El Sifo d'en Garriga - cosy new snack bar in Eixample, Barcelona

El Sifo d’en Garriga is a cosy new snack bar in Eixample, Barcelona that we stumbled upon recently. In a location that is teeming with places to eat, this little cafe stood out from the others by its bright white clinical decor. It has been sometime since we have come across any eatery calling itself a “snack bar”. Perhaps the Singapore Magnolia Snack Bar from days gone by was the last one we can remember.

The layout of the El Sifo d’en Garriga is long and narrow. The area near the entrance was used as a ‘dry kitchen’ for the preparation of dishes that did not need cooking. This area was clinically finished with glossy white ceramic wall tiles. As we moved inwards, the decor changes into a raw industrial style. We picked a table at the clean and shiny end.

We discovered that El Sifo d’en Garriga was a newly opened cafe. It is related to the restaurant and food shop next door, La Cuina d’en Garriga. The place was quiet and we were welcomed by a young team of young men. They were patient in explaining to us the cafe and the menu. We learnt that the name El Sifo refers to the soda siphon, a product which apparent had been an important part of their family business.

El Sifo d’en Garriga Menu

El Sifo d’en Garriga refers to itself as a snack bar, so it came as no surprise that the menu was quite limited. It is the perfect place to have a light snack while waiting for the restaurants to open (usually after 8 pm).

Being in Spain, we did as Spanish would do. We started our snack stop with a glass of vermut (sherry, €2.9) and some Jamo Iberico “Happy Pig” (€17).

The slicing of the Jamo Iberico was done with a machine. It seemed to us that the machine was able to create very thin slices. But the slices were quite uneven. The final presentation was not as attractive as those prepared by hand, but because the slices were paper-thin, they tasted less heavy.

Next we had some green pea hummus and toasted bread (€6). A very nice and creamy snack. We were starting to worry that our snack stop was becoming more substantial than we intended.

Finally we had a warm sandwich (€6) with some coffee (€2). Among all the serious restaurant and eating places in Barcelona, it was refreshing to find El Sifo d’en Garriga, a friendly, simple new cafe to have what should have been just a light meal.