Eating onions, dirtying your fingers with ash and putting on a bib so you don’t end up nasty. Described like this, it may not seem like the most desirable plan in the world, but when you try your first calçot, you understand why Catalans love this product. Its sweetness and tenderness, the smoky flavor and the romesco sauce (made with almonds, roasted tomatoes and spicy red peppers) makes them a unique gastronomic experience, while the rite of taking it with your hands, putting it on your mouth and swallowing it while looking up guarantees the fun.

Calçotades – meetings of friends or family to eat calçots and other grilled foods – are a winter classic in Catalonia, and every day there are more tourists who surrender to the charms of this tender and elongated onion. Here we hand a selection of restaurants in Barcelona where you can eat calçots both in petit committee and in group: