ByChefs launches in Barcelona for dining guide’s first Spanish city

ByChefs, the international dining guide compiled from the recommendations of working chefs, launched its Barcelona edition this week, making the Catalan capital the eighth city in its network and the first in Spain. The platform, founded in the United Arab Emirates and launched in February of this year, ranks restaurants, bars and cafés according to votes cast by leading local chefs rather than by anonymous inspectors, committees or user reviews.

The Barcelona list was compiled with contributions from culinary experts including Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas of Disfrutar, Paolo Casagrande of Lasarte, and Sergio and Javier Torres of Cocina Hermanos Torres, alongside others established in the industry and younger cooks working in the city.

Rather than producing a single list of restaurants, the selection is divided into five categories covering different occasions: fine dining, casual dining, breakfast, coffee shops and cafés, and bars. Enigma takes first place for fine dining, ahead of Disfrutar and Cocina Hermanos Torres, with Alkimia, Dos Palillos, Koy Shunka and Lasarte completing the top seven. In the casual dining ranking, Gresca leads, followed by Ultramarinos Marín and Glug. Granja Elena tops the breakfast category, ahead of L’Atelier and Origo, and Nomad Coffee Bar heads the coffee shops and cafés list, followed by Hidden Coffee Roasters and SlowMov. For bars, Dry Martini is placed first, with Sips second and Paradiso third.

The rankings are calculated from the chefs’ votes with rules to limit conflicts of interest, including restrictions on voting for their own establishments or for venues belonging to the same restaurant group. Users can follow a particular person’s selections if they want to, rather than the aggregated city ranking, as each has a profile on the platform that includes a biography and their recommendations. The selected restaurant pages also detail which chefs recommended them.

Founder of byChefs, Alexander Sysoev said: “Whenever I travel, I ask my chef friends the same question: ‘Where do you eat in your own city?’. For a true foodie, the personal answer or recommendation of an exceptional chef can be more valuable than any traditional ranking. That simple question became the origin and foundation of byChefs. Barcelona has one of the most exciting and influential food cultures in the world, and byChefs wants people to discover it through the chefs who are helping shape it.”

The company says it has signed up more than 500 voters since launching, and describes plans to develop the platform as a professional network as well as a consumer guide, including a system of benefits for participating chefs when they travel. ByChefs aims to operate in 50 cities, with further expansion planned across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. “Ultimately, we are building a global system of trust,” Sysoev said. “The city changes, the culture changes and the restaurants change, but the principle remains the same: knowing which places the best chefs in each city personally choose. The goal is to connect 50 of the world’s great gastronomic capitals around that idea.”

Food Desk

For further information about ByChefs and the Barcelona guide, visit the organsation’s website here.