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Eat BARS & CAFES l Fun and foxy l Barefoot in the sand High NINO VIEJO (Mains about £6.50) Drinks Salt Beach Club Because: You simply have to eat in one This place is Because: This sexy beach club has it of Ferran Adrià’s brother’s restaurants, part of the W all: string chairs, twinkling lights and a Barcelona hotel. and 2015 is mad for all things Mexican. new menu of gourmet burgers. Killer Pop up to At this taquería you can watch footie 26th-floor cocktails, too. Travel’s tip: Don’t arrive over tacos oozing hot salsa, and Eclipse bar for late at the weekend: it kicks off at 5pm Margaritas with salt-scented foam. one of the with groovy tunes. Passeig Mare loftiest views 13 Travel’s tip: Let your server choose over the city Nostrum 19-21; saltbeachclub.com; . your dishes for more intrepid nosh. Ave de Mistral 54; 00 34 933 l Best brunch 482194, ninoviejo.es; 9 . Federal CafE del Gotico Because: This sunny newcomer in the l Boho bistro Barri Gòtic is the best place in town to MANO ROTA (Mains about £8.50) perk up with a flat white and brunch. Because: New kids on the block Bernat Travel’s tip: Catch up on your reading Bermudo y Oswaldo Brito serve what with its UK magazines. Passatge de la they love — slow-braised pork cheeks Pau 11; federalcafe.es; 14 . with apricots, miso and mustard, say — in a redbrick bar in funky Poble Sec. l Cocktail king Travel’s tip: The set lunch is a steal at Balius £10. Carrer de la Creu dels Molers 4; Because: Barcelona loves its NY-style 00 34 931 648041, manorota.com; 10 . cocktail bars (moody lighting, flirty crowd) but nobody does it like Mike l Laid-back local Cruickshank, who mixes a perfect LANDO (Mains about £9) Martini in this refashioned ironmongers. Because: It’s all tall windows, concrete Travel’s tip: Avoid the crowds and go floors and simple, mostly organic food. on a Saturday afternoon to soak up the The likes of taramasalata, croquettes disco grooves over a cheeky snifter. and braised veal hit the spot every Carrer de Pujades 196; 15 . time. Travel’s tip: It’s great for dining alone. Just grab a spot at the counter. Passatge Pere Calders 6; 00 34 933 Stay l Modernism on a budget les Corts Catalanes 670; 00 34 934 open to the public, serving impeccable 485530, lando.es; 11 . ASK THE l Haute hostel Praktik Rambla (Doubles 505045, hotelcottonhouse.com; 24 . ceviche, sushi and seafood. Passeig de LOCAL casa Gracia (Doubles from from £65, room only) Gràcia 38-40; 00 34 931 518888, l New wave ‘wow’ Rosa Solà was born and £44, B&B) Because: It’s handsome at a bargain l Fashionable portside paradise mandarinoriental.com/barcelona; 26 . ROCA MOO (Mains about £22) Little bred in Barcelona. She’s a Because: It’s cool, cheap and central, price, paying close attention to things Worth The Serras (Doubles from wonder translator and the author booking Because: It’s owned by the celebrated Nightcap? One of the Km0 Slow Food sprawling over several floors with that matter (power showers, black-out Even if you’re £130, room only) Get me there Roca brothers (of El Celler de Can Roca of the finest guide to Catalunya vast communal areas, a kitchen and blinds) and mixing it with wow factor not staying, an Because: Nowhere in town boasts GO INDEPENDENT in Girona) — entertaining, too, as head under-the-radar dining room — and a sunny terrace. (ornately carved doors, a harlequin- extravagantly views quite like those from the rooftop Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Barcelona bars in Barcelona, long lunch here chef Juan Pretel muddles sauces and Les Gens que In summer, I love the Travel’s tip: Gain new friends on pattern terrace). Travel’s tip: Skip at Michelin- at the Serras, on the site of Picasso’s first from Dublin and seven UK airports twirls sugar before you. Travel’s tip: J’Aime (lesgens open-air cinema at Sala Thursdays, when there’s a big paella breakfast and instead wander over starred Marc studio. Glimpse the newly fashionable including Stansted, Liverpool, The three-course £32 lunch (Tue-Fri) quejaime.com), Montjuïc (salamontjuic.org/en; £4.50; cook-up for all guests, or any other to Mary’s Market for baked treats Gascons’ Port Vell and the fuzzy green hills of Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester, is two streets mod-Med 16 with wine and coffee is a great bargain ). It takes place in the old moat of the night of the week, over live music HIC and stellar coffee. Rambla de Montjuïc. Travel’s tip: Hang out at the from £25 one way. EasyJet (easyjet. south, down the A P restaurant is a intro. Carrer del Roselló 265; 00 34 934 staircase at Carrer castle; we pack a picnic and go with our and pop quizzes. Passeig de R Catalunya 27; 00 34 933 436690, very BCN mezzanine library — the bar serves com) flies from Belfast, Bristol, 454000, hotelomm.es; 12 . de València 286. little boy. For something completely Gràcia 116; 00 34 931 874497, TOG hotelpraktikrambla.com; 23 . experience, the best Martini in town. Passeig Liverpool, Gatwick, Luton, Southend Big G&T, please! different to do when friends come to casagraciabcn.com; 21 . tapas and all de Colom 9; 00 34 931 691868, and Newcastle, from £25 one way. l The one to watch town, we like the sunset cruises with l Sumptuous idling hoteltheserrasbarcelona.com; 25 . SANTA RITA CLUB GASTRONOMIC0 Catamarán Orsom (barcelona-orsom. l Secret neighbourhood retreat Cotton House HOtel (Doubles GO PACKAGED (Tasting menu only; £32) com/jazz.html; £14), too. If you want to HOTEL BRUMMELL (Doubles from from £129, room only) l For decadent feasting A two-night food-focused holiday with Curl power: Because: Xabi Bonilla, frustrated by avoid the crowds at the Boqueria food £60, room only) LL MAIDENHEAD MA P : CA R Because: These palatial digs were once Mandarin Oriental (Doubles Made for Spain (00 34 914 487275, clockwise from top

