Barcelona life

I was in Barcelona recently and it struck me how quickly the city is evolving to accommodate a growing number of both visitors and immigrants.  One of my frustrations with travelling in Europe these days is that the hotel and restaurant scene changes so rapidly that my trusted shortlist of hot spots is always hopelessly out of date.  So I thought I'd start a new topic on this blog, to share occasional recommendations for good hotels, restaurants or other spots on the European investor circuit.  I hope you will contribute your insider tips in the comments.

While I was in Barcelona I met with a number of friends and colleagues who've set up shop there (Germans, Swedes, Dutch) and predictably they were promoting the quality of life and the increasingly cosmopolitan air around Barcelona. I must admit that the business meeting I had over lunch there (disrupted only by bright sun and head-turning beach traffic) made me wonder why we don't just get the whole St James's & Mayfair crowd to move en masse to Barcelona & create a new private equity centre there.  What's the point of being in the UK except that everyone else, and hence the deal-flow, is here? (Oh there are the actual deals of course, but I'm sure we could shift that balance too!).

While I figure out how to make that happen, here are my tips of the week for Barcelona, an old one and a new one:

• Hotel OMM is a very cool, new-ish designer hotel located centrally for business (Diagonal/Passeig de Gracia). It's part of Grupo Tragaluz -- Spain's answer to the Schrager-Stark hip hotel duopoly -- which also runs the great Acontraluz and Tragaluz restaurants and the hip gastro-bar El Lobo in Barcelona.  The OMM is sleek, dark and cool, but the rooms are not so over-designed that nothing works.  On the contrary, the unusual open layout works well & provide a calming, chilled backdrop for a Barcelona business trip.  Topped off with free Wifi Internet access. Nice touch.
• Tenorio is an oldie but goodie, also on the Passeig de Gracia (between Arago and Consell de Cent).  It's an informal, unassuming brasserie-style restaurant which spreads out onto the broad sidewalk.  It looks simple, but the straighforward Spanish menu is full of great, fresh food.  And there is a pretty good wine list too.  I first heard about it 10 years ago, and it's still great.

Comments

[Jason Ball]

Max

One of my old favs was Hostal de la Rita, also on C/ Aragon, off to the right when walking up Paseo de Gracia. Another classic in the area is Ciudad Condal at the bottom of Rambla Catalunya.

Enjoy.

[Ethan]

Thanks for the links, El Lobo sounds right up my street!

[attaniaxTot]

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