Txakolín (CLOSED)

What is perhaps Barcelona’s least-known tapas bar is also the longest: the U-shaped bar curves round in a very large space. For some strange reason, it has become a little cut off from the tourist circuit, a fact that doesn’t bother the owners or the regulars in the slightest. Friday night is a free-for-all of elbowing and jockeying for position with very few tourists, and the owner tells me that the hot tapas are produced according to customers’ preferences; so they can be made quickly to meet the demand. Wait for the atmosphere to heat up and watch the hordes making grabs for the waiter’s tray after they have stripped the bar bare of tapas. They serve 15 cold tapas and 30 hot ones – simple creations, but exquisitely made – and the undisputed stars are the meat and fish brochettes.