Botafumeiro, Mediterranean seafood restaurant in Gràcia, Barcelona, Spain.
Botafumeiro is a seafood restaurant in Barcelona's Gràcia neighborhood, serving fish and shellfish from both the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean coast. The produce arrives daily from coastal markets and is cooked over oak charcoal grills in an open kitchen.
The restaurant opened in 1975 and over the following decades grew from a neighborhood spot into a well-known address for northern Spanish seafood cooking in Barcelona. This rise followed the growing interest in Galician fish and shellfish traditions among the city's diners.
The name refers to the giant incense burner swung during ceremonies at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, pointing to the Galician roots of the kitchen. Guests can notice this connection in the way dishes are prepared, with northern Spanish techniques still guiding the cooking today.
The restaurant sits on Gran de Gràcia, a main street in the Gràcia neighborhood that is easy to reach by metro. Booking a table in advance is a good idea, especially for lunch and dinner on weekends.
A large share of the regular guests are Spanish visitors from outside Catalonia who travel specifically to eat here, making it one of the few restaurants in the city that draws as many Spanish travelers as foreign tourists. This cross-regional following is something most visitors to Barcelona would not expect from a neighborhood restaurant.
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