Piscolabis is the first restaurant we ate at after we rendez-vous with IT.  The restaurant is next to her hotel –  The Praktik which she raved about – “5-star interiors at a 3-star rate”.  I did not see the room but the location of the hotel is definitely 5 star – at Rambla Catalunya no. 27 between Passeig de Gracia and Diagonal.  The hotel is in the same building as the restaurant, which according to the restaurant web site is known as Casa Climent Arola, “a modernist building whose architect is the Catalan Francesc de P. Villar i Carmona.” I will try the hotel next time when I visit.

Piscolabis is owned by a restaurant chain.  The picture menu gave the impression of a rather pedestrian dining experience.  Well, we were very happy with all our dishes and the vintage and slightly industrial decor is fresh and modern.

We were the only patrons in the restaurant as it was noon. The Spaniards do not eat lunch until 2:30pm. It is true.

Piscolabis claims to be a special tapas restaurant.  They cook the tapas only after an order is placed.  There is no ready-made tapas here and so it is supposed to be super fresh.

Giant assorted mushrooms, silvery sardines … etc.  The mirror above the food is very effective at showing it off.  I have no idea what those brown balls are to the right of the photo.

Photos of what we ate will be in the next post.