Barcelona · Spain
Quimet i Quimet
A practical guide to Quimet i Quimet in Poble-sec: the 1914 standing-room bodega, which montaditos to order, what it costs, when it's open and how to handle a bar with no chairs.
Worth it if you like top-quality conservas and can handle standing in a tiny, packed room. Cold montaditos assembled at the bar, no kitchen, and a cheap house vermouth.
Quimet i Quimet, also written Quimet & Quimet, is a standing-room bodega of about 10 square meters in Poble-sec, in the same family since 1914. It has no kitchen: everything is assembled cold at the bar from top-quality conservas, on slices of bread, as montaditos. There are no chairs, no reservations, and the walls are covered in bottles.
Our experience
It was lunch on our last full day. We left the Hospital de Sant Pau and took a €12–14 taxi to Poble-sec to save our legs after the Sagrada Família. At 1:10 we were at the bar. The hours decided it: at midday it’s only open on weekdays and closes at 4:00, so Friday was our only chance. We ordered the smoked oyster montadito with cream cheese and honey, boquerones with capers, razor clams in olive oil, Iberian pork cheek and a vermouth.
A bit of history
Joaquim Pérez Vázquez opened it in 1914, coming from a small family winery in El Bruc, near Montserrat. It was a wine shop for the working-class families of Poble-sec, who brought their own bottles and jugs to fill. The neighborhood grew up alongside Avinguda del Paral·lel, the street of theaters and cabarets, declined after the war and turned bohemian in the eighties and nineties. The bar stayed the same: small, family-run, with cold conservas and bread. In the nineties the international food press started writing about it, and Anthony Bourdain filmed it for his shows.
What to know
Yes, today most of the customers are from out of town, and some Catalans avoid it because of the crowd, not the food. Standing gets tiring, especially after a morning of monuments. What reviews highlight most is how much flavor a dish can have without any cooking, just good ingredients well combined.
What to see, in order
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Smoked oyster with cream cheese and honey
The house's most famous montadito: salty, creamy and sweet at the finish.
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Smoked salmon with yogurt and truffle honey
The other classic. Eat it in one bite, because the bread is small and the layers fall apart.
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Boquerones with capers
White anchovies in vinegar on bread with capers. Light and tangy.
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Razor clams in olive oil
Preserved razor clams with olive oil and lemon.
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Iberian pork cheek
The hearty montadito: pork cheek with sweet potato chips and threads of egg.
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The wall of bottles
More than 500 bottles of wine, vermouth and cava cover the walls up to the ceiling. That's all the decoration there is.
Tips we wish we’d known
Tips
- Order drinks first, then food. The montaditos come out one by one as they're assembled; eat them right away.
- If you don't know what to order, ask "¿qué nos recomienda hoy?" and get the price of any daily suggestion before you say yes.
- Bring €40–50 in cash in small bills for two, even if you've read that they take cards.
- Double-check the address: there are other bars called Quimet in Gràcia and Horta. The real one is only in Poble-sec.
Do
- Order the house vermouth: it's one of the cheapest downtown and it's the Catalan midday drink.
- Find a barrel or a corner of the bar and stay there; service works by eye contact.
- Have a plan B: ours was La Cova Fumada, in Barceloneta.
Don’t
- Don't listen to anyone on the street who says Quimet is full and wants to take you to another bar: Quimet has nobody outside drumming up customers.
- Don't leave your backpack on the floor or hanging from a barrel.
- Don't try to order dishes to share: everything is individual montaditos.
Frequently asked questions
What are Quimet i Quimet's hours?
At midday it's open Monday to Friday from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. It's closed Saturdays and Sundays, and it usually closes for a few weeks in August.
Can you make a reservation?
No. It's first come, first served. Arriving at 12:00 is how you get in without a line.
How much does it cost to eat there?
Between €40 and €50 for two with four montaditos and one drink per person.
Is there anywhere to sit?
No. It's a standing bar with barrels to lean on.
What is it most famous for?
The smoked oyster montadito with cream cheese and honey, and the salmon with yogurt and truffle honey.