Santa Magdalena

Traditional Catalan · Gràcia, Barcelona · €€

Open since 2023

Quim Marqués — first cohort of the Escola d'Hostaleria de Barcelona alongside Carles Abellán, Sergi Arola and José Andrés, then thirty years at Suquet de l'Almirall in Barceloneta — closed that room in 2018, did a season with José Andrés at Mercado Little Spain in New York, and came back to his native Gràcia in October 2023 to open this corner…

The Delekta Review

Cocina de barrio at neighborhood prices — slow-cooked stews, cucharones, weekend esmorzar de forquilla; €19 weekday lunch menu, average ticket ~€25, full à la carte with wine €30–45 Catalan grandmother repertoire treated with respect rather than reinvention — fricandó, cap i pota, escudella, arrossos, garbanzos amb botifarra; no avant-garde gestures, no tasting menu Wine bench is unusually serious for a bar-de-barri — Marqués co-founded the Associació Catalana de Sommeliers and the carte leans on small Catalan producers and natural wines

Fricandó — slow-braised veal with mushrooms, around €12; the house signature, the dish Marqués names first Croqueta de rostit with truffle mayonnaise — slow-roast croquette, around three hundred made each week, the Gràcia totem Cap i pota amb xamfaina — calf head and trotter braised over a sofregit-based xamfaina; one of the city's reference offal plates Garbanzos amb botifarra negra — Marqués's tribute to El Pinotxo at the Boqueria; macarrons del cardenal as the pasta foil Arròs del Torrent de l'Olla — rice with mushrooms, black sausage, ribs and rabbit, around €12; buñuelos de bacalao with honey Weekend esmorzar de forquilla — bullinada and seasonal cassola dishes; the brunch slot books out first

Quim Marqués — born in Gràcia, first cohort of the Escola d'Hostaleria de Barcelona alongside Carles Abellán, Sergi Arola and José Andrés; ran Suquet de l'Almirall in Barceloneta for thirty years until he closed it in 2018 Did a season with José Andrés at Mercado Little Spain in New York, then opened Santa Magdalena on 15 October 2023 with his daughter Paula (nutritionist) and sister Meritxell — a deliberate return to his native barri at populist prices In January 2026 Marqués opened a second venue, Piropo (Carrer del Topazi, Gràcia) — an eighties-bistrot — but Santa Magdalena remains the cocina-de-barrio anchor; the two are run as a Gràcia mini-axis

Small corner bar restored as a fifties-eighties neighbourhood room — formica-and-tile aesthetic, hand-painted ceramic of Saint Mary Magdalene on the wall, warm lighting, mixed-age local clientele Built to feel like home, not a concept restaurant — Time Out and 7 Caníbales both lean into the bar-de-barri authenticity in their write-ups

Address: Carrer de Santa Magdalena 6, Vila de Gràcia — three minutes from L3 Fontana, six from L3 Diagonal Service Tue 12:00–16:00; Wed–Sat 09:00–16:00 and 19:00–23:00 (breakfast, lunch, dinner); Sun 12:00–16:00; closed Monday Reservations via the house site (stamagdalenabcn.com) or by phone — small room, mandatory to book ahead for Fri–Sun and the weekend esmorzar de forquilla

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Address
Carrer de Santa Magdalena, 6, Vila de Gràcia, 08012 Barcelona, Spain
Phone
+34 933 03 51 33
Website
stamagdalenabcn.com
Reservations
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