Restaurant de les 7 Portes, Barcelona, summer 2015

Barcelona is one of the cities in the world where I feel truly at home, and this is one of my very favourite restaurants.  The restaurant has large orange lampshades inside (that always make me think of oversized pantaloons) and a beautiful arcade outside.

This historic building was erected in the early 1800s on the commands of a powerful Catalan businessman, Josep Xifré, who was looking to recreate the elegance of the Rue de Rivoli in Paris.  The result was a magnificent building with arcades; it was both a home and office for Xifré, but it also housed a cafe.  It had seven doors for the public and an eighth door for staff and deliveries.  In 1836 it opened officially as the “Café de les 7 Portes” under the governance of several restaurateurs until, in 1929, it passed to chef Morera and changed its name to “Restaurant de les 7 Portes”.  It became one of the most popular and highly recognised restaurants in teh city and was a meeting place for intellectuals, politicians, film stars, journalists and others.  It has grown with the times, offers excellent customer service, and dishes up tasty, traditional Catalan cuisine.  I have been enjoying their menu for at least 10 years now and have never had a bad meal or bad service (and I am fussy!)

2016 marks their 180th anniversary and I shall definitely be there to wish them well.

Hex colour reference:  #FFA343

A colourful note: neon carrot was a 1990 creation for Crayola.  In that year, they renamed many of their fluorescent colours, removing the term fluorescent from the names, and adding some brand new colours, of which neon carrot was one.  In Europe, the same shade of orange made a bright appearance, but there it was termed fiery orange.

Copyright Debbie Smyth, 3 March 2016