On a narrow street in the Born district of Barcelona, is one of the world's top restaurants (in my opinion at least) - Comerç, 24. Chef Carles Abellán is the protégé of Ferran Adriá who envisioned El Bulli - widely considered to be the best restaurant in the world until it closed in 2011 so Adriá could pursue other projects.
Eating at a restaurant of this quality was one of my 30 goals to accomplish by the time I turned 30 and on May 3rd I crossed this one off the list!
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Joining me for this incredible experience was my buddy Andrew Blum who traveled with me in Spain for a week. We were both absolute newbies to this type of dining experience but we quickly adjusted!
The meal started with a selection of 3 fresh breads and 4 Spanish olive oils along with sea salt. They also brought out a wine list with only glasses of Spanish cava (champagne) at 6€ per glass (not too bad really).
The next decision for the meal involved what tasting menu we were going to select. After reading a lot of online reviews before coming here I knew that it was going to be the most expensive meal of my life, so we decided to go big and go with the 12 course Grand Festival Menu at 106€ each (Blum saved me some money on the flight so I was covering the check for this meal).
Our awesome waiter let us know that this was an excellent selection and then the sommelier came over to take our wine order. The sommelier turned out to be our favorite server of the evening. He obviously knew a TON about wine and he helped us pick some great value wines starting with a Spanish Vionta Albariño (white) and later in the meal an incredible Remelluri Reserva Rioja (red) - both were under 30€ per bottle.
The Albariño paired perfectly with the seafood - it had an awesome citrus flavor but wasn't overly sweet. The Rioja was a rich, complex red and the sommelier said it was an outstanding wine for the price. We agreed!
Now to the meal.
The opening course was a cold cauliflower soup with smoked tea and nori, cauliflower with ginger and rice vinegar served on a stone and monkfish sashimi with black sesame and black garlic (above). At this point we knew we were in for something special. Each dish had such complex flavors while also seeming so simple and thoroughly enjoyable.
Next was Pizza 24. A flatbread cracker with mozzarella, anchovy, greens and a strawberry. A strange combination but absolutely brilliant. Each ingredient was of the highest quality.
And then we were served filo dough stuffed with Parmesan cheese, lemon and basil. The lemon flavor became increasingly intense until the basil leaf polished the dish off with a perfect note. This is in the point in the meal that we just started laughing with delight. And the adventure was only beginning...
Each dish was served with an explanation of what was before us but we constantly had to ask questions about what each ingredient was (sometimes having difficulty understanding our server's English). This dish, of course, was a large oyster on a bed of ice with beet root foam on top. My first foam experience and the texture was indescribably fun. Like cotton candy melting in your mouth - the oyster happily sliding its way into your throat.
Now for my favorite dish of the meal.....beach shrimp ceviche in a peach wine broth. The shrimp was nice and cold. The onion slice added a little crunch but the star of the dish was the peach wine. I've been lucky enough to have some of the best ceviche on earth in Lima, Peru, and this was even better. I ended up drinking the broth from the saucer - not wanting to waste a drop of this perfection.
The seafood continued with cockles and sea urchin in a cold Japanese dashi broth. Most of my friends would never eat this dish but the brave ones would be rewarded with an incredible reward of outstanding seafood in a salty broth. I wonder if you can even buy cockles and sea urchin anywhere in Iowa?
Another highlight of the meal was this tuna sashimi on a cracker with some other shit that I can't even remember right now and my notes made no mention of. At this point in the meal, I wrote into my iPhone - "This is art. The Da Vinci of food. Mind blowing. Wow."
I remember repeatedly saying "Wow" over and over again during this meal. There would be long periods of silence between Blum and I - we just couldn't describe what we were experiencing. I'm trying to do this place justice through my words and iPhone pictures but I'm sure it's all being lost in translation.
As a sardine novice I didn't know what to expect when this dish was presented but once again it blew our minds. Three beautiful pieces of sardine with orange, micro greens and wasabi (not the paste version of sushi restaurants but the grated form).
Here is tuna tartar with an egg yolk at the bottom and salmon eggs that popped in the mouth like candy with a juice filling. So fucking amazing. (Side note: we're probably about 2 hours into the meal at this point but we totally lost track of time. The meal ended up lasting from about 8:45 pm to 12:30 am and it was not because of slow service. It takes a long time to serve this much food and we savored every moment of it!)
Our next seafood course was squid with black sausage, fresh peas and mint. I hate peas but loved these because they were garden fresh and the mint was a classic combo. The squid was perfectly prepared and all of these ingredients somehow matched perfectly together with a buttery sauce tying it all together.
This is french onion soup with a beautiful egg and crunch croutons. The egg was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I went to take a bite with my spoon and the yolk ran out into the broth - the dish recreating itself before my eyes. The broth was nice and salty. The spoon was small so we could savor each bite. The course ended with the bowl up to my lips once again. Slurp. Next course please.
The next course was the famous Kinder Egg. "What's in it?" we asked. "Some things must remain a surprise," the waiter replied. We'd later discover it was a mashed potato foam with black truffles at the bottom of the egg. It was my first experience with truffles and I couldn't believe how earthy they were...mushrooms on steroids. Very intense flavor.
Then we moved to the rabbit with rice, cubes of apple and shavings of lime. The rabbit was so perfectly cooked - tasted a lot like good chicken thigh and the rice was not at all dry. The cubes of apple were a brilliant touch and added a great crunch to the dish. For me, it was another highlight and another excellent experience eating rabbit!
"Here is for you to smell," said our waiter. It was simply fresh rosemary and thyme herbs in a hot oil that released an incredible smell - a perfume really. He left us with this bowl of fragrant herbs for a couple minutes and we inhaled the smell like chain smokers inhaling their last bit of nicotine before entering the airport.
Then they brought out a white fish with mashed potatoes, a foam of some sort and fried skin of the fish. The waiter also came equipped with another profound statement...."Here is the sea and to smell you have the forest."
We just smiled and laughed.
The final entree before our hour-long dessert escapade was beef sirloin with turnips that tasted like scallops they were so incredibly pink and perfectly prepared. The beef was medium rare as they recommended and every part about this dish melted in the mouth. I was convinced we were eating scallops until I read our final menu and saw no mention of them. Genius.
Then came dessert. And it lasted for an hour. This was Mel i Mato. A Catalan dessert with cheese, honey, coconut shavings and chocolate shavings. Wonderful.
Then my favorite - lemon iced tea. A scoop cream with caramelized lemon rind? an iced tea broth and something that tasted like lemon but I'm not sure what is was.....The dish though was cool, refreshing and the highlight of dessert.
Requit Napolita.
Apple and saffron with ice cream. Incredible pairing. Genius.
Nougat with twin chocolate cigar.
Conguito C, 24 - a shell of chocolate with olive oil and salt. The shell of chocolate was filled with air - you put it in your mouth and poof - it was gone.
We thought we were done when we declined the offer for coffee but they had one last surprise. From left to right, white chocolate tablets flavored with green tea, chocolate covered in gold paint, wild pine nuts with chocolate and dark cacao, and lastly Oreo vanilla with black sesame.
At the end of the meal they printed our menu from the evening and even listed our wine selections and the date to the left!
Myself, our two waiters and Blum.
The 4-hour meal ended around 12:30 am and by this point we were a little tipsy and definitely full.
Tipsy on the wine but also a little drunk with delight from the artistic culinary experience.
You can only really see a painting. But with food you can see it and smell it and taste it and feel it.
At its very best, food is art.
And Comerç, 24 is food at its very best.
Enjoy the ride (and the meal),
Damm
