In Spain, going to the beach is as much about eating as it is about sunbathing. As such, most beaches have chiringuitos, semi-open-air beachside bar-restaurants specializing in seafood dishes. Barcelona is no exception to this, and with several sandy beaches within the city limits, the city is home to several xiringuitos, as they’re known in Catalan.
Head north from the portside La Barceloneta neighborhood, and you’ll encounter a string of sandy urban beaches. Platja del Bogatell, one such strip, is backed by Xiringuito Escribà, arguably the city’s most famous beachside restaurant. It opened in 1992, and has a strong reputation for its rice-based dishes.
Although paella and other Spanish rice dishes are largely associated with Valencia, further south, Catalonia has its own variants, some of which are served at Escribà. Arroz negro is rice dyed black with cuttlefish ink and studded with chunks of cuttlefish, while Catalan-style paella is served with a mix of seafood and meat known as mar i muntanya.
And there’s also fideuà, a paella-like dish made from thin noodles, served with a tiny mortar of aioli. In all these cases, the centerpiece carbs are prepared and served in paella pans, reduced until just short of crispy, with rich, concentrated, salty flavors.
Although Escribà is semi-open-air—with the flies to prove this—the dining room retains a rich aroma of reducing seafood broth, and the station where workers prepare as many as eight paella pans is fun to watch. If rice isn’t your thing, you could try the Iberian Ham Airbag, a massive puffed bread topped with slices of cured ham, and the sangría here is said to be better than most.
