Headline: Bucket List Restaurant offering amazing food
I am in Barcelona for a conference and we wanted to have a night out at a great restaurant. One of my team suggested this restaurant. It's a little bit of a hike to the restaurant, but the Barcelona cab system is efficient. The interior is a nice subtle modern place with restricted seating and a nice bar. The chefs will out-number the guests in the restaurant.
We first of all spoke with the sommelier and were quite happy to order a bottle of wine he suggested. Water - as in the rest of Europe, it seems - is chargeable and they will keep it flowing. We decided on the Festival Dinner - which came in at an eye-popping 21 courses. To be honest, I was expecting 24 courses - maybe that's the bigger Dinner menu. Each dish is selected by the chef.
Appetizers - Smoky "Trmpetta de la Muerte" Infusion - a smoky mushroom broth, a refreshinging simple Cauliflower soaked in vinegar and ginger served on a rock, slices of monkfish with a black garlic and sesame swipe, a small pizza with figs and arugula, and a vegetarian sponge ceviche that simply melted in your mouth. Main courses included Sardines with orange segments, wasabi and carquinylois, a tuna tartare with roe on top that just exploded with flavor, a mystery egg - with truffles inside, a chunk of codfish with chard and chick peas, a rice dish with what looked like foie gras ice cream, whiting lightly dressed in a vinaigrette and the most amazing veal cheek glazed in a red wine reduction - each dish was paced nicely and allowed us to truly enjoy the evening.
We needed a palette cleanser, so we asked for a little bread and olive oil. The wait staff brought out three different types of local bread and four different olive oils with a little sea salt. The staff alo gave us an explanation of the olive oils, allowing us to add an impromptu olive oil tasting to our menu.
Desserts included a blueberry, grapefruit and lychee soup, and apple compote with a crumble topping and saffron ice cream, a chocolate nougat. I have a peanut allergy, so the staff replaced the "M&M" dish (which was enjoyed by all) with a more savory chocolate mousse in oil topped with sea salt.
We thought we were done, but they capped the evening off with a small set of dishes. An orea ice cream sandwich bite, a gold bar with praline mouse (which I didn't care for), a wild pine bar and a matcha tea white chocolate lego brick.
Accomodating? One of our team is a pescatarian and another an ovo-lacto vegetarian and they simply substituted dishes. Each dish came with one of the ait staff telling us about it and when appropriate the best way to eat it.
This was simply an amazing meal from beginning to end. It's one I lamented my wife was not at and I was working out how I can work in a trip to Barcelona with her just so I could have her experience this restaurant. Put it on your bucket list - this is as good as it gets. read more