A Carrer Blai standing taverna in Poble-sec — pintxos on the counter, vermut on tap, prices the rest of the city left behind.
Taverna Blai sits on Carrer Blai, the short pedestrian street in Poble-sec that turned itself into Barcelona's pintxos run during the 2010s. The format on Blai is well-rehearsed: trays of small skewers on the counter, you pick what you want, the bartender counts the toothpicks at the end. Time Out Barcelona's Poble-sec coverage groups Taverna Blai with Blai 9, La Tasqueta de Blai, and Pincho J as "the bars that turned the street into a pintxos crawl"; The Infatuation Barcelona has flagged the strip as "the city's most-recommended hour of pre-dinner".
The right visitor wants a stop on a Carrer Blai walk — three or four skewers, a glass of vermut, twenty minutes standing at the bar before moving on. The wrong visitor wants a sit-down meal with table service and a wine list; Taverna Blai is built for the standing trade and the kitchen does not pretend otherwise.
The room is one of the smaller fronts on Carrer Blai — a long bar facing the street with the day's skewer trays laid out along the counter, tile walls, and a back kitchen visible through a serving hatch. There are a handful of bar stools but the trade is overwhelmingly standing; the pedestrian strip outside takes the overflow when the weather allows. Eater Barcelona's Poble-sec coverage describes the Blai bars collectively as "the most-cloned format in the city — for good reason".
Order a vermut on tap (around €3) or a small cana (€2.50), pull three or four skewers from the counter, and let the bartender count the sticks at the end. The wine list is short and house-pour (Catalan tinto and blanco around €3 a glass); spirits are present but not the point. Time Out Barcelona's Blai round-ups consistently flag the morcilla-on-bread and the tortilla skewer as the must-tries; r/Barcelona's recurring Poble-sec threads add the chistorra and the bacon-wrapped-date.
Skip ordering off-menu — the kitchen runs the skewer format and is not built for plated dishes. The point is the speed and the price: a full visit is rarely more than €12 a head.
Until about 20:00 the room is Poble-sec regulars — older neighbourhood drinkers and a steady after-work flow. From 20:00 the trade shifts to the Carrer Blai crawl crowd: a mix of younger Barcelona residents, students from the nearby Universitat Pompeu Fabra campus, and out-of-town visitors doing the pintxos route. The Infatuation Barcelona's Poble-sec coverage describes the street's evening crowd as "the most international hour of pre-dinner in the city, in a good way".