Verified in 2 cities.
Crema catalana is Catalonia's signature dessert: a citrus-and-cinnamon-flavoured pastry cream baked thin and topped with a hand-torched layer of brittle caramelised sugar; in Spain we have verified places to eat it in Barcelona and Salou.
Crema catalana is Catalonia's signature dessert: a citrus-and-cinnamon-flavoured pastry cream baked thin and topped with a hand-torched layer of brittle caramelised sugar.
The dessert predates the French creme brulee; written recipes go back to medieval Catalan kitchens of the 14th century, when monks at Sant Cugat del Vallès cooked a version flavoured with lemon zest, cinnamon and a hard-caramel sugar lid. The earliest version was eaten with bread on Saint Joseph's day in March; by the 19th century it had spread to every Catalan kitchen as the canonical sweet course. Barcelona's restaurants today serve it from December to August; the trick is the careful baking of the cream and then the burn-pass with a salamander iron rather than a torch. Casa Leopoldo runs the classic version; Disfrutar deconstructs and reassembles it as a modernist tasting course.
Where to eat in Barcelona:
Where to eat Crema catalana in Barcelona: the editor picks
Crema catalana is Catalonia's custard of milk, egg yolks and sugar flavoured with lemon and cinnamon, finished with a crust of sugar burnt with a hot iron just before serving.
Crema catalana, also called crema cremada or crema de Sant Josep, is the best-known Catalan sweet. It appears in medieval recipe collections and is documented in Catalan writing from the 14th century. It was once the sweet of Saint Joseph's day, 19 March, but is now eaten all year, and it closes many of Salou's set menus, the 2026 rice-days menus included.
Where to eat in Salou:
Where to eat Crema catalana in Salou: the editor picks
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