Piropo
Bistrot / 80s Catalan Revival · Gràcia, Barcelona · €€
Open since 2026
The Delekta Review
Quim Marqués came home to Gràcia in October 2023 and opened Santa Magdalena as a cocina-de-barrio room on Carrer de Santa Magdalena 6. Fricandó, cap i pota, croqueta de rostit, the Lliga del Porc i la Forquilla in 2025. In January 2026 he and his daughter Paula opened a second project three minutes away at Carrer del Topazi 18: Piropo. The register is different. Where Santa Magdalena is grandmother Sunday food, Piropo is an eighties-bistrot revival — gourmet treatment of the dishes that disappeared into nostalgia. Cóctel de gambas. Huevos rellenos. Dátiles con bacon. Vitello tonnato. Croque-monsieur with béchamel and Catalan cheese gratin. Boeuf bourguignon. Profiteroles for dessert. Marcel Olivares, fifteen years on Marqués's line, runs the kitchen day-to-day. Thirty-five seats plus six at the bar; about a hundred wine references curated by Paula; twenty-five Catalan cheeses sourced via Caseus in Granollers; a custom unfiltered Märzen brewed by Estrella Damm exclusively for the room. Vinyl on the player at the door, wine-red azulejos, eighties-design lamps. €30–40 average ticket. La Vanguardia and Ara filed in January; Time Out followed in both Spanish and Catalan; Beteve came out.
What works
Quim Marqués is one of Barcelona's senior chef-statesmen (Escola d'Hostaleria first cohort with Abellán, Arola, Andrés; 30 years at Suquet de l'Almirall) and Piropo is doing something the city doesn't currently have — a chef-grade rehabilitation of eighties-bistrot dishes that vanished into nostalgia. Cóctel de gambas, huevos rellenos, croque-monsieur, vitello tonnato, boeuf bourguignon, profiteroles. €30–40 ticket is unusually generous for the talent attached. Wine list (~100 refs by Paula), Caseus cheese partnership and the custom Estrella Damm Märzen give the room a real identity beyond the gimmick risk. Six Tier-1 sources within two months of opening — La Vanguardia, Ara, Time Out (×2), Metrópoli Abierta, Beteve — is dense coverage by Barcelona-newcomer standards.
Before you go
Tiny room — 35 seats plus six at the bar — and limited hours (Wed–Sun dinner, weekend lunch only); reservation via CoverManager essentially mandatory. The concept is intentionally retro and playful — don't expect Suquet-era seafood gravitas. Marcel Olivares runs the daily kitchen rather than Marqués himself, though the carte was developed by the two together. Four months old at writing; the press file is heavy with opening coverage and the heavier reviewers haven't filed yet. Don't confuse with Santa Magdalena three minutes away — same family, completely different register.
What the critics say
- Piropo, la nueva apuesta de la familia Marqués
- Chef Quim Marqués's new restaurant — Piropo
- Uno de los grandes chefs de Barcelona abre un bistrot que rinde homenaje a la cocina ochentera
- Homenatge en clau gurmet a la cuina dels anys vuitanta — Piropo
- Piropo, un restaurant a Gràcia on podràs tornar a menjar còctel de gambes i ous farcits
- Piropo, el restaurante que recupera el cóctel de gambas y los platos de los 80
- Piropo — Ajuntament de Barcelona Guia
Visit
- Address
- Carrer del Topazi, 18, Vila de Gràcia, 08012 Barcelona, Spain
- Phone
- +34 936 66 50 55
- Website
- restaurante.covermanager.com/piropo-bistro
- Reservations
- Book a table