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Discover the best pastry shops and bakeries in Barcelona with Oh my guide!
If you can’t resist the charm of sweets, don’t miss these tips that overflow with tradition and are still in vogue. The perfect plan to discover the sweetest Barcelona.
Photographs: Aida Gómez. Text: Cristina Belenguer
Did you know that …
– there is still a traditional 1870 creamery in Barcelona?
Yes! There is and it is the only one in the city! Granja Viader is where every Tuesday morning they still pasteurize the milk that comes from Cardedeu farm and make fresh cheese and ‘mató’ cheese, so appreciated in Catalonia that it is usually taken with honey. This is the emblematic Granja Viader where Mercè will tell you how her great-grandfather founded the family business while she is preparing a delicious cup of chocolate for you.
– Cacaolat drink was invented at Granja Viader?
As you read it. It was in 1931 when Marc Viader, then owner of the iconic dairy and founder of Letona milk brand, traveled to a fair with his son. There they tasted a curious cocoa soft drink that would soon be successfully made and marketed in Barcelona.
-the tradition of eating the ‘mona’ cake for Easter has an Arabic origin and its original name is ‘munna’?
If you decide to try the traditional ‘mona’, the so-called Cristina, this Easter, you can find it at Pastisseria La Colmena. It doesn’t have any chocolate and this is because the old, traditional ones could not have this ingredient yet since we had no idea about cocoa seeds in Europe! Cristina is a delicious fluffy brioche with sugar and almond pieces on top. But Cristina would not be Cristina without the boiled eggs that symbolize good wishes and are probably also a praise of fertility. Formerly the amount of eggs was related to the age of the person receiving the delicious cake. Of course, the maximum number of eggs was 12. It seems that adults no longer had the right to eat the ‘mona’!
– the oldest candies in Spain are still made in Barcelona according to the traditional recipe of 1849?
You will find them in 18 different flavors at Pastisseria La Colmena and I assure you that the most difficult thing will be to decide which is your favorite. Josep Maria Roig, third generation of the pastry family, and his son continue to make them in the basement of their pastry shop. Now you know what it smells like when you walk down Llibreteria Street.
– the awards for the best butter croissant in Spain have been won by several pastry shops in Barcelona?
Canal, Hofmann, Oriol Balaguer and, this past 2020, Brunells got the prize. Have you already tasted the croissant by Brunells? It is a must,
– Sacher cake nougat and Lays chips one are made in Catalonia?
Amazing but true. There is no one who can resist the innovative flavors of Albert Adrià and Torrons Vicens from Agramunt. Although, if you are one of the traditional ones who prefer almond nougat in its two versions, hard and soft, of course you will also find them in Vicens.
– in the Roman Empire people already ate their own version of cheesecake and cupcakes?
Evidence has been found in Carthage and Pompeii. And during the Sweet Barcelona tour we tell you all the details about them.
Book now Sweet Barcelona tour with Oh my guide! And if you want a private tour for the family, contact us. Sweet Barcelona is an exclusive product from Oh my guide!