Restaurant 7 Portes
The most historic and famous paella in Barcelona, with plenty of art
Between El Born and Barceloneta, in a singular building at Pla de Palau, you will find 7 Portes Restaurant, the temple of rice, a meeting place for intellectuals and celebrities, and an artistic space for some of the most important Catalan painters of the 20th century. 7 Portes is one of the most famous restaurants in Barcelona, where you can enjoy a great rice dish while admiring artworks from Miró, Picasso, and Tàpies.
Today, the restaurant remains one of the favorite places for family celebrations and one of the best examples of Catalan gastronomy.
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A meeting point for early 20th-century intellectuals
The history of 7 Portes Restaurant dates back to 1836, when Josep Cuyàs opened the "Café de les 7 Portes" in Pla de Palau, inside one of the arched buildings with seven arcades, known as the Porxos d’en Xifré, built by Josep Xifré i Cases, a Catalan businessman who made his fortune in Cuba.
The café, which featured five rooms decorated with large mirrors and crystal chandeliers on the ceiling, became "7 Portes Restaurant" in 1929, when the Morera family purchased it and turned it into a meeting place for journalists, intellectuals, and politicians. During this era, the restaurant began accumulating a notable collection of paintings and graphic works representative of many artists of the time, including works by Picasso, Miró, and Tàpies.
In 1980, the restaurant passed into the hands of its current owner, Francesc Solé Parellada, who renovated the interior in the late 1980s, changing the tiles, lights, and curtains. The art collection was not only preserved but expanded, adding over fifty more drawings and paintings, reflecting nearly two centuries of history in a venue that has welcomed more than 50 Nobel Prize winners, including Alexander Fleming, and numerous personalities such as Ava Gardner, Plácido Domingo, Salvador Dalí, Woody Allen, García Lorca, Orson Welles, and even Che Guevara.
How to get to 7 Portes?
The Pla de Palau – Parc de la Ciutadella stop on the Red Route of the Barcelona Bus Turístic drops you off right in front of the restaurant.
For the curious
- One of the most popular dishes on the menu is "Parellada Rice", also known as "gentleman’s rice", named after one of its regular customers, Juli Parellada, who ordered his rice with the seafood already peeled.
- The restaurant is one of the classics of Catalan cuisine, and part of its mission is to share the secrets of the country’s gastronomy. For this reason, they publish historical recipe books, including the first one, "Llibre de Sent Soví", from the 14th century, which can be purchased at the restaurant.
