In late December, cannelloni, escudella, and Christmas markets become symbols of a culinary tradition that is intensely lived during these dates. It is also the time when grand hotels surprise with gastronomic proposals that seek to win back locals, either with reinterpreted traditional dishes or with ephemeral cocktails created for the occasion.
To discover it, we propose ten gastronomic plans that encapsulate the Christmas spirit.
Jordi Roca, the Alps, and a grand New Year's Eve
Grand Hyatt Barcelona aims high to become a gastronomic benchmark. After opening Maymanta and Leña, this holiday season sees the debut of Terraza Casa Cacao by Jordi Roca, featuring Rocambolesc products and an après ski with delicacies from Esperit Roca. For New Year's Eve, chef Devis Vici proposes a menu with sustainable and creative elaborations such as cava granita and cold grape soup. The party begins at Sofía Bar & Tapas, enlivened by a musical duo, and continues at the mysterious Zuu Nightclub. For those who decide to stay, the Oasis Wellness & Spa by Natura Bissé is the ideal option to start 2025 on the right foot.
The city's most majestic brunch
The brunches at Majestic Hotel & Spa combine tradition and sophistication with nods to Fermí Puig's legendary Drolma. This holiday season, the team led by Nandu Jubany and David Romero presents a brunch with showcooking and dishes such as farm chicken cannelloni or cuttlefish rice with sea cucumbers. They also offer Christmas Eve and Saint Stephen's Day dinners, with escudella and truffled cannelloni, and a New Year's Eve menu featuring turbot Wellington. Until March, they also offer a homemade escudella menu. As Jubany explains: "If you come, we'll butter you up."
An unforgettable cannelloni
It's no coincidence that many Catalan families choose the bright dining room of Sintonia, the Gallery hotel's restaurant led by chef Pablo Tomás, to celebrate the holidays. The escudella with carn d'olla and galets, the roasted cannelloni with truffled béchamel and trumpet mushrooms, or the Catalan-style free-range chicken with dried apricots, prunes, and pine nuts, are essential. Furthermore, every Wednesday afternoon, after-dinner conversations come alive with Xmas Soul, jazz sessions featuring Alexandra Larios and accompanied by cocktails and appetizers with a Christmas touch.
An English tea with Santa Claus
In Barcelona, we don't have a great tradition of afternoon tea, but if there's one place that masters it, it's El Palace Barcelona. As if straight out of Alice in Wonderland, its hall fills with golden trays of sandwiches, artisanal scones, and sweets from pastry chef Miguel Costa, which would undoubtedly have delighted Queen Elizabeth II, a great lover of this 19th-century English tradition.
Available until January 4, the Christmas Afternoon Tea includes live music and visits from Santa Claus on December 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, and 22. On January 1, it will also be accompanied by a concert by tenor Marc Sala and soprano Tatyana Bogdanchikova.
Snacks to discover the world
Palo Market Fest celebrates its tenth anniversary this year as a benchmark for design, gastronomy, and music markets in the city. The latest edition with a Christmas spirit took place on December 7 and 8, as an ideal occasion to combine local business shopping with gourmet snacks. Among the proposals, Amalia's stood out with its hot chocolate and Bethlehem cakes, Duval Obrador with its pain au chocolat, and REQ Matcha with its cakes and chocolates. If you couldn't attend, book for the January edition, on the 4th and 5th.
The most creative Wellington
This year, the Wellington has become a prominent protagonist of Christmas menus. At Pulitzer Barcelona, located in a 19th-century building with a renovated lobby, they have decided to reinvent it with a version made with tuna. On The Greenhouse menu, the escudella croquettes also shine, sharing the spotlight with the traditional carn d'olla, galets, and chickpeas. For Saint Stephen's Day, the menu includes Catalan-style cod and desserts with nougat textures, ideal for sharing in a group.
A Christmas Market with its own identity
Les Tres Torres Christmas Market is one of the most foodie Christmas markets in the city and the largest in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. On December 14 and 15, the gardens of the Casa de Espiritualidad Sant Felip Neri will be filled with foodtrucks, a pizzaiola preparing authentic Neapolitan pizza, a wine bar run by Sumarroca, and delicacies such as Lluís Costa's 2023 award-winning panettone or Enrique Tomás's Iberian products. All this, with live music and the essential visit of Santa Claus.
Christmas sustainability
The award for Christmas creativity goes to Rodrigo de la Calle. At Almanac Barcelona, he transforms festive menus under his green motto and with quality proteins, bringing a sustainable touch to traditional dishes. Truffle enriches the escudella and cannelloni, Mediterranean herbs give soul to the consommé, and Penedès chicken stands out for its rigorous quality control. For New Year's Eve, he surprises with crayfish tail and soufflé suckling pig. For dessert, nougat and neulas coexist with matcha tea chocolates.
A punch from one of the best bartenders in the world
Tequila is the trendy spirit, and not just because almost all bars in the city include the Paloma cocktail on their menus. This Mexican spirit stars in Poleo, a punch created by Jean Trinh, owner of the eighth best bar in the world according to The World's 50 Best Bars. The herbal drink, made with sherry and pennyroyal mint syrup, will be available from December 1 to January 6 at The Barcelona Edition's Punch Room. The proceeds will go to the Ahora Dónde association, which supports LGTBIQ+ youth who have suffered family rejection.
Under the Michelin umbrella
Those who wish to bid farewell to the year with a Michelin-backed menu have several options. At Quirat of the InterContinental Barcelona, chef Víctor Torres proposes dishes such as cap i pota with sea cucumbers or tuna belly fricandó. With two Michelin stars, Enoteca Paco Pérez, at the Hotel Arts Barcelona, pays homage to the Mediterranean with truffled galets soup and pularda cannelloni. Moving up to three stars, Lasarte, with Martín Berasategui and Paolo Casagrande at the helm, presents the most exclusive New Year's Eve menu of 2024, a proposal to bid farewell to the year in style.