Cal Pep (Barcelona, Spain)

We decided to drive to Barcelona for one evening to meet a friend so that we can eat & drink in one of my favourite cities. We drove from Montpeyroux and it would only take about 2.5 hours. Just in time for lunch. We decided to meet at one of my favourite seafood tapas bars in Barcelona...Cal Pep. We have eaten here several times and we just love it.


There are no reservations at Cal Pep. If you are unlucky, you can arrive and have to stand in the queue for up to 45 minutes. We were very lucky when we arrived for our rendez-vous. We only waited 10 minutes. There are no proper tables or chairs at Cal Pep. Everyone sits at the counter. As you can imagine; it would be not a good idea to go with more than 4 people to Cal Pep because it would not guarantee that they could fit all of you at the counter at the same time.

The chefs at Cal Pep cook all the amazing seafood tapas in front on you. It is fun to watch and you get really hungry watching all the chefs make the food. It also smells so good.


The amuse bouche was stewed tuna on toast. The big chunk of stewed tuna was firm and the meat was cooked all the way through. A seafood sauce was added for more flavour.


The next dish was tuna tartare. Just looking at the dish made us so hungry. The tuna tartare was so tasty and the texture from hand chopping the tuna instead of grinding it through a machine made the texture of this dish so much better.


The next dish was toasted baguette doused with olive oil and rubbed with tomato.


The next dish was pata negra ham. Only in Spain can you eat some of the best hams on earth. This pata negra was no exception. The ham had an intense burgundy colour and was rich & smooth & earthy in taste. It went very well with the toasted baguette.


The next dish was deep fried pulpa & baby shrimps. The pulpa and shrimps were perfectly deep fried to a golden brown. Lightly crispy but because the raw material was so fresh, they were so moist and tender.


The next dish was pan fried spinach, chick peas and lardon. What a combination! The flavours were so rich and the textures and colours added another nice dimension to this lovely dish.


The next dish was razor clams. These little funny looking clams are so so good. They had a nice slight chewy texture and the tasty light olive oil and herb sauce clinged to them like glue.


The next dish was clams with diced Iberian ham. The clams were very nice but thanks to the very yummy broth with Iberian ham. Salty in a good way. Dipping the bread into the broth was ideal.


The next dish was langoustine. Tiny little monsters, messy to eat but so worth it. Once you get to the meat of the langoustines; they were so tender and tasty.


The next dish was a large piece of grouper. The fish was so tender and juicy. We love the way they cook seafood at Cal Pep; no heavy sauces, just pure and simple and let the seafood talk for itself.


Cal Pep has a huge following in Barcelona. When you talk to people who love food; Cal Pep will always be mentioned. Barcelona is an amazing city for food and wine but we always end up at Cal Pep for lunch.

Plaza Olles, 8
08003 Barcelona
933 107 961