Albert Adrià, a seven-step Enigma

The following article was published in Spanish website Gastroactitud. The author is Julia Pérez, who manages the website and has been collaborating with the Guida ai Ristoranti di Identità Golose since the early days. 

Enigma is the fifth restaurant Albert Adrià opened in 5 years. It’s the natural evolution of 41 Grados but most of all it is a unique, original and coherent offer. A circular – and round – concept, in which the term experiencia is perfectly justified. A representation at the service of a personal gastronomy in which nothing dissipates the attention from what is truly important; on the contrary, it gets to the point.

Everything was created in relation to the dinner and the way you eat. It’s more than a restaurant, in its current meaning: it’s a place for experiments. What can you eat? How can you eat? With whom? Why? Questions follow one another. The enigma at Enigma is not unveiled by counting the dishes or showing the pictures. Everyone must meet their revelation so that everything can acquire its meaning. This happens over the course of two and a half hours, an initiation journey through the icy crystal setting, designed by architectural firm RCR (the same behind the interior design at restaurant Les cols).

Seven different moments, seven enigmas. Seven unique culinary offers, seven ways of dealing with the comida, seven separate ways of approaching the guest. And only one cuisine, that of Albert Adrià: vibrating, brilliant, touching, inspiring...  

Cold and fragility. You get an email with a cod that opens the entrance to an unsettling translucent labyrinth leading to Ryokan, the entrance where they tell you the rules of the game and where there’s the first contact with the dining room staff, a team of women acting in a not very conventional way. The same fragility conveyed by the walls can be found in the glass of yuzu. And in the first tastings: spheres of Parmigiano, shell of raspberry, a canapé with trartudo, sea urchin crackers, caviar nori…

In the second room the second enigma appears: Cava. Here there’s a chef who prepares by himself, and for a lonely guest, a series of snacks. Privacy. Exclusivity. Intimacy. In fact there’s plenty of people. But you can’t see them, so they’re not there. At Barra, the third enigma, the kitchen is subdued to the needs of barman Marc Álvarez and his cocktails. The Mae Thae quinine calls for passion fruit bread; meanwhile and intense acid layer is harmonised with the oyster and the daikon mirror, an unusual taste in terms of texture and flavour: marvellous.

Cooking without a net. At this point the guest has already realised the iciness of the setting is in fact a mask. Under the ice the magma of creativity is bubbling, the powerful energy feeding this Enigma: we’re not interested in finding the solution because we want the journey to continue. In this moment, in the middle of the journey, we find Plantxa, the fourth enigma: it looks like the kitchen looses importance in a way. At the back, Albert Adrià observes, directs, has fun and smiles. He’s enjoying the same satisfaction as the guest.

A chrome grill and a small barbeque. And Oliver Peña cooking right in front of the guest. Without a net. A unique offer. Extraordinary tastings. Plenty of talent. Blini cannellone; mackerel belly with saffron escabeche (it’s great to find an escabeche and not a ceviche); sea tongue with pilpil of jamón ibérico; pan de queso…

Challenging the guest. We thought we had reached the climax, we hadn’t. There’s still Dinner, the fifth enigma. The room where they don’t explain a thing. Dishes are served in silence, so the guest has to discover, imagine, misunderstand, have fun. Beyond the words. These are Enigmatic dishes, so they’re not unveiled: potatoes, peas, tomatoes, artichokes, foie gras, quail…  It’s almost sure you won’t find them the next time you come. The kitchen follows the rhythm of the seasons and the creativity of a young and talented team. How many styles can you combine in just one dinner? Here they do everything, dominate everything. They own a comprehensive cuisine.

Flavour. Enigma offers only a surprise menu (220 euros), which can be paired with many drinks (90 euros) selected by Cristina Losada, exceptional sommelière who makes it possible for the drink to follow the dish, so that they can both express themselves, in harmony. Unique wines, low in alcohol, served at the perfect temperature so as to prolong the tasting. A discreet and humble work which applies to the rest of the dining room team. A masterful lesson here too.

But there’s more. The last enigma. An illusion. The secret behind the kitchen. The reincarnation of 41º, 41 Grados, clandestine bar. The feast of desserts (with little sugar) and alcohol. Cocktails and petit fours. The perfect finale. And even in this case, taste as the fil rouge. From the first moment to the last, closing circle, dominating it, subjecting it. El sabor. Back to the flavour, to the primary and simple pleasure of tasting… of cleaning the dish, licking the spoon with a sigh. Technique? Hidden from they eyes, on purpose. Aesthetics? The necessary. Simplicity? So as to be understood. Revolution? Innovation? Pleasure? Huge. Albert doesn’t go against the current, he creates the current  – perhaps even out of boredom – he agitates it and launches it until it explodes. It’s the privilege of visionary people: they’re ahead of their times.

And El Bulli? What happened to El Bulli? Who cares? It will be back... This is Enigma. It’s already here. There are many restaurants but only one Enigma.

See also
Enigma, Adria’s non-restaurant by Marco Bolasco