The Ateneo Garden: one of the best-kept secrets of Barcelona's Gothic Quarter

We're in one of the best-kept secrets in the center of Barcelona. A hidden gem in the middle of the busiest streets of the Gothic Quarter. What do we find? A large, peaceful garden for enjoying a vermouth, a space to eat some "amazing" calamari—as they describe it—and a lunch menu featuring a wealth of Catalan cuisine. Just as Julià Peiró entered the The house of the famous and (I'm sure you'll forgive me for writing this) one of the great incentives to watch The guest Albert Om's was to see what the inside of famous people's homes looked like. This restaurant today has the same element, because it's located inside a historic building where you really want to peek: the Ateneu Barcelonès.

The restaurant is called El Jardín del Ateneo. It's very important not to confuse it with the restaurant at street level, which I wouldn't recommend. This one is inside the building. You have to enter through the main door and go up a staircase. This very thing makes you feel like you've made a great discovery. Then you realize there are other people and you see that you're not, by far, the first to arrive. To get in, you just need a reservation. It's very easy to make it from any search engine like Google. Just search The Athenaeum Garden and the reservation button appears. And you can even make a reservation immediately upon arrival, if you've decided to improvise and there's still room. This reservation is what will open the doors to this wonderful oasis. Upon arrival, show it to the concierge and head upstairs. You'll find the patio and the room where the dining room and bar are located. If you're going to eat, you can sit wherever you prefer, inside or outside. During the week they open at 1:00 p.m., and on weekends a little earlier, at 12:00 p.m., so you can have your vermouth.

They also serve dinner, fewer days in the winter, more in the summer. And in fact, it's a wonderful post-theater plan. Especially if you've been to the Teatro Poliorama or the Maldà. Why? Because showing your ticket gives you a 15% discount on the final bill. Culture nourishes the spirit, but it also does so in a more prosaic way. It's worth keeping in mind that the people in charge of this establishment are the same people who run the Comedor de la Beckett or Muntal, the new restaurant on Plaza Huesca that occupies the space that used to house the beloved Terra d'Escudella.

What to eat

During the week, the lunch menu is wonderful. It costs €17.50 (unless you're a member of the Ateneu Barcelonès, in which case you get a discount). You can choose from a handful of dishes, including starters, main courses, and desserts. They call it "introduction, middle, and end." Chickpea hummus with prawns, salmorejo with hard-boiled egg, roast beef cannelloni with béchamel sauce, grilled sea bass with soy sauce, orange, and rice. Dishes with an extra charge include calamari or entrecote with potatoes and peppers. For dessert, you can finish with a very local option: honey and cottage cheese. You can also choose from the à la carte menu, which is valid for lunch and, especially, for dinner, or sift through the off-menu items, which are written on a blackboard. Vine croquettes, glass shrimp with a fried egg, the escalivada timbale with brie and anchovy, or the creamy flan, which they're quite proud of.

There are also simple dishes, such as truffled bikini with flatbread, or patatas bravas with their homemade sauce. All at reasonable prices. As we said, there's also everything you need to make a first-class vermouth and snacks. It's worth noting that almost all the wines are Catalan, except for a Verdejo that had to be added because customers requested it.

In conclusion, a place where you can eat well, and in a privileged space where, once you stick your head out, you'll think "I didn't know I'd find such a beautiful space here." You know, dear readers, that it's my obligation to share my discoveries with all of you.