The heart of Disfrutar’s innovation at Identità Milano 2024

Three Michelin stars awarded in Spain's most recent Red Guide. Second best restaurant in the world and, consequently, best restaurant in Europe, in the 2023 World's 50 Best. Their ascent has been constant, unstoppable, starting from very far away: this is the story of Disfrutar, the Barcelona restaurant opened by Oriol Castro, Eduardo Xatruch and Mateu Casañas, direct heirs of elBulli and Ferran Adrià, of whom the three Catalan chefs were for many years among the most trusted collaborators.

With this premise, Oriol Castro's lecture, closing the first day's programme in the Auditorium for the 19th edition of Identità Milano, could only be one of the most eagerly awaited. As soon as he took his position at the centre of the stage, the Disfrutar chef started with a quote from this year's theme at the congress: 'there is no innovation without disobedience'. "I must confess," he said with extreme sincerity and an equally sincere smile, "that I prepared and studied this masterclass before knowing the theme of the congress. But then I read it, reflected on the important meaning of these words and the very meaning of the concept of disobedience, realising that it often finds its way into our choices, our ideas, our techniques. So in this lesson too, I believe you can find forms of disobedience. "

Carlo Passera, who introduced Castro, asked him two questions before letting him take the floor. The first was to summarise Disfrutar's gastronomic identity in a few words, a question to which the Iberian chef immediately and convincingly replied 'taste', even before proposing a series of decidedly complex, cerebral, demanding technical solutions. The second, referred to the Bullian legacy: “elBulli,” explained Oriol Castro, “has radically influenced our way of thinking and looking at our lives. Because this work, cooking, is really our life. We always carry this imprint with us, even now that we have defined our own style and taken our separate path.”

The first of the small disobediences that can be found in Disfrutar's work has to do with the menu, which of course tells diners what they will find on the plates, but not the names of the courses that will be served. Instead, they read words like 'creativity', 'memories', 'sharing', 'sensations', 'contrasts'... "We’re not interested in finding names for our dishes, but in conveying emotions," Castro concluded, explaining that for Disfrutar, a menu written this way is, above all, the first 'dish' on the tasting menu.

He then showed some of the most recently invented dishes, highlighting innovative techniques. And also disobedient? It seems so. Is there not, after all, a kind of disobedience to the rules in the decision to bring diners a dish composed exclusively of twelve sprouts, called Concentration of Flavour? At each tiny morsel, in fact, an intense flavour explodes in the mouth, which sometimes is consistent with the sprout itself (the rocket sprout indeed tastes like rocket), but more often is a surprise: 'We were interested in showing how, starting with a simple sprout, you can offer very intense sensory experiences. It is a very simple but thought-provoking dish.”

And then again: the Slush Margarita with soft meringue and marinated fig, in which the main technical element is the creation of a soft meringue (the aromatic base is the same margarita, infused with fig leaves, with which the slush is also made) obtained without the use of egg whites, but with a small dose of emulsifier paste, normally applied in industrial confectionery. Or the technical cross between biscuit and jelly, with maise as the main ingredient.

The tale of the dish called Calçotada is equally significant. It is served with a real/fake newspaper from Disfrutar: it takes its cue from the popular tradition of serving that dish in newspaper and becomes a souvenir for customers, complete with a recipe for reinterpreting the dish. The calçotada is traditionally the celebration of a sweet onion that sprouts in late January called calçot. To greet its arrival in Catalonia, it is customary to cook them in large quantities over embers and open flames, then serve them on an earthenware tile and eat them with your hands, dipping them in plenty of romesco sauce.

This tradition is repeated in the Barcelona restaurant, clearly with some fine technical pirouettes, which enhance its refinement and facets, both in terms of flavour and texture. In particular, the calçots are cryo-lyophilised after being cooked over a flame. This results in two oils (white and black) and two powders (white and black), as well as a consommé with katsuobushi. In addition, the romesco sauce becomes a miso romesco, increasing its complexity and especially its moderate savouriness, hence the delicious contrast with the sweetness of the spring onion. "We love traditional cuisine deeply. Without tradition there would be no possibility to think about creative cuisine," commented the Catalan chef.

The presentation, in a restaurant like Disfrutar, is necessarily a key element of every dish. After Oriol Castro surprising guests with a preparation that creates a super-crunchy coral from a cereal such as amaranth and decorating it with strongly iodised ingredients such as kodium seaweed, caviar, trout roe and oysters, the demonstration of how that dish is served was even more impressive. It’s hidden within a structure that, with a play of mirrors, first creates a mirage of the dish, elusive to diners, and then reveals itself in its material dimension.

But the best was yet to come. In a fascinating video, Castro showed Disfrutar's most avant-garde and impressive gastronomic proposal. The 'living' table, called M#01: a project of great beauty, the brainchild of interior designer Merche Alcalà, with whom Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas collaborated for two years to offer a totally different and innovative experience. The table is really a mine of compartments that are gradually opened, revealing the dishes on the menu, without forgetting the decorative elements. The 'live' table is located in the restaurant’s test kitchen in the basement.

Few chefs in the world could be better suited than Oriol Castro to speak of innovation and therefore also of breaking the rules and of disobedience. Once again, he won us over with his and his companions' genius.

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso