Fabulous Basque cuisine in Barcelona

We have never tried Basque food before even though we were briefly in Basque country visiting Bilbao.  We were surprised to stumble upon a Basque restaurant our first night in Barcelona.  This was the Irati Taverna Basca in a small street just a few minutes' walk from the Ramblas.  

It was a place known for its tapas but it had been a long day and we really wanted to sit down for dinner even though it was really too early for the locals - the place was empty, even too early for tapas! We overruled our own practice of avoiding empty restaurants and sat down. We ordered the grilled duck magret with bittersweet summer fruit and the surprising crispy suckling pig with pisto.

To our pleasant surprise, both dishes were superbly done, in fact, the suckling pig tasted better than any we have ever tasted anywhere and we have tasted plenty of these. The suckling pig meat was super tender and the skin super thin and crispy. The duck was very tasty although slightly too rare for me; the accompanying bittersweet summer fruit was delicious as well and "bittersweet" was the perfect description for it. 

The suckling pig was a rare find and totally unexpected - which made it even more memorable. I wished we had gone back a second night but our schedule the rest of our stay did not allow for it.  Next time...

Amuse bouche - Txistorra - Basque pork sausages

Roast pork suckling pig - melt in your mouth delicious!

Duck Magret with bittersweet summer fruit

Tapas section starting up as we were leaving

Disfrutar - Michelin Star in Barcelona

Disfrutar is not just a Michelin starred restaurant in Barcelona - its three chefs and owners, Mateu Casana, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch were trained at el Bulli, the legendary Michelin 3-star in Catalonia and since its opening in December, 2014, the restaurant has won acclaim with its avant-garde cuisine, getting its first Michelin Star on its first anniversary.

Unlike our dinner at LaStage, Amsterdam, we had planned this meal at Disfrutar as part of our Barcelona experience.  I came across an online writeup on their fabulous menu and so had booked our meal three months ahead when bookings were open - lunch was the only thing available at the time.  As it was located in the Eixample, we planned our day around the meal, scheduling visits to Gaudi casas before and after lunch.  It worked out really well as they are all within walking distance of the restaurant.


We were warmly welcomed when we arrived and was taken on a tour of the design award winning restaurant.  In the kitchen, smack in the middle of the restaurant, on both sides of the corridor leading to the dining room, we were introduced to the two chefs Eduoard and Oriol.  They were in the middle of showing the team what they wanted but graciously dropped everything to have their pictures taken with us.  The kitchen was packed with team members at every station.  It was quite impressive.

The two tasting menus, Classic and Festival, were the only things offered so we went with the Classic, the one with the least raw items which one of us was averse to.  We started off being seated in the front of the restaurant but was later moved to the main dining room when a table became available.  While it was nice and quiet in the front, we felt more part of the excitement in the main Mediterranean style dining room, where everyone was talking loudly and enjoying themselves (that's what "disfrutar" means - and we got to see the hardworking crew in action in the kitchen.

     

Each of the dishes were exquisitely prepared and presented - innovative with a distinct flavour and taste.  We were also given precise instructions on how to approach each to achieve the best tasting sensation.  It was a very enjoyable tasting experience - a feast for the senses.

Refreshing frozen cocktail - melt in the mouth with lingering taste of coffee and rum

"Beet that comes out of the land" (actually beetroot meringue with a light crunch on a bed of black sesame)

Frozen lychee, tapioca soaked in gin on rose petals.  We were told to put the rose petal up against our lips and suck the contents into our mouth - a sensual experience!

Salted candy walnuts with salted rice paper on the outside - amazing taste!  Mango, tonka beans soaked in whisky!

Here is an intriguing dish "Multipescadito frito" with fresh trout roe.  The "Multipescadito frito" are fried small fish placed on the wrap with sweet fresh roe - great combination and contrast in textures, the crunch around the soft roe.  We assembled our own combo. Extraordinary!

"Disfruta de la aceituna" - the "green grape" made with olive cream and butter in the crust, the "black olive" made with cocoa and olive - crushed in the mouth with orange juice inside, sucked from inside flowers.  Bread dip in oil.

Orange juice hidden inside flowers

Cold cheese biscuit finish with warm apple cider

Deep-fried egg yolk served with mushroom jelly inside egg shell - egg yolk is sensational while the mushroom jelly is the perfect balance for the palette to take away the stickiness from the yolk

Mushroom dumplings in translucent wrap 

Ceviche deconstruction - carrot and ahi pepper, white monk fish

If you don't eat raw fish, you get ramen...;-)

Macaroni carbonara - actually made with macaroni gelatin (a delightful texture!) with carbonara cheese and Parmesan on top.  The one above is the no-cheese version but you can see the macaroni better.

Tomato "polvoron" and arbequina oil caviar translated into tomato biscuit with caviar.  The interesting "liquid salad" is made with lettuce cucumber with a bubble inside made with olive oil - so much thought and work went into this!

Langoustine "al ajillo" - "al ajillo" being the little shrimps that added "legs" to the Langoustine - I would consider this the climax of the meal!  The green foam is parsley and black garlic - instilling subtle flavour on the very tasty langoustine.  My favourite dish!

Red mullet rock fish with paper thin slices of pork belly on top (delectable combination reminding me of a Chinese steamed fish with salted pork on top).  This was served with soy sauce eggplant gnocchi (made with gelatin) and yogurt sauce.

Moroccan style pigeon in a ras el hannout sauce -  a potent mix of cumin, ginger, allspice, pepper, cinnamon, coriander and cayenne

Mango sorbet sandwich - the "bread" is actually meringue!

Mano and cardamon sorbet on a cheesecake cornet

The peppers are actually chocolate with oil and salt

The grand finale - cotton of cocoa with mint flavour - you pick your own cotton and eat it off the tree!

We stayed at Disfrutar for 3 hours that afternoon and enjoyed every minute.  Bravo!