20-10-2017
The beginning of a marvellous journey: Lengua helada de pasión con ron, frozen cat tongue with Rhum, passion fruit and peppermint. The play with temperatures begins
Rosa & lichis: pure poetry. Spherifications with rose water and a fake blackberry made with litchi
La remolacha que sale de tierra: beetroot sorbet and meringue
Panchino relleno de caviar beluga: one of the signature dishes at Disfrutar. A round mould is filled with a foam made with a very watery pastry dough, then caviar and double cream, then some more foam to cover it all. It is then placed in a pan with oil at 180°C for 20 seconds. Of course you can use cheese, tuna, sorbets instead of the caviar...
Serving Sidra casera ahumada al momento, instant apple cider: they pour a mix of spirit and apple juice on dry ice
The tribute to walnuts begins. Here the kernel is recreated and encloses a fourth of smoked walnut. Delicious. They basically opened the shell without breaking it
Cáscara de nuez: jubilation. One tender, skinless walnut, another is green, made edible, and finally the last one is cooked and macerated in ratafià, as explained in the article. All topped with a drop of walnut oil and milk. The idea: there are infinite things you can make with a product
Candy salado de nueces con mango, haba tonka y whisky: the edible sachet encloses salted caramel and walnuts, raw mango and the aroma of smoked whisky
Milhojas de idiazábal, a millefeuille with Basque cheese. A savoury touch after the mostly sweetish previous dishes. Overall, they always go beyond the traditional sweet-savoury difference
"Hostia" de flor del mandarino: a dish that aims straight for the heart
La Gilda del Disfrutar. Gilda is the classic Basque pintxo made with olives and anchovies. Here we have Adrià’s famous fake olives, crispy on the outside (cocoa butter) and liquid inside. Plus marinated mackerel, Basque pepper seeds and their cream
Sandwich de gazpacho con guarnición olorosa de vinagre de Jerez: the fake frozen bread (it’s dry tomato meringues) encloses a filling in which the acid and aromatic notes of Jerez vinegar enhance the classic aroma of Andalusian gazpacho
Almendras "supertiernas" en vinagreta: at Disfrutar they like to play with nuts. In this case soft or crispy almonds with vanilla, garlic, oil, vinaigrette... Another masterpiece
Yema de huevo crujiente con gelatina caliente de setas: egg cream in tempura, crispy on the outside, liquid inside, on a gel of mushrooms enclosed in the shell of the egg. «We consider it a classic, but it’s always hard to handle»
A gentle and spectacular dish, Tatin de foie-gras y maíz multiesférico: it is based on a balance in which the sweet notes are brought to an excess. Using multi-spherification, with glutamate gel
Ceviche en deconstrucción: leche de tigre, fish emulsion, coriander oil and pumpkin sorbet and ajì. A Disfrutar classic
The cartilage from the salmon head...
...is the protagonist of this brand new dish: the collagen from the salmon’s head, its eggs and sorrel sauce. Wow!
Another new dish presented at Gastronomika: Costilla de salmón con mojo di estragón. The salmon cutlets are paired with tarragon mojo and salmon roe
Conserva de navajas a la sal: they macerated the navajas in the fridge for a day with seaweeds, then 5 minutes in the oven. These molluscs, their taxonomy is Ensis arcuatus, are similar to razor clams. Here with oil and vinegar from Jerez 25 years
Ensalada líquida, liquid salad...
...served with Polvorón de tomate y caviaroli de arbequina. Polvorón is a classic Spanish Christmas cake, usually made with flour, sugar, milk and almonds. In this case it is made with tomato and served with caviaroli from arbequina olives: Caviaroli is a Catalan firm that spherifies various types of extra virgin olive oil, including one with truffle from Tartuflanghe
Three dishes presenting suquet, a typical fish sauce. Noodles de espardeñas (in taxonomy stichopus regalis) en suquet
Langostino en suquet, with potato gnocchi, air of potatoes, saffron cream and potato. In the background, Capucchino de suquet
Pigeon-based savoury finale: with its consommé and Armagnac, tarragon and orange
Pigeon and foie Bombon with silver leaf
Laksa de pichón. Laksa is a popular spicy soup from Singapore, with coconut, lime and lemon balm. Here with pigeon reduction and fideuà
Pichón Pibil con abrigo de màiz y trufa de verano: pibil is a traditional Maya cooking procedure, under the ashes. The pigeon is covered with a black (abrigo) “coat” of corn and served with truffle
The sweet-sweet part begins with Pandan, «the idea comes from Malaysia»: mango sorbet with mango caviar, pandan sponge and infusion (it’s an Asian plant of which the aromatic leaves are used) and coconut
Cornete de sésamo negro
Cerezas 2017. Cherries with the same technique used for the olives
Tarta al whisky (Lagavulin 16 years) with caramelised egg cream, chantilly cream and vanilla
Brazo de gitano de café
Algodón de cacao y menta. Overall desserts are of a lower standard than the savoury dishes
Disfrutar is the immortality of bullism (with reference to elBulli). It shows that Spanish avant-garde, for many reasons an old memory, can find new powerful and totally contemporary expressions. While the restaurant industry follows a specific road – minimalism, product is king, hidden techniques – Disfrutar goes against the tide: not that it neglects raw materials, in fact the research is very careful, as shown on the palate. Nor is it that the show overcomes the flavours: each dish is a balanced development of aromas, textures, temperatures; during a marvellous tasting of 30 dishes – small dishes, alright – we rarely go below perfection. The difference (which startles, surprises, charms) lies in this: each dish is so surprising and playful, in terms of aesthetics and techniques, it overshadows every other component. Our taste buds tell us Disfrutar is a great restaurant, internationally; the other senses tell us it’s even unique, in many ways
Eduard Xatruch, Mateu Casañas and Oriol Castro
The kitchen as seen from the dining room
Disfrutar awarded at the 50Best 2017. Eduard Xatruch is the second from the left. Next to him Jordi Roca, Andoni Aduriz, Elena Arzak, Joan Roca, Albert Adrià, Eneko Atxa, that is to say the top in Spanish cuisine
On the right, the kitchen; in the middle, the dining room; at the back, the winter garden
A souvenir photo with the team at Disfrutar in the days of the first Michelin star, in 2016
Xatruch and Castro on the stage of Gastronomika 2017
Another picture of Xatruch and Castro on the stage of Gastronomika 2017
Xatruch with Albert Adrià and Joan Roca at the market in Barcelona
My notebook
«Juli Soler and Ferrán Adriá taught us never to be satisfied. If you serve a dish that is very appreciated, you must immediately do better with something different. Our cuisine, both here and at Compartir, is nonconformist. Why so? Because we like cooking and therefore evolving» (Eduard Xatruch and Oriol Castro, Mateu Casañas)
«Tradition frees you. It’s a heritage that gives you energy, strength and inspiration to do something modern. If you don’t have a past, you cannot move on. Tradition is in constant evolution and it is freedom itself» (Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro, Mateu Casañas)
«With them the soul of El Bulli, now El Bulli no longer exists, lives again» (Philippe Regol)
SEE ALSO: Disfrutar: a shining star, by Angela Barusi
An outdoor trip or a journey to the other side of the planet? One thing is for sure: the destination is delicious, by Carlo Passera
by
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief