Forestier Restaurant and Lobby Bar, Hotel Miramar Barcelona

The intention was to have dinner at Forestier Restaurant in Hotel Miramar, a hotel located in the Monjuic region of Barcelona.  But en route to the restaurant, we had to walk through a beautiful lounge area – the Lobby Bar.  It was like a picture taken straight out of Architectural Digest. We decided quite quickly we should have dinner in two parts. Drinks and snacks in the lounge and serious food in the restaurant.

Lobby Bar Miramar Barcelona

The Miramar Hotel is a grand old hotel in the Monjuic area. It is right up one of the hills in the region and enjoys a good view of the sea and port area below. The Lobby Bar reflects the decor of the 1960s. They could easily film an episode of Mad Men there.  They serve drinks and some light food.  We asked for the Iberian ham, bread and tomato (17€) and a bottle of white wine, with the plan to bring it with us into the Forestier Restaurant later.

Chips, olives and nuts were served with the wine.  The Iberian ham was served soon after, conveniently spread onto nice sized pieces of bread with tomato.  The ham was above average but not the best we have tried on this trip to Barcelona.  They certainly tasted better on account of the surroundings we were eating them in.

After our session of lounging, it was time to proceed to the Forestier Restaurant.  At 8 pm, the sky was still bright and we were the earliest. The locals and other visitors seem to eat late. They only started arriving after nine.  In striking contrast to the lobby bar, the decor of the restaurant was dark and sombre. The serving staff at the bar were bright young, smiling people.  The person who attended to us in the restaurant was the opposite of that – very serious.

Forestier Restaurant, Miramar Barcelona

The Forestier Restaurant Menu.

We tried some Palamos Prawns. At 30€ per 100 g, these famous prawns from the nearby town in the Costa Brava were quite expensive but we thought we should give it a try. They were smaller than we expected but certainly looked redder than any prawn we had ever seen. They tasted not bad, but no better than regular prawns.  We were not impressed by the taste.

Another starter was sautéed vegetables and mushrooms (18€).  It was probably the first time we saw such a dish on a Spanish menu.  It was good, very similar to Asian fried mixed vegetables.

For main course we tried their rockfish, prawn and crayfish rice (24€).  This was one of the better paellas we had tried on this trip.  There was a lot of seafood in the pan and they reduced the salt factor as we requested. We were very happy with this dish.  Looking back, it was quite an Asian-like meal with prawns, fried vegetables and rice!

The Hotel Miramar is a bit out-of-the-way from the usual tourist attractions. It is however attractive in the old world charm kind of way.  The Lobby Bar and the paella at Forestier Restaurant were the best parts of our visit to the hotel.

Ratings:

Food: 4

Service: 4

Value: 2

Atmosphere: 5

Overall Rating: 4 

Pl. Carlos Ibañez, 3
08038 · Barcelona

Tel: +34 932 811 600
Website