Croquetas

Croquetas.

The best croquetas in Barcelona.

These potentially tasty little morsels should be full of textures and flavour,  but –when they have any flavour at all– most often taste of rancid oil and industrial béchamel.  Here are a few places that reliably serve recommendable croquetas, some unique, some plain home cooking, all delicious.

Casa Jaime.
Enric Granados 107 (between Córsega and Roselló)

A working man’s bar and mid-day restaurant. My absolute favourite traditional croquetas. Made by the lady of the house as tradition demands from the meats and fowls used to make stews and pottages.  Slightly different in flavour each day.  Always misshapen and irregular.  At least three times as big as the anodyne industrial cylinders unloaded on an undiscerning public in other bars of similar,  modest appearance.  Always full of flavourful morsels of meat and chicken suspended in a tasty, creamy matrix.  Not always available as unscrupulous local housewives have been known to buy up the lot to pass off as their own at dinner parties or family Sunday lunches… An unbeatable, traditional croqueta for those seeking the real thing.

La Bodega Sepúlveda.
Sepúlveda 173 bis.
93 323 59 44 – 93 454 70 94

A long-established bodega and now a fashionable —and expensive— restaurant. Be prepared to bump into Pep Guardiola, any number of Barcelona players, film stars and numerous neighbours jockeying for a table.  Croquetas come in exciting flavours: fungi porcini,  strong cabrales cheese, cuttlefish (black with ink) and the traditional stew-based ones.

La Bodegueta.
Rambla Catalunya 100
93 215 48 94

La Bodegueta

Go down the stairs into this old-fashioned wine-cellar,  sit at an ancient marble table and enjoy a tasty chicken croqueta, accompanied by a Voll Damm beer or glass of wine.  Made on the premises and reliably fried in fresh oil –an essential condition for any self-respecting croqueta.

Bar Roure

El Roure

 

Luis Antúñez 7 (between Vía augusta and Gran de Gràcia)
93 237 7490

Another stalwart serving well made, home-made croquetas. One of Gràcia’s oldest and most traditional bars. Well loved by all loyal Roure regulars. Some prefer the cod, some the chicken, some the ham.  All well made, tasty crisp and rewarding.  My personal favourites are the chicken.

La Cerveseria Catalana
Mallorca 236 (by Rambla de Catalunya)
93 216 03 68

Possibly because they spend so much time and effort on their superb and excellent range of freshly made tapas, the croquetas (only one variety –ham and chicken) are  not up to the Cervecería’s usual top-of-the-range standard.  If you happen to drop in —I mean squeeze in— try some of the mouth-watering montaditos or the freshly prepared  sea-food half-rations.  Usually always packed with well-to-do Ensanche neighbours as well as the well-informed, hungry tourist.

Sucoa
Enric Granados 24 (by València)
93 451 3844

Sucoa. Delicious croquetas

 

Highly recommendable. Extraordinarily crisp coatings surround smooth, flavourful yet subtle fillings.

The cod variety is a smooth mousse of cod and creamy bechamel – a delight. The Gruyere and Parmesan cheese ones defy description. Delicious with a glass of Barcelona’s traditional beer, Moritz, –and especially their Epidor, the dark double malt ale made with water brought from Montseny mountain.

María Castaña
Vía Augusta 53 (by Travessera de Gràcia)
932 182 590

A popular tapas and lunch bar, but sadly one whose croquetas don’t quite make it into the top of the range. Full of chunks of ham – and unfortunately bits of gristle – the coating is bland and the bechamel blander still. A pity because María Castaña is a justifiably thriving, popular place …

Can Joan
Rosselló  164 (By Aribau)
93 453 10 50

Excellent crisp and tasty mini croquetas made with nuggets of best Iberian ham. Highly recommendable.
This bar is a Barça “penya” or supporters’ club and so it gets very crowded on match nights, especially big match nights when the tables are often reserved well in advance.
The “penya” leader tries to get the crowd into the spirit of things by incessantly playing the club song, singing through a megaphone and generally acting the goat. You have been warned…

Stinger
Pau Claris/Diagonal
93 217 71 87

Not a tapas bar at all, but a cocktail bar, specialising in Rum. The croquetas are first class and vouched for by a friend of irreproachable reputation and discernment.  I have also enjoyed the mouth-watering croquetas in Stinger, but cannot give a balanced opinion as my judgment was preoccupied with an in-depth and detailed investigation of the Caipirinhas which are worthy of a great deal of further research.

Taller de Tapas
Rambla Catalunya/Consell de Cent
Ham. Not bad at all. The croquetas are not languishing in some stainless tray awaiting your patronage. The two we (my croquette/coquette associate) and I, orderd took a geological age to arrive. Appearance, dubious due to the regularity and symmetry; texture creamy but not too bland, with extra large pieces of ham as a surprise. No fibrous fragments. Coating crisp and clean.