Casa Delfín
This is one of the longest-running restaurants in the Born and a favourite among local workers for hearty offal dishes and metre-long sandwiches, so the owner's decision to sell last year was met with concern. But, in the sympathetic hands of Kate Preston and José Lombardero (who also own Taller de Tapas at Carrer de l'Argentería 51), after a retro revamp the spirit of the place lives on. You have to go a long way these days to find breaded brains with lemon or liver cooked in sherry, but you'll get them perfectly done here alongside robust family recipes like José's suquet (Catalan fish stew) and rice dishes, or Kate's Eton Mess which is wildly popular with their Catalan clientele.
• Passeig del Born 36, +34 93 319 5088, average €25. Open daily 8am-1am
Cañete
Somewhere between tapas bar and bistro, complete with an Andaluz-style patio out back for smokers, Cañete in Raval serves up a taste of old Spain in a place bristling with atmosphere – it's noisy, raucous and generally rammed. A frenetic open kitchen staffed by 10 chefs, plus the illustrious Guillem Oliva (previously of the late Santi Santamaria's Can Fabes), makes for entertaining bar dining, but anything deemed fussy or new-wave is strictly forbidden. Oliva's passion is for emblematic Spanish dishes like fried squid sandwiches from Madrid, slow-roasted suckling pig from León, and Catalan comfort food like poached eggs and trompetas de la mort (black trumpet mushrooms). And he cooks them like a demon.
• Carrer de la Uniò 17, +34 93 002 9045, average €25. Open daily noon-midnight
Kaiku
Another daytime-only restaurant, Kaiku has been around for several years and goes from strength to strength. Casual it may be, but chef Hugo's passion is for anything that comes out of the sea and each dish is carefully labelled so you know the provenance. It's still one of very few places in the fiercely traditional La Barceloneta to push the envelope without charging the earth. Hugo's food is impeccable, with creations like anemone tempura with dipping sauce of verdejo wine or grilled cockles on Kumato tomato pulp. His most famous dish, however, is a locally smoked rice, studded with artichokes and mushrooms. Score a table on the seaside terrace if you can.
• Plaça del Mar 1, +34 93 221 9082, average €35, lunch menu €11. Open Tuesday to Sunday 1.30pm-4pm
Gresca
Chef Rafa Peña is generally considered to be the godfather of the bistronomía movement in Barcelona. If you're after a taste of new Catalan cuisine in a less formal atmosphere, dinner here, in Eixample, delivers, but it's the great-value, inventive lunch that best stirs the hearts and stomachs of the masses. It's intimate, with charcoal-grey walls offsetting white tablecloths, and Peña cooks with a sure hand, whether its silky scrambled eggs studded with wild garlic shoots and prawns, or something bolder like his signature octopus and blood-sausage carpaccio. Sounds simple enough fare, but the great thing is there's always an element of surprise.
• Provença 230, +34 93 451 6193, gresca.net, average €40, lunch menu €20. Open Mon-Fri 1.45pm-3.30pm, 8.45pm-10.30pm, Sat & Sun 8.45pm-10.30pm
Pura Brasa
When the bullring on Plaça d'Espanya reopened recently as the Arenas shopping centre, food was the last thing on people's minds. But Pura Brasa is a welcome antidote to all the burger bars, offering instead slabs of pristine meat and fish, expertly grilled, and served in a lively atmosphere. We're not talking haute grill on the level of the Basque country's legendary Etxebarri, but there is boldness of flavour with a dab of something Asian here, an Italian pasta or French sauce there, mixed with prime Spanish product. You can also pick up picnic fodder to take to Montjuïc from their "gastro boutique" – currently the hottest trend.
