My honest review
It’s the end of June and we have just passed midsummer. El Born, Barcelona. A late summer night and the temperature is still reading 25 degrees at 10pm. We have just arrived to Paradiso. Barcelona’s most famous cocktail bar and ranked as the best bar in the world 2022. Three hours earlier, we joined a virtual queue by scanning a QR located outside the bar.
The list
Since 2009 a list called The World’s 50 Best Bars has ranked bars around the globe and this list is considered the most respectable list for cocktail bars. According to Wikipedia the voting is done in the following way:
“The list is compiled by votes from The World’s 50 Best Bars Academy, which comprises more than 650 drinks experts with 50/50 gender parity, including renowned bartenders and consultants, drinks writers, and cocktail specialists from around the world. The Academy of voters is spread across 28 global geographic regions, each headed by an Academy Chair who selects their region’s voters, with the distribution of voters designed to reflect the relative development and sophistication of the drinks sector, and the concentration of quality bars, in each region. Voters are required to remain anonymous and voting is confidential, secure and independently adjudicated by Deloitte.”
The top of the list has been dominated by English and American cocktail bars but more and more international bars are making it further up year by year. 2022 was the first time a Spanish cocktail bar made it to the number one spot.
Entering through what looks like an old fridge door and Paradiso reveals itself. Loud pop music is pumping through speakers and the place is busy. We get greeted by a host and sat at a small table facing a mirror cupboard. In a place like this, I always want to sit at the bar, to be able to see the amazing work of the bartenders. The bar is full. At least we are inside this highly awarded cocktail bar.
The Menu
The menu is as expected in a place like this, quite extensive and full of fancy drink names like Kryptonita, Tesla, The Cloud and Roots. We decide to order one Kryptonita and a Tesla. Service is decent but it feels a bit rushed and not very personal, compared to what I’ve seen at other top bars like Artesian, Dante and Lyaness. Paradiso is way louder and has more of a party atmosphere. It reminds me of Clumsies in Athens. Highly experimental drinks and a lot of “show”. Fun and different.
The other cliental in the bar are way younger than I’ve seen at other top bars as well. People sitting in the bar look no older than 20-23 years old. Considering drinks are between €13-32 it’s a bit surprising. But I guess the “show” and party atmosphere attracts the younger crowd.
our drinks
After about a 10 minute wait our drinks showed up. As expected they look fantastic. Kryptonita is poured into an ultra-violet glass that make the drink shine up in neon yellow colour. A small flower-bud is attached to the glass and I’m told I should eat it before drinking. I eat the whole flower-bud at once and initially it tastes very much like a flower. Quite bitter and earthy. But very soon my whole mouth feels like there are fireworks inside. Numbness and an electrical feeling. Very strange. Like licking on a 9V battery, but much more intense and it just keeps going. Unfortunately it’s not really a pleasant and when trying the drink a few seconds later it tastes salty and awkward. I try to drink some water but the electrical and salty feel is stuck there in my mouth. This feeling persists for about 20 minutes so the rest of the drink is tasting salty and strange throughout. Not a drink I enjoy.
I later find out more about the flower and you can read all about it here. It has many names. Szechuan buttons, paracress, buzz buttons, tingflowers and electric daisy.
The Tesla, also has a very unique presentation and it’s clearly a tastier drink.
conclusions
What stands out at Paradiso is the high tempo environment, the experimental drinks and the crazy presentations. I’ve talked to friends that visited Paradiso years before, when it was still a relatively unknown bar and they all agree that it has degraded in quality since then, due to the popularity it has gained because of the awards and information spread on social media.
I obviously have extremely high expectations when I go to a bar like this. Especially when it’s currently ranked as the best in the world. Unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations. On that night I would rate it 3 out of 5.
