Xerta

A dark, deep rice from the Ebre delta, cooked with real authority, is reason enough to book, though the room deserves its own mention. It hums rather than roars: conversation stays comfortable, tables sit far enough apart that you needn't share your neighbours' evening, and the service moves at the same volume as the space. Not casual, the prices see to that, but never pompous either, which at this level is rarer than it ought to be. The kitchen draws on the rivers and rice fields of the Ebre with a genuine sense of place, precise and generous at once, and you leave feeling you have eaten somewhere, not merely somewhere expensive. I'd go back every few months, wallet permitting; for an occasion, few rooms at this level do it better. Rather wonderful, actually.