• Arenas de Barcelona, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 373-385, +34 93 423 5982, purabrasa.com, average €25. Open Mon-Sat 8am-10pm
Caldeni
In 2010 Dani Lechuga won young chef of the year at the Gastronomic Forum in Girona. He's one of the new school, setting up on a small budget for the freedom of dancing to the beat of his own drum. His Eixample restaurant is simply done, but smart and serious enough to attract businessmen and foodies. He's not quite so adventurous as his peers – Lechuga's à la carte menu sticks to well-executed favourites like sardines escabeche and deeply flavoured cecina (cured beef). But his beef cookery is second to none, sourcing steers both locally and from as far afield as Nebraska, and turning them into a sublime oxtail ravioli or butter-tender steaks.
• Carrer de València 452, +34 93 232 5811, caldeni.com, average €50, lunch menu €21. Open Tues-Sat 1.30pm-3.15pm, 9pm-10.30pm
Restaurant Embat
These guys, in Eixample, were among the frontrunners of the Catalan bistronomía movement – accessibly priced dishes given a creative makeover – and they dazzled. The dining room is pretty basic, a basement space with home-made, gilded, wire mesh lanterns to pretty it up, but their cooking is inspired. By day they offer traditional dishes given a modern makeover, with more avant-garde menus in the evening. Lunchtime seems to work best, when they trot out the kind of simple, ingredient-focused dishes that make your heart sing, such as presa ibérica (heavily marbled shoulder of Iberian pork) with roast tomatoes, or cuttlefish meatballs with crayfish and potatoes.
• Carrer de Mallorca 304, +34 93 458 0855, restaurantembat.es, average €25. Open Tues, Wed 1pm-3.30pm, Thurs, Fri 1pm-3.30pm, 9pm-11pm, Sat 2pm-3.30pm, 9pm-11pm
Hisop
A long, dark tunnel of a place, Hisop was a major hit when it opened in Diagonal 10 years ago, the destination du jour for discerning foodies despite the rather out-of- the-way location. The owners were energetic, inventive and brimming with ideas, which occasionally resulted in overly busy dishes. With years of experience, however, they've honed the menu into carefully crafted, grown-up interpretations of local crowd-pleasers, and despite the rather staid dining room, today it's a joyful, satisfying experience. What's not to love about a plateful of hare with cabbage and chestnuts, baby squid, peas and sausage, or pistachios and lime?
• Passatge Marimon 9, +34 93 241 3233, hisop.com, average €50, tasting menu €52. Open Mon-Fri 1.30pm-3.30pm, 8.30pm-11pm, Sat 9pm-11pm
La Pubilla
Located opposite the Mercat de la Llibertat in Gràcia, La Pubilla swiftly became one of the trickiest places to get a table (arrive by 1pm) because it serves honest, market cooking with verve and imagination. Open for breakfast and lunch only, it's very much a working man's (or woman's) bistro, with warm but utilitarian decor, brisk but friendly service and the buzz of folk getting stuff done. The menu changes daily based on whatever is good across the road. It might begin with plump anchovies on pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato rubbed over it), followed by skate wing drizzled with blackened butter and capers, or Catalan sausage and beans, and end with a tarte tatin.
• Plaça de la Llibertat 23, +34 932 182 994, lapubilla.cat, average €15, lunch menu €12.50. Open Mon-Sat 8am-5pm
L'Auca
The hip little sister of one of Barcelona's most famous restaurants – Els Quatre Gats – L'Auca in Gràcia has gone for a posh, uptown look in charcoal greys with splashes of red and orange as a backdrop to sturdy, regional cooking. These kinds of places are something of a dying breed in Barcelona (Senyor Parellada being a notable exception) so having someone not adding a contemporary twist – wonderful as that can be – is a bonus. Think hale and hearty fare like rib-sticking Cerdanya potato stew with melted goat's cheese, confit of duck with apples and ratafia (a local fortified wine) jus, baked fish on spinach and pine nuts, and a laudable crema catalana.
• Carrer d'Aribau 39, +34 93 451 2031, laucabcn.com, average €30, lunch menu €10.20. Open daily 1pm-4pm, 8pm-1am
• Tara Stevens is a frequent contributor to online magazine Barcelona Metropolitan
