XILOTECA COFFEE + BOTIGA

one of those spots in ciutat vella that the locals who actually live there, not just the tourists passing through, seem to quietly rely on. xiloteca sits on carrer de la neu de sant cugat, a street short enough that you could miss the whole block if you took your phone out at the wrong moment. the botiga side of the name matters: this isn't purely a coffee bar, it's a shop too, which means the pace here tends to be deliberate rather than frantic. if you're somewhere in the 08003 on a weekday morning with nowhere to be for an hour, this is a reasonable answer to the question of where to go. the street alone, tucked into the older fabric of the city, is reason enough to slow down over a flat white.