Tostao occupies a corner of the Eixample with the restraint of a café that has decided that the room is the statement. The interior is blonde plywood and concrete: L-shaped booth seating around a marble table, a black steel shelving system on the white wall opposite, factory-height windows bringing the particular morning light of the Eixample grid into a space that is not performing anything except readiness. The coffee sourcing is serious — single-origin, La Marzocco — and the menu is the short version that indicates confidence in the product rather than uncertainty about the audience. Barcelona café culture has historically meant the terrace; Tostao makes the argument for the interior, which is the correct argument for this particular corner of the city.
Eixample, Barcelona, Spain