Barcelona: Disfrutar

So what do you get after the defacto "Best Restaurant in the World" (could there really be such a thing?) closes and three of the Chefs de Cuisine (Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas), with over 45 years in the hallowed kitchens of the restaurant decide to collectively open up their own place in Barcelona?

You get Disfrutar, which opened at the end of 2014. When planning for this trip, I decided on three upscale dinners and Disfrutar was one of them. We took the metro to the Hospital Clínic stop which is just a few blocks from the restaurant.

The restaurant looks fairly small from the outside but the dining area is actually quite large. We had arrived at about 8pm, pretty early in Spain, but were relieved to see at least two parties had arrived before us. Being led to our seats, the Missus had a stroke of genius....She asked if we could sit at the bar instead, which is actually the dessert prep area. We were cheerfully accommodated. Like Suzunari and Wakuriya, sitting at the bar watching the food being prepped with precision and skill is a treat.

Also a treat was the service, which we found unpretentious, relaxed, gracious, well paced, knowledgeable, and very pleasant. We enjoyed the service at Disfrutar the most of all the high end places we visited on this trip, which says quite a lot. All questions are answered with enthusiasm and recommendations are made as to the best way to enjoy each dish.

There are two tasting menus each evening; the Menu Disfrutar (68 Euros) about 19 dishes and the Menu Festival, which is 25 (98 Euros). You know which one we chose, right? The serving style is perfect for us; almost family style. The Sommelier, understanding our taste in wine, made some great recommendations, which paired well with our meal.

Enough you say....where's the food? Anyway, here's the deal. I don't want this to be bedtime reading, so I'll try to keep it pretty straight, short, and sweet from here on. I'll highlite our favorites and those we didn't care for as much. 

Things started with a foamy Melon Caipirinha, Liquid was poured into a cup of ice, yielding something that frothed up and was nice, with the jellied melon-mint-salt cubes rejuvenating your tastebuds.

Our first bottle of wine.

Our Server brought us what looked like a bowl of black rice. He shook the bowl and up rose "The Beet That Goes Out of the Land".

The balls were light and crisp, the flavor of intense beets coming through. The Missus, who has several times told me; "I hate molecular gastronomy" was sold! This is what I call soulful transformation. We were actually shown how this was made. A beet meringue was created, then dehydrated.

Crispy Bow with Iberican Bacon.

Crisp strand of what was like chicharron with a sticky, thin, slice of jamon on it.

Another flavor explosion; Caramel coated hazelnuts with elderberry.

Another great dish for us; Tomato Polvoron and Arbequina Caviaroli.

A polvoron is basically a shortbread cookie; the texture was similar to that, but with a wonderful deep tomato flavor; a "cookie that spreads edible sunshine", the olive oil caviar, a product of spherification added the fantastic grassy-peppery flavor of good Arbequina Olive Oil.

What I was told is a classic El Bulli dish - Transparent Pesto Ravioli.

Made from oblate film, the stuff folks use to help them swallow meds, is used as a wrapper for pine nuts and basil. It is dipped into a parmesan jus, the wrapper starts melting and basically melts away in your mouth. Nice flavors of pine nuts and parmesan.

Another favorite of ours; from what I was told later another classic El Bulli item; Disfruta de la Aceituna.

Spherification at work again. Two cocoa coated "olives", one contains a concentrated olive flavored liquid, the other a blood orange concoction. Amazing and intense flavors that just explodes upon breaking the cocoa butter crust.

Smoked Idiazabal Cheese Bisquit with Apple.

Looking all the world like a simple cookie with frosting; the creamy unpasteurized goat cheese, with a nice smoke flavor was a surprise. The tart cider aperitif helped balance things out.

Next up, an amazing dish; Crispy Egg Yolk with Mushroom Gelatin.

Think egg yolk tempura; crisp and light on the outside, soft and oozy when you bite into it. It's a fabulous bite. The eggshell holds a mushroom gelee that was full of savory mushroom flavor.

Seafood and Avocado Merengue sandwich. 

This was a bit fishy and rich, the Missus could only finish half of this tiny flautas.

For some reason we didn't take to the overly salty and fishy anchovy part of Anchovy and Almond Mato with Truffle, Fir Tree Honey, and Pine Nuts.

Too many strong flavors and textures. This just didn't seem to go together real well.

The Missus was really worried about the Marinated Oily Fish with Cauliflower Tabbouleh and Mushrooms. First, She's not a big fan of mackerel and also not fond of strong parsley flavor.

