Amar Barcelona

THE RESTAURANT BY RAFA ZAFRA AND EL PALACE BARCELONA

High-end cuisine with a Mediterranean touch at El Palace

At Amar Barcelona, history is experienced both in the dishes and in the space: a 1919 dining room with contemporary elegance, blue tones, golden mouldings, and crystal chandeliers.

This restaurant, born from the collaboration between the iconic hotel El Palace Barcelona and chef Rafa Zafra, is a declaration of love to the city, the Mediterranean, and an honest, product-driven cuisine.

Inspired by the Sevillian chef's passion for the flavours of the sea, Amar Barcelona is committed to excellent ingredients, meticulous technique and a fresh and dynamic culinary proposal with a strong personality. The product is the common thread of a cuisine that celebrates quality, precise cooking and authenticity in a vibrant and refined setting.

The gastronomic experience is completed by a menu that also pays tribute to premium dry-aged cuts of meat. Rossini-style fillet steak, dry-aged cuts and that unmistakable smoked flavour round out the offer, ensuring that meat lovers also find their place.

History and modernity converse in every detail, creating a unique space where tradition meets a renewed vision of haute cuisine.

Opening Hours:

Tuesday to Thursday: 7:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Sunday and Monday: Closed

For more information, you can contact our team by phone at +34 93 103 99 88 or by email at reservas@amarbarcelona.com

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Menus

Amar Barcelona Restaurante - Hotel El Palace Barcelona

THE CHEF

Rafa Zafra

Rafael Zafra, a Sevillian chef who has lived cooking since he was a child, hand in hand with his family, who was in charge of the old Posada de Alcalá, studied at the Heliopolis School of Catering in Seville and completed his experience working in the kitchens of great chefs such as Tristán in Mallorca and Arzak in San Sebastián, in addition to having attended several pastry seminars with Paco Torreblanca, known as the best pastry chef in Europe.

At Hacienda Benazuza he began his relationship with the brothers Ferran and Albert Adrià, a circumstance that marked a turning point in his career. At just 26 years, he won and kept two Michelin stars and 2 soles in the Repsol guide.

In 2010, he collaborated with the Adriàs in the opening and development of their new premises in Barcelona and that same year, he became a gastronomic consultant for Oasis hotels, working in Spain and Cancun.

In addition to Amar Barcelona, Rafa Zafra’s cuisine can be enjoyed at Estimar, his most personal project, in both Barcelona and Madrid, as well as at Casa Jondal in Ibiza and Rural in Madrid.

Cuisine

Passion for the produce

Amar Barcelona's menu bears the stamp of Rafa Zafra, as well as his love of seafood, with fetish products for Zafra such as caviar and oysters, but also with nods to the classics that formed the menu of the outside. the Ritz of Barcelona, today The Palace Barcelona, or the traditional Catalan cuisine. The cooking ranges from raw to marinated, not to mention salted, steamed, fried and stewed to the most extensive part of the proposal, starring the embers.

The products, in which the seasonality, the season and the origin are fundamental concepts, are located in the central axis of the recipes.

The wine list by sommelier Juanma Holgado is extensive and its references are displayed in a large wine cellar that presides over the room, meanwhile, the dessert selection aims to revive classics, use shorter cooking and lower sugar for lighter textures.

View our menus

Sea urchins and prawn tartare with caviar

Ostras Amar Barcelona Restaurant Hotel El Palace Barcelona

Oyster of Marines Olerón

Team

Travel companions

One of the keys to Rafa Zafra is having his fellow travelers, his partners Anna Gotanegra and Ricardo Acquista, who participate together with the El Palace Barcelona team in both the management and the creative part of the project, creating a firm backbone for Amar Barcelona.

Both chef Gonzalo Hernández and sous-chef Victor Garcia are people Zafra trusts completely, having been working with him for more than 10 years on different projects such as Estimar, Tickets, Heart, Els Brans and Cala Jondal.

Leading the restaurant and serving as Head Sommelier is Juanma Holgado, who keeps an extensive and diverse wine list from around the world alive.

It is a young, dynamic and enthusiastic team both with the project and with their profession, who love what they do. Projects are better when they love each other. And in this sense, the name of the restaurant says it all.

DESIGN

Past & Present

Amar Barcelona's interior design project, carried out by Elena Prats and Eva Pous, was born from the desire to combine the tradition of a historic building such as El Palace Barcelona with contemporary and current nuances. Thus, in order to highlight the history of one of the most emblematic spaces of Barcelona, different shades of blue are used with golden elements, both colors that evoke luxurious and palatial environments.

Two huge original tear lamps coexist with very architectural luminaires, whose minimalist structures incorporate a counterpoint of modernity to the whole. The furniture, articulated from the rectangular bar that presides over the room, can be modulated according to the needs of the diners.

Access to the restaurant is through a completely golden tunnel, one side lined with jewelry display cases showcasing the true gems of Amar Barcelona: the exceptional ingredients Rafa Zafra uses to craft his recipes. On the other side of the display cases, there is a private space with seating for ten guests.