Tasting menus in Barcelonafrom €24

This is how the 35 restaurants break down by their cheapest tasting menu:

The €50–120 range holds 26 of the 35. Above €200 there are only two houses left, and below €50, two exceptions worth knowing about.

Yes, you can have a tasting menu at a Michelin Guide restaurant for less than an ordinary dinner in the city centre:

• 
  Oníric (Gràcia) — the most affordable on the list. Its Herrén menu starts at €24, and the Oníric (from €45) and Somni (from €72) menus add courses.
• 
  Avenir (Sarrià-Sant Gervasi) — the Instante Avenir lunch menu costs €32.95. The long evening one, Universo Avenir, reaches €89.75.
• 
  Xerta (Eixample) — seasonal menu at €55.
• 
  Albé (Eixample) — the Albé menu, at €62.
• 
  Contraban (Ciutat Vella) — tasting menu at €65. Note: adults only.
• 
  Ají (Sant Martí) and SOLC (Eixample, at the Hotel Majestic) — both at €68.

The trick that keeps coming up: lunch is cheaper than dinner. Avenir makes it explicit with its lunch menu, and in fine dining the gap is even bigger: Lasarte's weekday lunch menu costs €225, against €345 for its full tasting menu.

This is the busiest range, and it shows clearly how these menus work: the same kitchen in two or three lengths. You pay for the number of courses, not for a different restaurant.

• 
  Osmosis (Eixample) — short, 5 dishes at €70; long, 7 at €80; XL, 9 at €90.
• 
  Fronda (Ciutat Vella) — a 5-course experience at €70, or 7 courses at €90.
• 
  Suculent (Ciutat Vella) — Los clásicos at €70, or the Suculent menu at €90.
• 
  Xerta again — from the seasonal menu (€55) to Delta (€80) and Producto (€115).

If it's your first tasting menu, the short version is usually the best way in: two hours at the table instead of three, with the same level of cooking.

Here are the city's benchmark houses, with menus designed as an experience that takes up a whole afternoon:

• 
  Caelis (Ciutat Vella) — vegetarian or surf-and-turf menu at €135, and a celebration menu at €170.
• 
  Dos Palillos (Ciutat Vella) — its menu, at €140.
• 
  Amar (Eixample) — Amar Lentamente, at €145. It has to be ordered at least 24 hours in advance.
• 
  Lasarte (Eixample) — from €225 at weekday lunch.
• 
  Cocina Hermanos Torres (Les Corts) — the Revolución menu, at €320, the most expensive on the list.

If you're specifically after stars, we have the full list of Michelin-starred restaurants in Barcelona, and the one of Sol Repsol restaurants.

A tasting menu is a fixed sequence of small dishes chosen by the chef: you don't pick a starter and a main, you pick how many courses you want. It's how a chef-driven restaurant shows its whole cooking in a single meal.

It isn't a menú del día: the menú del día is a fixed weekday lunch price, with a starter, main and dessert to choose from. If what you want is chef-driven cooking at an ordinary lunch price, see our guide to the gourmet menú del día in Barcelona.

• Eixample: 19 of the 35. By far the fine-dining neighbourhood.
• Ciutat Vella (Born, Gòtic, Raval): 7.
• Sarrià-Sant Gervasi: 3.
• Gràcia and Sants-Montjuïc: 2 each.
• Sant Martí and Les Corts: 1 each.

1. Book ahead. Many of these restaurants have few tables and fill up weeks in advance, especially at weekends.
2. Ask about lunch. If there's a lunch menu, it's almost always the cheapest way to try the same cooking.
3. Drinks are usually extra. The menu price rarely includes wine; the pairing is charged as a supplement.
4. Mention allergies when you book, not when you sit down: the menu is designed as a whole and the kitchen needs to prepare for it.
5. Allow two to three hours. This isn't a meal to squeeze between two meetings.

A tasting menu doesn't have to be a once-a-year luxury: Barcelona has 17 of them under €80.

Want to see all their menus and book? Explore the restaurants on Appetece — with real, up-to-date prices.