Need to get away? How about a FREE trip
to Spain?
Girona
restaurants, Girona Bars and Nightlife in Girona.
See our 'More Girona Restaurants' page for more additional A
to Z listings and reviews of Girona restaurants, bars
and clubs.
Like most cities Girona has a good mix of restaurants that
serve familiar Spanish dishes like Tapas to restaurants and
bars that offer more traditional Catalan food, at all price
levels.
I've noticed that the Catalans here make a big point of
maintaining this ritual of a long sit-down lunch, at the
expense of anything else, like it's 'written in stone'. I
have my lunch between 1.30 and 3.30 pm and that's how it's
always been! Many places that offer the daily menu (Menu in
Catalan or Menu del Dia in Spanish) don't start serving it
until 1.30 pm.
Catalan food has many interesting variations of ingredients
mixing the produce from the sea and the mountains typically
refered to as 'mar y montana'. It's common to see many
restaurants, cafes and bars displaying a daily set menu for
around 8-11 Euros. You get a limited choice (usually 3) of
dishes for the first and second course and a small desert
or coffee, plus a glass of wine and some bread all
included. Some places that I've eaten at even leave the
bottle on the table to help yourself!
All freshly pepared and home-cooked, its simple un-fussy
food that tastes good, served mostly between 1.30-3.30 but
I would aim to try and sit down by about 2pm. Most places
display a menu-board outside so have a food dictionary
handy as menus are written in Catalan or, ask the waiter
for a translation!
Here are a few places which are in my local area of La
Devesa, other similar ones can be found in most districts,
beware as most close by early evening and those that stay
open may not serve food outside of lunchtime hours.
Can
Vidal,
C/Massaguer, Girona. Bar/restaurant that does a popular set
lunch menu for just 9€ with wine, bread and desert,
we've been here a few times, always very good.
Ca
l'Avia,
Porvenir, 10 Girona Tel 972 221 122. Down a small side
street off Santa Eugenia this restaurant is known for its
paella, served every Thursday. We tried it and at 9€
each for the set menu with a carafe of wine it was well
worth it and tasty. I've also had some nice 'Galtes' here
which are Pig's cheeks! Update
07/2009 Now closed.
Place 58/Can
Felipe,
C/Del Riu Guell, ground floor of the CINC office building.
Large bar/restaurant with a set menu of 9€. When we
tried it one lunchtime it was fine but not the best I've
had. With plentiful outdoor seating this is also a good
place to meet-up for an evening drink. Update
11/2009 Now
re-opened, looking a bit more posher inside with curving
sofas, under a new name, called Moments.
Mistic,
also in C/ Del Riu Guell. A recently opened bar and
restaurant with a modern, contemporary designed bar and
interior but maybe they've overdone it with the black
paint! Funky lighting and some cool sounds with a seperate
dining area. It offers a daily menu-of-the day at around
11€ and a regular menu at night. Does a nice G &
T, for a cool 7.50€ and the margaritas aren't bad
either. Stays open late at the weekends, till 3 am.
Mistic Bar &
Restaurant
Noguera,
Just around the
corner from the Mistic cafe in Ronda Ferran Puig is a very
good but expensve cake shop where you can also have a
coffee inside or out on its rear terrace. Open Sundays
also, till about 2pm.
Can
Pau,
C/Pau Casals. Behind the Caprabo supermarket, it has
outdoor seating and a small patio area at the rear. We
tried the set menu at 10€ but this did not include
drinks except coffee. Good starter of fish soup and grilled
lamb chops followed, which were served with some thick
crisps, and the desert selection was very good and self
service.
A good tip is to look for places that are busy with local
people or office workers however, many places that cater
for tourists (eg. Girona old town area) will have menus in
English (some with photo's, yuk!) and other European
langauges.
Between March15-25, 2007 there was a 10 day 'Gastronomic'
programme where many Girona restaurants displayed special
set price menus. Check here for future dates
www.setmanagastronomica.com/2007/index.htm
I've eaten in places that display photo's of the dishes and
have to say they're best avoided unless you just want a
bog-standard boring meal. It's surprising even when the
foods awful, they still look busy, probably with tourists
who don't expect too much!
Often, the smaller more intimate or cosier places (like
Draks) get booked up for the weekend so if you plan to eat
on a Friday or Saturday night try to book a table a few
days in advance.
I've eaten at many of these places mentioned in this
section and add my own comments within the listing, I hope
to get to dine at all of them eventually, but it'll take
some time! If you've eaten at any of these places or
elsewhere and would like to submit your review, please
email them to us. Also, if you live here and don't fancy
cooking there are many places that sell freshly prepared
food often as a complete 'menu' for about 7-8€ per
person. If you fancy a roast chicken then look-out for a
'Rostisseria' which typically sell them on a Sunday for
between 7-9€ each. There's a good one near me called
Rostisseria Santa Eugenia, at no.38 but 'book' your chicken
the day before as they do sell-out!
Just a small note about smoking in restaurants, cafes and
bars. It appears that (at the time of writing this, April
2007) the current laws allow smoking in some places but
it's down to the owners to decide. This may change, but
look out for signs which say Espai Sense Fum (space free of
smoke), NO ES PERMIT FUMAR (smoking not permited) and
PERMIT FUMAR (smoking allowed).
Other Cuisines. They do exist to a certain extent but
cannot be compared to much bigger cities like Barcelona
where there may be more choices.
Indian
food.
Multani Palace C/Major 22, Sarria De Ter Tel: 972 171 770
just a few kilometres north of Girona. When it opened in
Feb 2007 I just had to check it out. It serves authentic
Indian food but, inside its too brightly lit and reminded
me more of a UK transport cafe. The Indian chef's from
Punjab and it's not that cheap, but it offers a set menu
for two at 52 euros. For me, having grown up in London's
East End with it's numerous curry-houses it wasn't quite
the same, but still OK. The next, nearest Indian
restaurants from Girona are in Platja d'Aro and Estartit
(called the Taj, Av. de Roma, tel 972 75 15 65).
Update Oct.2007. We ate at the Taj Indian restaurant in
Platja d'Aro (C/Marina) and it was quite good, but the meal
did cost 90€ (including two beers and a bottle of
wine), and considering our kids just had a basic kids meal
of nuggets and chips, we thought it was a bit pricey.
Shame, otherwise I'd be a regular customer.
Update March 08. The same people have closed in Playa d'Aro
and opened up a new, but smaller Indian restaurant in
Girona's old town, also called Taj in C/ Cort Reial no.6,
opposite the Excalibur pub. Tel.972 22 26 55 also offers a
take-away service.
Taj Indian Restaurant
See
our 'More Girona
Restaurants' page for
more additional A to Z listings and reviews of Girona
restaurants, bars and clubs.
Check Hotel Prices & Availability in
Girona