17 ENHU fine dining, decided to open at home market , go at 6am for breakfast Because: This good-looking newcomer K home to Barcelona’s Cotton Foundation left, spiral staircase from £211, room only) madeforspain.com) costs from (‘so I could cook in my slippers’). A six- and watch the stallholders setting up. is in up-and-coming Poble Sec, mixing — note the high-count cotton sheets and at Cotton House Because: This old bank on swish Passeig £360pp, including walking tour and course tasting menu explores local ‘Brunch’ is really a tourist thing. Here a New York loft vibe with curios from HOCATE the cotton blooms inset in marble in Hotel; Casa Gràcia de Gràcia has become one of Spain’s top , K four-star hotel but not flights. Cresta Y hums nightly with products such as Llobregat artichokes we do vermut and tapas — Bar Seco Sri Lanka. There’s a lovely leafy cobbled the floors. Modernist details have been live music; view from foodie hotels. Culinary hot-shot Angel (0844 800 7020, thomascook.com) , GETT — in his lamplit apartment. Travel’s (bar-seco.com; 18 ), Morro Fi (morrofi. courtyard, too. Travel’s tip: The rooftop Y perked up by comfy lounges, making this the penthouse at the León does radical seafood cookery at has two nights at a three-star, from AM tip: Make local pals over ‘Dinners cat; 19 ) and La Pubilla (Plaça de la pool terrace is a secret oasis for perfect L an ideal spot for a lazy weekend. Travel’s Mandarin Oriental; BistrEau, with Raül Balam’s Michelin- £115pp, B&B, with Gatwick flights. simple ingredients 20 P HS: A with Strangers’ (‘Cenas entre Llibertat 23; ) are all great. summer afternoons. Carrer Nou A tip: It’s not the most ostentatious, but starred Moments on the floor above. R made simply Desconocidos’). Address on booking; de la Rambla 174; 00 34 931 258622, the Cotton Room is one of just two delicious at Lando; Travel’s tip: Non-guests rarely realise Further information

00 34 676 272820, club-santarita.com. hotelbrummell.com; 22 . P HOTOG rooms with its own terrace. Gran Vía de shaking it up at Balius it, but the rooftop restaurant, Terrat, is Visit the Spanish tourism site spain.info.

132 Sunday Times Travel JULY 2015 JULY 2015 Sunday Times Travel 133