On this post , Calle parlament: Federal café for brunch? Bodega Vinito for vermouth? Or Bar Calders for some interesting tapas and beer?
You have the Federal Café, on Calle Parlament 39, which is an Australian
owned very friendly place. It is set on
three floors, the ground floor has a huge communal table, and the last floor
has a lovely terrace. You will get excellent coffees, shakes, juices,
ecological eggs ... It is closed on Mondays but opens all the other days for
long hours: breakfast, brunch, dinner?
You get all sorts of tapas. We had some "Patatas St Antoni" , humus...
The deco is cozy and you can admire Ajaya's paintings-
acrylics and collage- on the walls. They all have a Ganesha in it. Nice place to go while you are near ST Antoni
market ...Pere Calders, was a catalan writer and this bar is named after him.
On a Sunday morning, on
the Ronda St Antoni, I would recommend you the check the stalls of the
"Mercat St Antoni". They have a book market. The Market is undergoing
work so they have moved it temporarily, just there on Calle Urgell. You can still
admire the structure of the Market, but that is what is there, just the
structure. Anyways moving on to the Sunday market, you will find a tremendous
assortment of books, coins, stamps, old magazines, comics, records... You will
also see lots of children exchanging their "chromos" (stickers) with
other kids. I love books and whenever I go for a round there, I always end up
with an interesting book in Spanish, Catalan, English, French, cooking books or
about Gaudi and also some nice encyclopedias. My friend, that stays just there
is a real treasure hunter, and has gifted me some really beautiful books!
The market hours are from 8.30 to 2.30pm every Sunday.
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| Federal café photos- courtesy of www.rainbowspoon.com |
Just nearby on calle Parlament, you have the Bodega Vinito. Why not go for
Vermouth on Sunday and get some wine for home at the same time? Till not long
ago it was just a Bodega where you could buy bottles of wines or fill your
own...After all the effervescence this area is going through, they have decided
to follow suit and have added some tables and stools. It is doing well, always full and
you get good wines per glass at decent prices and you can "picotear":
"montaditos" at one euro, chips, olives...
You can also purchase bottles of wines and special beers...
There itself, in the Pasage Pere Calders, you have the BAR
Calders. A small little place with a big terrace outside, not your usual tapas
place and nothing pretentious, but we just entered while walking and we loved
it!
While waiting for a small table , we were at the bar and we
got some "sev" ( Indian snack) with our drinks. We got to talk to the
owner's dad, Ramon, and we discovered that he had been to India and almost
walked and "autostopped" from Pakistan to Sri Lanka, as well visited
Amritsar... He is a follower of Guruma of Ganeshpuri (the one from Eat Pray
Love), his Indian name is Ajaya.
