The large rooms are bright and the conservatory restaurant, El Pati Verd, specialises in traditional Catalan dishes.

Other Catalan dishes are calçots (similar to leeks and often eaten with a romesco sauce) and escalivada.

The "botifarra amb mongetes" (local sausage with beans) is perhaps the most representative Catalan dish.

Cipresia (Carrer Blas Fournas 2; 222449; from £10) is another good place for authentic Catalan dishes.

A request for another typical Catalan dish yielded salt cod fillets with tomato, fat scallions and strong olive oil.

Sautéed snails with spinach, raisins, almonds and garlic was a variation of one of my favorite Catalan dishes, which doesn't usually feature snails.

Cod came in another beguiling disguise as esqueixada, a classic Catalan dish.

X Map Contemporary paintings contrast with the fine traditional Catalan dishes offered in this timeless restaurant.

A classic Catalan dish is mar i muntanya (surf and barnyard, one might say).

Romesco isn't pretty to look at - like most Catalan dishes, it's brown - but few sauces pack more punch with grilled seafood, meat or vegetables.