Smoll Bar 40s / Affluent / After Work / Ambient / Budget-friendly / Cash Only / Casual / Cocktail Bar / Collared Shirts / Conversational / Diverse / Downtown Chic / Dressy / Easy Listening / Festive / Gay / Jam Packed / Laid back / Late 20s / Late 30s / Lounge Music / Moderate / Office Attire / Trendy Casual / Trendy Crowd

Smoll Bar is one of the nicest and most interesting little bars in Ciutat Vella. Upon arrival each patron gets a welcoming shooter for free: a wedge of orange covered in sugar and ground coffee to be chewed three times before chasing it with a shot of vodka. If you don’t have hair on your chest you are bound to have some after a night at Smoll. It is often said that dynamite comes in ‘smoll’ packages and this bar is by no means an exception. The casual and relaxed setting makes it easy to unwind after a long day of shopping. Ambient lounge music filters through to every little corner, making it easy to meet a friend for a long over-due catch-up, conclude a quick business meeting or spoil your partner for a pre-dinner cocktail. The barman (and I’m guessing owner) is a burly man with more muscles than Bruce Lee. He is friendly, attentive and very, very big – a David and Goliath reference comes to mind. He quickly makes his way through a crowd of trendy, affluent and diverse twenty-, thirty- and forty-somethings, delivering anything from a perfectly executed Mojito (at about €6.50), a glass of dry white (at about €3.50) and a gin and tonic ‘con ginger’ for kicks (at about €6.00). Though these might seem slightly overpriced I think it fair to mention that they were pretty sizable portions (at some point my drink was more gin than tonic – no jokes!). What makes Smoll bar all the more eccentric is that literally anything in it is for sale – from the chairs you sit on to the plethora of crazy lights dimming down and sparkling up the place. Size matters, especially at a place that’s barely bigger than your mother’s hand bag: so make sure to get there before 9pm or else you might find yourself waiting outside for an open chair. Do whatever you can to check out Smoll bar, it’s one of my favourite bars in Ciutat Vella!