So this was a wonderful surprise for Her, the fish rich, not too fishy, tender, the oil negated by the acid and the savory mushroom jus. The tabbouleh was delicious, the cauliflower seemed the perfect foil for the parsley. This was delicious.

In turn we weren't wow'd by the Macaroni Carbonara.

Gelatin based noodles, parmesan and pancetta were combined with a parmesan-truffle foam, which became the sauce. The "noodles" didn't break down quick enough and the texture was like eating plastic.

The Vegetable Sashimi served as sort of an intermezzo, we loved the pure flavors of the vegetables combined with the sauces/seasonings each one was graced with. Those tomatoes were amazing and the combination of cucumber with mint just worked right.

The Scallop Marrow with Osetra Caviar was fine....this really reminded me of swordfish bone marrow, which I actually prefer to this. I thought it needed less salt and a bit more citrus or acid.

Mussels with Peas in Salsa Verde.

Asparagus in Fennel Meunière with Trout Eggs.

The trout eggs added the zing to a rather mild dish. For some reason we didn't enjoy the flavor of white asparagus with fennel.

Deep Fried Monkfish "Ssam", I'm guessing from the Korean Bossam as this came in the lettuce cup.

Loved the fry job on the monkfish, the flavor came through, it was moist, a perfect piece of fried fish.

We both thought the Unilateral Langostine was a bit overcooked for our taste.

But man, the Perigueux Beef was amazing.

You wrapped the slices of beef around a little crouton and foie gras and had the perfect bite(s).

Nice meal, eh?

But it wasn't over yet.

You know I'm not a dessert kind of guy; but man, some of this stuff was plain amazing. The photo above is of the "Tangerine", a frozen tangerine rind which bears a granite, rose jelly, and a parfait.

Chocolate Cheesecake Cornet

That's Catalan Cream Bread, which came with Blood Orange Couscous.

We saw one of the Chefs placing what looked like chili peppers on a plate. We had no idea what it was. It turned out to be my favorite dessert item; Chocolate Peppers, olive oil, and salt. Man, what a combination! The sea salt really brought everything together. Like I said, I'm not a dessert guy, but this was really, really good. This was the perfect whimsical, fun, but delicious dessert.

As for our after dinner coffee? Well it came in the form of Coffee Profiteroles. A nice way to finish dinner. And though it seems to be a lot of food, we weren't stuffed to the gills, which I think is a tribute to the pacing of dishes.

As we finished up our dinner, our wonderful Server told us to follow him and took us on a short impromptu tour of the kitchen. The place was packed with customers greeting their dishes with wide eyed anticipation.

When I quickly mentioned the skill it takes to make these dishes, his answer came quickly; he pointed to his heart and said, "we are always reminded, it must come from here." Ah, a perfect end to an epic and wonderful meal. One of a trio of unforgettable experiences. We will not forget you Disfrutar, as you are unforgettable. Might be the best 250 Euros I've ever spent.

Disfrutar
Calle Villarroel 163
Barcelona, Spain

Heading back to our apartment, we decided to take a walk around Sagrada Familia, which looked quite beautiful without the swarms of tourists around.

The Missus turned to me and said, "ok, we've had a great dinner. Now we're burning it off tomorrow!" 

Comments

[kat]

what a great meal!

[Sandy]

Oh, WOW! Was it difficult to get reservations? And I know you and the Missus travel light; do you bring one really nice outfit for these dinners?

[Kirk]

It was Kat!

Hi Sandy - It was easy online, about a month ahead. Though this place is still kind of under the radar. In other words, it's still not Michelin rated. I have a feeling things will change. Most places in Spain aren't overly formal. The Missus has a decent flexible ensemble and took a good pair (more on that later) of flats. For me; I had a decent pair of black pants that was multi-purpose and a black long sleeve pull over (lululemon can look dressy) along with standard black Rockports, that are lgihtweight and comfrtable. There were folks in Disfrutar in jeans. The place is the furthest thing from stuffy.

[janfrederick]

You must have an amazing memory! I just don't envision you taking notes in the middle of all this.
Sounds amazing.

[Kirk]

Hi Jan - It's not as good as it used to be. Nowadays I recall the good dishes and the not so good dishes quite vividly. The middle ground sort of falls into oblivion.

[Hannah J]

OMG Kirk lovely photos and food. Love stopping by the blog every once in a while to see where in the world you are.

[Kirk]

Hi Hannah! It's so nice to hear from you. I hope you are doing well!