7 Portes

Many generations have come and gone and seen Barcelona blossom into the city it now is - particularly friendly, enchanting and fashionable - with a plethora of attractions such as museums, festivals and delicious food that you cannot ignore. The lovely 7 Portes restaurant opened its doors in the year 1836 and with over a hundred and seventy years of excellence, it is unmistakably one of the city's most classic dining destinations.

Pòrtics d'en Xifré, the national monument in which 7 Portes is situated, was the first to receive running water when connections were installed in Barcelona, and was the backdrop for the first photograph ever taken in Spain! The restaurant was originally called 'Café de les 7 Portes', and became the property of Paco Parellada, founder of one of the foremost dynasties of restaurateurs in all of Catalonia, in 1942.

Customers get an opportunity to sample some of the finest Catalan dishes, accompanied by Spain's best wines and cavas, and served by attentive staff smartly dressed in white aprons. The good part is 7 Portes is open from one in the afternoon to one in the morning every day of the year. Guests can take advantage of four dining areas of different capacities, decorated in traditional style with tiled floors, dark wooden beams and walls adorned with posters from the years gone by.

Cold starters of grilled sweet peppers with salted cod and bean salad with fresh mint vie with hot monkfish soup and Catalan style spinach with sultanas and pine nuts, to provide a firm foundation. A range of cannelloni stuffed with delights such as fish, shellfish, artichokes and spinach never fail to please.

A wide array of expertly deboned and fresh fish such as sole, monkfish and hake come before you poached and served with aromatic rice, and squid is deep-fried in a flavoursome batter. 7 Portes special zarzuela fish stew with half a lobster or Señor Cortina's oven baked langoustines are other popular choices that make the restaurant well worth the visit.

Meats appear with the roast suckling pig, veal fricassee with wild mushrooms, meatballs stewed with peas, and black or white sausages with haricot beans. Of course, being Spanish they offer an excellent selection of rice dishes - fish paella with hot peppers, Barcelona rice with ham and cheese, black rice Emporda style with cuttlefish and its ink, and fideua, a noodle like dish from Valencia accompanied by prawns.

The desserts head off with sponge fingers and raisins in rum, mouth-watering truffles, crème caramel with cream and biscuit glace in hot chocolate sauce. 7 Portes is waiting to count you in its list of guests, and don't be surprised to come across names like Alexander Fleming, the King and Queen of Spain, Charlton Heston and Catherine Deneuve. Their name means 'seven doors' and it really does have seven doors under some charming porticoes that are typical to this portside pocket of Barcelona.