Els Quatre Gats

Els Quatre Gats opened on 12 June 1897 on the ground floor of Casa Martí, a neo-Gothic building by the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and it quickly became the meeting place of Barcelona's Modernista artists and writers. It was founded by Pere Romeu with the painters Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas and Miquel Utrillo, who modelled it on the Le Chat Noir cabaret in Paris. The name comes from a Catalan expression for a handful of people, a joke at the expense of those who predicted it would attract only a few customers.

A teenage Pablo Picasso attended the gatherings here, held his first solo exhibition at the café in 1899 and designed the image for its menu. Other regulars and visitors included Gaudí, the composers Enric Granados and Lluís Millet, and the painters Isidre Nonell and Joaquim Mir. The café also lent its name to an arts magazine, Quatre Gats, followed by Pèl i Ploma. In 2008, scenes from Woody Allen's film Vicky Cristina Barcelona were shot in the main room.

Today it is a café-restaurant whose period interior still evokes those years, with a large painting of Ramon Casas and Pere Romeu riding a tandem bicycle, a copy of the original now in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. Come for a coffee to soak up the atmosphere, or stay for a meal of traditional Catalan dishes in the dining room. It is mid-priced, and the setting is the main attraction.

Bookings can be made online through the link on the official website or by phone, which is worth doing for lunch and dinner in busy periods. A coffee at the bar needs no reservation. Opening hours are not listed on the website, so check before you go. The café suits anyone interested in art history and Modernisme, and it is a good place to bring visitors who want a taste of Barcelona's past.

Carrer de Montsió is a small street between Avinguda del Portal de l'Àngel and Via Laietana, a few minutes' walk from Catalunya station on lines L1 and L3 and from Urquinaona on lines L1 and L4. The Palau de la Música Catalana and Barcelona Cathedral are each about five minutes away on foot, and the shops of Portal de l'Àngel are just around the corner.