Crunchy snacks made in the microwave, fat aired, multitaste or a paneled table from which different bites come out. Its many chefs are able to bring continuous innovation, to create new techniques and new concepts, to surprise season after season even the most skeptical customers. Novelty and creativity always with a meaning, with a logic in what is served on the plate. And with a permanent revision of the cuisine and classic of the popular. That is Enjoy, the result of the union, of the joint effort of three great chefs, Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas, who base their success on work, on the research of new lines with which they advance in their kitchen.
Heirs of El Bulli without this meaning that this house is a continuation of that one. But it is of his spirit, the one to which Oriol, Eduard and Mateu contributed in an outstanding way for so many years. Since its opening in January 2015 we have already heard that we were facing one of the great restaurants in Spain. And of the world. His third place in the marquetinian and always questionable list of 'Restaurant' is nothing more than confirmation that the gastronomic universe surrenders to the excellent work of these three chefs. It is obvious that it is a matter of time before they reach number one. In Enjoying excellence is always sought, to improve what there is because it is impossible to improve. But with their feet on the ground and from the utmost humility, an unusual virtue in the kitchen guild but which is inherent to this trio.
Top-level dishes follow one another on the menu, in which all the ingenuity of the chefs, their enormous technique, are put at the service of the diner's enjoyment. Magnificent sensations in which the room also plays an important role. An excellent team, reliable, friendly, without rigidity, you are indispensable but with the utmost professionalism. There is no card, only two menus for 235 euros. One with the classics of the house, another with the creations of the season. The restaurant is located just opposite Barcelona's El Ninot market.
Some tables at the entrance and a long corridor that bordered the large open kitchen through which diners access the main dining room, which had a pleasant garden patio. Choose the menu that the client chooses, it goes from surprise to surprise. Some crispy 'snacks' based on Parmesan, basil and curry made in the microwave that recall the texture of a waffle. Or the smoked butter with caviar, worked using a technique that allows the fat to be aerated. Or the pesto multisphere, another innovation from the three chefs. Or nuts, always present on the menus. For example the almonds, in a sequence that ends with an 'empedrat' that combines tender and cooked (with a texture reminiscent of beans), black olives, tomato and hake instead of the traditional cod. In a glass a broth of genuine beans.
Spectacular revision of the traditional recipe. Or the peculiar version of the 'vitello tonnato' with monkfish liver that provided texture and a different flavor. Or the laminated asparagus, which is then given its own shape, using mandarin yolk for the tip and wrapping an ice cream made from the same vegetable inside to intensify its flavour. Or the entrecôte with green pepper: the juice, very reduced, in a teaspoon; minced meat as in a 'steak tartare'; and seasoned it into a nice ice cream. But among so much excellence, I prefer what has undoubtedly been its flagship dish since the beginning: Chinese bread. A 'bao' stuffed with caviar and sour cream. Magnificent bite, pure delicacy, full of flavor. In very few places do we want the menu to go on indefinitely. Enjoyment is one of them.
