We were told by some friends that Swagatam Bar Restaurant was a really good Indian restaurant in the Gracia neighbourhood. It looks a little dodgy on the outside and it’s not exactly easy to find but it was surprisingly really good!

Inside, the decor is not really any better. Definitely minimal and simplistic. However, service was pretty good and they spoke good English. We had a fairly large group, of about 10 people, so we decided the best way was to order a few curries and share. The waiter gave us a hand in choosing them, and the portions were just perfect with all of us being satisfied and full. I didn’t really take part in any of the ordering, so I don’t know exactly what the names of the dishes are… But here goes…

We started off with two plates of these chips. I believe they are called Papadom but correct me if I’m wrong. They reminded me of tortilla chips, but they are a round disc shape and broken in half. I think these are made with lentil and chickpea and lightly salted. Crispy, but pretty much flavourless other than the salty taste.

It came with three types of sauces to dip the papadoms. The dark reddish brown sauce was the mildest, and was actually a little sweet. It didn’t really have any kick to it. The green one in the middle was more of a yoghurt base and reminded me of those Greek tzatziki sauce. I actually liked this one quite a lot. The last one that was bright red was the spiciest sauce. However, I still didn’t find it to be super spicy. It wasn’t the spice where I needed to gulp water down right away. All of them were quite mild in my mind.

I wasn’t able to get pictures of most of the curries since everyone already began indulging in them before I could get any snaps. I believe this was the Butter Chicken. We got mild for all the curries since Indian curries are usually quite spicy. However, we found none of the curries to be spicy! And I’m someone who can’t take spice… It was sort of odd and a little disappointing. Still, the butter chicken was really good. It was smooth and rich in tomato with a buttery texture. Lots of chunks of chicken too!

I think this was the Chicken Tikka Masala. Again very rich and creamy. Still, it was not spicy enough!!

We had a few bowls of Basmati Rice. We also had naan, which was complementary.

Here’s a picture of some of the different curries we had. I think some had lamb, while others were mostly chicken. I especially liked the rice which was already seasoned. I’m not sure what it was called, but it was nicely flavoured and a good change from having such a buttery creamy texture. Overall, I was really happy with the Indian food at Swagatam. I believe they are one of the top Indian restaurants in Barcelona, actually. The only problem I had was the level of spice. Definitely could’ve kicked it up a level. Maybe we sounded hesitant when they asked us if we could take spice, hence what they served us. But otherwise, definitely worth checking out!