Veracruz
Catalan / Cuina Popular · Eixample, Barcelona · €
The Delekta Review
The name predates Gerard Sans by decades. Pepi and Ramón had Veracruz for roughly thirty years before he took the keys in late 2025, and a still-earlier operator had it before them, so no one quite remembers why a Catalan bar on Mallorca 321 ends up named after a Gulf-of-Mexico port. Sans trained at Hofmann, made his name as chef-partner at El Mercader de l'Eixample (one of the rooms that revived Catalan cooking in this city), then took years off to raise his son before betting his savings on this bar. He didn't gut-renovate. The iron counter, the formica tables, the Duralex glasses, the Voll-Damm tap — all kept. The cooking is cuina popular catalana, served at working-bar prices, on a stretch of carrer Mallorca that Ara called 'the zero zone of the brunch wave.' Escudella barrejada is on the menu every day of the year — full sopera, twelve euros, take it or leave it.
What works
Old bar, modern hands. Sans's Mercader-honed technique on cap i pota, escudella and bacallà — but at €8.90 plat del dia, served from a thirty-year-old room he chose not to renovate. The escudella ritual (full sopera, every day of the year, twelve euros) is the kind of stubborn editorial decision the rest of the stretch of Mallorca won't make. Slow Food suppliers named on paper. Juanjo Sáez's identity does cultural work the menu alone couldn't. Time Out and Ara both flagged it within ten weeks of opening — that pace of recognition is unusual for a working bar.
Before you go
A working bar — knife-and-fork breakfasts, one-dish lunches, modest space. The room is small enough that midday fills up fast and lingering past service isn't really the move. Hours have shifted since opening — editorial coverage describes weekday daytime, some aggregator listings now show evening service; phone before going. Phone-only reservations. And nothing Mexican, despite the name.
What the critics say
- Veracruz: un bar de sempre que serveix cuina popular catalana a la zona zero del 'brunch'
- Traditional bar serving popular Catalan cuisine in the heart of brunch culture
- Ni brunch ni gyozas: el nou refugi de cuina catalana a l'Eixample fa escudella cada dia per 12 euros
- El chef que hace escudella barrejada cada día del año, toda la sopera 12 euros, en el corazón del brunch de Barcelona
- Restaurant Veracruz (Barcelona): escudella todos los días
- B de gust: Veracruz
- Veracruz: el restaurante de Barcelona donde la cuina catalana resiste a diario
- Restaurante Veracruz Barcelona: escudella y cocina catalana
Visit
- Address
- Carrer de Mallorca, 321, La Dreta de l'Eixample, 08037 Barcelona, Spain
- Phone
- +34 679 64 72 57
- Website
- barveracruzbarcelona.com