A Michelin map of Barcelona hotel dining

For most of the twentieth century, eating in your hotel in Barcelona was an admission of defeat. That changed in the 2000s, when two things happened at once: the city's hotel groups realised that a serious restaurant was a marketing asset, and a generation of Catalan chefs — trained in the post-elBulli environment — became willing to put their names above a hotel door. The result is that two of the five hotels in this guide hold four Michelin stars between them, and all five have at least one restaurant a local would choose independently.

The map

Enoteca Paco Pérez — two stars, salt air

Paco Pérez runs Miramar in Llançà on the Costa Brava and brought that coastal sensibility to Hotel Arts. The dining room is bright, white and full of wine, which sets the tone: this is not a hushed, reverent two-star experience but a confident one. The cooking is built on shellfish — Palamós prawns, sea urchin, razor clams — with rice and noodle dishes that reference the Empordà rather than Valencia.

What to order: the full tasting menu, because the mid-menu rice course is where the kitchen shows its hand. Practical: closed Sundays and Mondays and for a period in winter; smart-casual dress; ask for a table on the window side.

Moments — two stars, Catalan lineage

Raül Balam Ruscalleda cooks in a gold-leafed room at the Mandarin Oriental, and the menu is explicitly in conversation with his mother Carme Ruscalleda's work at Sant Pau. Expect precise, vegetable-forward Catalan cooking with Maresme produce, a strong sweet-savoury instinct and desserts that are among the best in Spain.

What to order: the lunch tasting menu if you want two-star cooking without the full evening commitment — it is one of the better value star meals in the country. Practical: closed Sundays and Mondays; jackets not required but the room rewards effort; book six weeks out for weekends.

Solc — the one you would use twice

The Majestic's contemporary Catalan restaurant is unstarred and, for most travellers, more useful than either of the above. Charcoal-grilled fish, seasonal vegetables from the Maresme, a short menu that changes often, and a wine list weighted towards small Catalan producers in Penedès, Priorat and the Empordà. Tasting menus around €95–€130, with an à la carte that lets two people eat well for under €160 including wine.

Informal by Marc Gascons — the local favourite

Marc Gascons of Els Tinars opened Informal at The Serras with a deliberately unpretentious brief, and it has become one of the few hotel restaurants in the Gothic Quarter that fills with Barcelona residents. Cod fritters, cannelloni, rice of the day, whole grilled fish, a proper crema catalana. It is the best value serious meal in this guide and the easiest place to eat alone.

Batuar and Blanc — the all-day rooms

Both are brasseries and both are better than they need to be. Batuar, at Cotton House, occupies the original columned hall and runs from breakfast through cocktails; its steak tartare and its bar programme are the reasons to go. Blanc, in the Mandarin Oriental's atrium, does an excellent weekday lunch menu that is one of the few realistic ways to eat in that building for under €60.

Eating outside the hotels

Three nights of hotel dining is two nights too many in a city like this. A short list of places our desk returns to, all within twenty minutes of the hotels in this guide:

• Bar Cañete (Raval) — a marble counter, classic tapas, and a kitchen that never drops standards. Book.
• Quimet & Quimet (Poble-sec) — standing-room montaditos and conservas; go at 12:30 or 7pm sharp.
• Bodega 1900 (Sant Antoni) — the Adrià brothers' vermouth bar, doing preserved and pickled things brilliantly.
• Els Pescadors (Poblenou) — the fish restaurant Barcelona families use for Sunday lunch, ten minutes from Hotel Arts.
• La Cova Fumada (Barceloneta) — the original bomba, cash only, no reservations, closed evenings.

Booking realities. Barcelona restaurants release tables 30 to 60 days out and the two-star rooms fill immediately for Friday and Saturday. If your dates are fixed, book the restaurant before you book the hotel — you can always change hotels.

Compare all five hotels Read: choosing your district