Looking for Ethnic Restaurants in Barcelona? Start Here!

Last week I spent four days in Barcelona with my family. Technically, we were there to celebrate my middle son’s 18th birthday, but I had my own agenda. I wanted to find Barcelona’s best ethnic restaurants and make my tastebuds happy again after a year of living in Malaga where the food scene is pleasant, but shall we say, lacking in good ethnic eats.

Spanish Food is Nice, but it’s Lacking in Spice

This is not a diss on traditional Spanish cuisine, because Spanish food is delicious. It’s also incredibly diverse and healthy. Still, after living my entire adult life between New York City and Philadelphia, I am accustomed to eating a much larger variety of foods from different world cultures. Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Thai and Indian were just our regular take-out options while living in Philly. If we were eating out, the sky was the limit for ethnic eats.

But here in my new adopted home of Malaga, the options just aren’t as plentiful, diverse, or authentic. Case in point, most Indian restaurants are coupled with Mexican restaurants for what reason, I cannot surmise. And neither cuisine at these Mexi-Indian joints is very good. So, considering the fact that Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain and boasts an incredibly diverse population, I just knew I would be able to find a nice selection of ethnic restaurants to satisfy my cravings. And I was right!

Four Ethnic Restaurants in Barcelona You Should Try on Your Next Trip

This is the list of ethnic restaurants we ate at while visiting Barcelona for the first time. Despite the fact that we literally stumbled upon all five places, they all turned out to be delicious and highly rated by reviewers.

Manga Rosa – Cuban

How lucky that we found ourselves staying at an AirBnB in the Eixample neighborhood, that was right next door to a tiny, but tasty Cuban restaurant that served lunch and dinner. With a handful of tables both outside and in, Manga Rosa felt like a family-owned spot with comforting, homestyle dishes that were beautifully plated and came in generous portions. From fragrant feijoda, to a Brazilian inspired burger that was loaded with toppings including, avocado and a fried egg, everything we ordered was delicious. I don’t drink alcohol, but if I did, I would have ordered a mojito to pair with my dish of black beans, rice, yucca and chicken. For our first meal in Barcelona, Manga Rosa did not disappoint. Bonus:  If you like music, there was a DJ spinning tunes in the evenings we were there as well.

La Pachuca – Mexican

No disrespect to the Mexican restaurants in Malaga, but they cannot compare to La Pachuca in Barcelona. We ate ourselves silly at this tiny establishment in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. Clearly, I’m not Mexican, but the food at La Pachuca managed to taste completely authentic, but still feel elevated with a touch of whimsy and surprise. Taking our suggestions from the waiter, we ordered the nachos – which were a full meal by themselves as they were loaded with cheese, chicken, black beans, guacamole and pico de gallo –  the fresh tuna tostadas, and the tacos Cochinita Pibil. My mouth is watering just writing these words. Generous portions, fresh flavors, crispy homemade corn tortillas, and harmonious tastes and textures with everything. Even the drinks were divine. I had a homemade lemonade and el esposo and the kids had agua frescas that were sweet and refreshing. La Pachuca owner, Jose Luis Garcia, told us that even though they had the misfortune of opening in early 2020 (and then being forced to shut down because of the pandemic), they’ve amassed such a delicious reputation, that there is usually a line to get in to eat, so do what we did and go early. It’s definitely worth the wait!

Ramen House Barcelona – Japanese with a Twist

My son wanted ramen for his birthday dinner and we didn’t have to look very far to stumble upon Ramen House Barcelona, another cozy little restaurant just minutes away from our AirBnB. After checking out some reviews online, I discovered it was rated one of the best ramen places in Barcelona, and that’s high praise because there are a lot of ramen restaurants in Barcelona. Fun fact about Ramen House Barcelona; even though they served authentic Japanese ramen- savory pork and chicken broth- with all the fixings – boiled egg, pork cutlet, seaweed and sesame seeds – and homemade noodles, the menu also includes some Filipino dishes as well. Since we came for the ramen, that’s what we had, but we ended our meal with a yummy, homemade, Filipino dessert, which was a warm yuca and coconut cake served with vanilla bean ice cream.

Honorable Mention: Rossini – Italian

Honestly, Rossini is an Italian restaurant, serving mostly pizzas and pastas, and paella, so I barely consider it an ethnic restaurant, but our food was delicious, and the location is so stunning, I figured I’d add it to this list of ethnic eats to try in Barcelona. Babygirl and I ordered the brick-oven pizzas and we were not disappointed. The crust was perfect, sauce was savory, and the toppings delicious. My son had the mushroom pasta with a light cream sauce and el esposo had the black rice with squid. Everything was really tasty, but the fact that we were sitting in a stunning palm tree laden plaza – the Plaza Real –   with pewter fountains and pastel-colored buildings all around us, added an extra element of delight to a satisfying meal.

Honorable Mention #2: Manna Gelats

Technically you could argue that gelato is ethnic ice cream, so I’m okay with putting Manna Gelats on my list. Also in the Gothic Quarter, Manna Gelats had me crying tears of joy after sampling their house speciality, ginger ice cream. I’ve never had ginger ice cream before, and was unsure if I would like it, but it was amazing. It tasted of fresh ginger and was light and airy but also creamy. I paired the ginger ice cream with lemon sorbet and savored every single lick of my cone. My son tried the mojito sorbet -made with real rum – and he said it was the best sorbet he’d ever tried. Was it the rum? Maybe. Had we discovered Manna Gelats on our first day, instead of our last, I would have found a reason to return every single day we were there. It was that good.

Barcelona is the Place for Ethnic Restaurants

Needless to say, a lot of my best moments in Barcelona were spent eating. Yes, the Sagrada Familia was spectacular, but so were those nachos. Four days was clearly not enough to get all of my ethnic eating in for the year, so I definitely have to make plans for my next visit. There’s an Ethiopian and a Jamaican restaurant I want to try. And, there seems to be an abundance of empanadas in Barcelona. I have to figure out why, and I need to sample some of those as well.

Until we (m)eat again Barcelona!

Do you have any suggestions for ethnic restaurants I should try the next time I’m in Barcelona? Please leave them below in the comments.