Here’s one of our best advices every time some people comes to bcnKITCHEN to a cooking workshop: try to visit some colmado, the spanish old name for epicérie or the local old supermarkets.
And, why do we love them? These colmados are tiny shops full of tins and cans with the best preserves, jars with rice, pasta, broths and jams and packages with the best sweets and chocolates. So, looking for a souvenir? Aiming to find some great local ingredient to take home? Searching for some lovely packaging? Try a colmado! Here’s a selection of our bests:
1) Colmado Quilez, one of the best-knowns, full of tins, cans and any local product, and run by the same family that opened it a century ago. And, even more, it’s in the same Rambla Catalunya (see map)
2) Colmado Múrria, a great example of Catalan Modernisme (our Art Nouveau), existing from 1898 and full of gastronomic products. It’s worth just a visit, but, being there, you won’t be able to avoid the temptation of their products. It’s in Roger de Llúria, 85 , next to Passeig the Grà cia metro station. (see map)
3) Mantequeria La Sierra. Far less touristic, this is a local colmado, still worth the visit (it’s an old style shop) and there you’ll find cheese, cured meats (embotits), tins and cans for our aperitivos, peas, rice, wine,…and all those typical products from colmados. (see map)
So, hope you find your colmado souvenirs, and at least, if you finally can’t find what you were looking for…you’ll still have the picture of some of the most beautiful shops in Barcelona. And now, the last tip: along with these three, Barcelona is full of old style shops that are worth a visit: Pastisseria Escribà (1902) in Las Ramblas, Confiteria J Reñé (1910), in Consell de Cent, our must in our market visits Pastisseria Brunells, in Carrer Princesa,…and a lot more. In these three you’ll find good sweets, and even more, the nicest photo opportunities!
