La Cova Fumada
Tapas bar · la Barceloneta
Carrer del Baluard, 56, Ciutat Vella, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Highlights
Fresh seafood tapas, famous bombas, and grilled artichokes
Fresh seafood tapas, famous bombas, and grilled artichokes
"One of the oldest restaurants in the beachside neighborhood of La Barceloneta, this is the birthplace of the famous “bomba de la Barceloneta,” a mouthwatering fried potato croquette stuffed with savory ground beef and topped with aioli and hot sauce, which now appears on menus all over the city. In addition to the bombas, try the calamars a la planxa (grilled squid) and grilled sardines (in summer). If you have a taste for offal, add a plate of cap i pota, an old-school Catalan stew of tripe, veal trotters, and veal head in tomato." - Sam Zucker
"La Cova Fumada both operates at odd hours (it closes at 3 p.m. most days) and is incredibly popular, which means that it’s necessary to get there early—around 11 a.m. or so." - Atlas Obscura
"La Cova Fumada has kept up all the time-honored traditions of tapas before they became trendy, with a menu scrawled on a discolored blackboard, an old-school counter displaying cold dishes, and a stream of still-steaming hot plates emerging from the kitchen. The bar is most famous for its “bomba" (deep-fried ball of potato and spicy meat), so don’t even think about leaving without trying one. Most of the other classics are seafood dishes: mussels, octopus, squid, salted cod, and grilled sardines." - Isabelle Kliger
"Nosh on bombas (deep-fried mashed potato balls stuffed with spicy sauce and meat) that are almost as good as the ones from La Cova Fumada, the Barceloneta bar where the bomba is said to have been invented." - Chris Ciolli
"A classic tapas bar highlighted as a must-visit for authentic Spanish small plates and a local dining experience in the city." - Gayatri Bhaumik
