Nestled in Barceloneta, this family-run gem serves up fresh seafood tapas and its legendary bomba, all in an authentic, no-frills ambiance.
"Even if you’ve been to Barcelona’s portside La Barceloneta neighborhood, you probably didn’t notice this spot. But that’s not your fault; La Cova Fumada, one of the city’s most iconic bodegas, has no sign. Inside, there’s little more to indicate that this is a restaurant—at least not in the contemporary sense: the walls are decorated with a few pages torn out of a soccer magazine. There’s an ancient menu posted on the wall and a few wine barrels off to the side. Little seems to have changed here since opening day in 1944. Yet most likely the place is filled with people: locals, tourists, fancy Barcelona chefs. Look closely, and you’ll notice that all of them are eating a particular snack. This is the bomba, or “bomb,” a deep-fried, golf ball-sized globe of mashed potatoes with a minced meat center. To serve, a bomba is topped with a dollop of rich, garlicky aioli. You’ll be asked if you want picante, an additional dollop of a spicy sauce (you do). It’s crispy, creamy, rich, meaty and just barely spicy. Just how that incredibly thin, crispy exterior manages to retain the soft pillowy center is a mystery of cooking and science. The bomba was allegedly invented here, but has since spread across Barcelona and Spain. La Barceloneta is located at the edge of the city’s port, and is an old fisherman’s neighborhood, which means that in addition to bombas, La Cova Fumada serves seafood. Scan that old wall-mounted menu for options and prices; most go for calamars, pan-seared squid, pulpo, tiny braised octopus, or bunyols de bacallà, battered and deep-fried salt cod. Alternatively, the menu also spans heartier dishes such as stews and bean dishes, and the kitchen also has a solid reputation for mushroom dishes, when in season. Know Before You Go La Cova Fumada both operates at odd hours (it closes at 3 p.m. most days) and is incredibly popular, which means that it’s necessary to get there early—around 11 a.m. or so." - Diana Hubbell
"One of the oldest restaurants in the beachside neighborhood of La Barceloneta, this is the birthplace of the famous “bomba de la Barceloneta,” a mouthwatering fried potato croquette stuffed with savory ground beef and topped with aioli and hot sauce, which now appears on menus all over the city. In addition to the bombas, try the calamars a la planxa (grilled squid) and grilled sardines (in summer). If you have a taste for offal, add a plate of cap i pota, an old-school Catalan stew of tripe, veal trotters, and veal head in tomato." - Sam Zucker
"La Cova Fumada has kept up all the time-honored traditions of tapas before they became trendy, with a menu scrawled on a discolored blackboard, an old-school counter displaying cold dishes, and a stream of still-steaming hot plates emerging from the kitchen. The bar is most famous for its “bomba" (deep-fried ball of potato and spicy meat), so don’t even think about leaving without trying one. Most of the other classics are seafood dishes: mussels, octopus, squid, salted cod, and grilled sardines." - Isabelle Kliger
"Nosh on bombas (deep-fried mashed potato balls stuffed with spicy sauce and meat) that are almost as good as the ones from La Cova Fumada, the Barceloneta bar where the bomba is said to have been invented." - Chris Ciolli
La bomba is a deep fried meatball w mashed potatoes topped with aioli and spicy sauce
