croissants, cookies, muffins, sandwiches, wraps, and other small goods. Everything looked amazing. My friend ordered the pizza and asked specifically for the pizza in the window counter—it looked that good. She happily selected the chosen one and warmed it to melt the cheese. I decided to go with an almond croissant, one of my favorites. Although I didn’t take pictures of our breakfast this day, it was still very good and filling. We even went back on the morning of our plane ride home to get some breakfast. I ordered what seemed to be a cookie, and later on I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was a brookie (a cookie baked on top of a brownie)!
On the last full day, we went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. I know what you’re thinking, but Dunkin is a rare find in Spain and we had one very close to our hotel. We ordered half a dozen as we had others on our trip to share with. Like most people who get to be around donuts all day, the workers were very nice.
Although it was quite busy, our wait wasn’t very long. I was responsible for picking out the flavors, and I think I did a fine job. We also got some pumpkin spice lattes and the barista told us it was much needed to add whip cream on top, so of course we did. Our breakfast at Dunkin is a very simple tale, but still cherished all the same.
Barcelona was one of my favorite places to visit in Spain and the food was truly amazing. Our trip was full of beautiful architecture (that I also plan to write about for a future post) and memorable breakfast outings. Thank you for reading an I hope you enjoyed this slightly different sort of post from me. Until next time.
With love,
L.L.
Adorable. Breakfast is my favorite meal, always. I'm curious, how is your Spanish living in Spain? Do you study Spanish as part of your time there?
I have to go back to bcn soon for my thesis defense and I am so ready for the mix of spanish food+international food 😍. (I have learned that it is very possible to get tired of Italian food unfortunately)