Pepa Tomate is a colourful modern restaurant in the centre of Gràcia, in a corner of the well-known Plaça de la Revolució. Before we get into the rest of the article, a curious note about its origin: the establishment owes its name to Pepa Farré, an old resident of Gràcia who was passionate about food an tomatoes, lending itself to the nickname of “Pepa Tomate”.
Pepa Tomate presents vintage-style décor in a modern, cosy atmosphere with a pleasant buzz, accented in red and with numerous tomato tins of different brands lying around. During our visit, we were lucky enough to have dinner on a table on top of a mini-football table, a unique touch which you won’t find in many places in Barcelona.
This central restaurant in Gràcia is mostly recommended for going for tapas with friends. The menu doesn’t offer a vast range of choice, but it does have a selection of tasty, innovative tapas. For me, the best things about Pepa Tomate are its originality and the freshness of the products it uses. They always offer a fixed menu, with a few specials that change. The quantities on offer aren’t extraordinary, so a good recommendation is to offer various dishes you can share with your friends in order to be able to try a bit of everything.
The majority of the tapas are very tasty, and have an original touch. They offer a surprisingly delicious mix of tastes and textures. You shouldn’t leave without trying the “patatas amb Gràcia” (patatas bravas), which are without doubt one of the star dishes on the menu. They’re presented in a unique way, and have a crunchy texture and two excellent sauces (the first is a red sauce with morsels of caramelised onion, and the second a very thick garlic mayonnaise). The price of this dish is far too high in my opinion – €6.75 – but it’s worth a try.
Duck tataki with Argentine chimichurri
Another of the dishes we tried with a satisfactory result were the yakitori chicken skewers, the duck tataki with Argentine chimichurri, the courgette, dried tomato, parmesan and truffle carpaccio and the creamy rice with seaweed and scallops. Everything delicious but, again, the portion sizes were skimpy for the price.
Pepa Tomate is basically a tapas restaurant, given that the menu doesn’t offer “main” courses as such. They do have some sandwiches on offer, but you can easily give them a miss. The self-appointed “best frankfurter in Barcelona” was, we felt, slightly false advertising, given that it’s not the best and also does not come cheap (€6.75 for a frankfurter is the closest I’ve come to being robbed in Barcelona); while the hamburger, at €9.85, wasn’t anything out of this world either. So you can save both time and money here.
Some of the deserts were very intriguing, given that several of them have their own recipe.
The service in Pepa Tomate is friendly and amiable; it’s often very full but in general full of goodwill and fairly efficient.
Creamy rice with seaweed and scallops
The price-quality ratio of Pepa Tomate is arguable. The quality of its tapas cannot be denied, although the prices seem a little extreme to me given portion sizes. While options such as the frankfurter and the hamburger are direct daylight robbery. However, I guess the reality is that you also pay for the location and the popularity of the zona.
I’d recommend visiting Pepa Tomate with friends or your partner, it also has a terrace in the Plaça de la Revolució which can be a great option for having lunch or dinner. That said, you should definitely book in advance as it’s always full, and waiting around can be tedious.
Personally, I value the levels of creativity of its dishes, the tasty, often surprising tapas, the youthful, relaxed atmosphere, which makes it a great place to share food in an informal setting. That said, in my opinion it’s somewhat overpriced, so it’s not a great option for going every weekend but better for just trying out once.
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