Enoteca Paco Pérez, Barcelona
This was my first dinner in Barcelona. I landed at the airport around 3:00pm, checked in hotel room at about 4:30pm, took a bath and then went to the restaurant at 20:00pm. It was a nice walk as the restaurant is located by the sea. I took a long path walking around and spent a bit of time seeing the sunset. The restaurant is in a nice hotel next to a casino. The restaurant probably gets a lot of business from customers just out of the casino.
I got a corner seat that can “oversee” the entire restaurant; I always enjoy such table because I can entertain myself by guessing the occasions of other tables. The menu is simple. However, I did not realise that it was an all-fish menu apart from one pigeon as the main dish. There was no pure vegetable, no soup and no carbohydrate.
Menu
The ‘tuna tartare, mille-feuille, caviar cream, nori’ was the first dish I remembered and I found interesting. The central tuna tartare had a very strong tuna flavour and was a bit chewy and sharp. The toping caviar added the saltiness and savouriness. It is very pure tartare with minimum sauce or spicy but I believed, there were some anchovies. The two tuna sandwiches, or as referred in the menu ‘mille-feuille‘, were a surprise to me. Both were tuna outside but nori inside; this was a fun arrangement because I tasted soft before the hard crispiness. Interestingly the tuna in the sandwich were much soft and creamy than those in tartare. I think it was done on purpose. The green dot on top of the sandwich was probably wasabi, which obviously inspired by Japanese sushi. That wasabi certainly added a push over the creamy and crispy tones.
Tuna tartare, mille-feuille, caviar cream, nori
One of the dishes, ‘Langoustine and artichoke on a sea and garden mosaic’ needs some improvement, in my opinion. The langoustine to the right was grilled while those to the left were steamed. However, they tasted almost the same, except that the steamed ones were rawer with slightly sticky texture. The vegetable artichoke in the cement colour introduced a strong earth tone. Apart from that, I remembered nothing. In fact, I found it is the restaurant overall presentation strategy did not help. I have no doubt the chef carefully designed the look of plate, however, it made me ‘panic’ as I did not know where to start. While the actual problem here was, there was no emphasis on the ingredients or flavours I shall focus. In addition, all the tiny side decorations tasted almost nothing. The sad truth, I did not remember what was “garden mosaic” in the menu, apart from it was of jelly or chocolate texture.
Langoustine and artichoke on a sea and garden mosaic
After langoustine, we got (another) lobster, ‘Summer lobster, silky corals, almonds and seaweed’. It was a better thought-out dish, to be honest. The cooked lobster to the left was tender, the two raw or semi-raw lobster paste to the right added a different flavour, all vegetable, daikon, mushroom and almond mixed in crunchy texture and earthy tone, and last the sauce is thick and rich. I remembered the flavour, but nothing surprised me. Oh, I shall mention one of the two dots sauce to the very right was alcohol based, which I enjoyed a lot despite I do not drink often.
Summer lobster, silky corals, almonds and seaweed
I will skip my comment on the pigeon, as frankly, I do not remember much apart from I get ‘panic’ on where to start. Nevertheless, I enjoyed a citrus-based dessert, ‘Citrus 25’. Well, it was basically a mix of orange, lemon and lime, in various forms of cream, ice ball, syrup and even leaf and flowers (as the green leaves, which I recalled from orange). I liked this dessert because it refreshed me after all the heavy fish dishes. Additionally, there different flavour and texture delivered a harmony theme.
Citrus 25
As I have mentioned in the main text, this was a surprisingly all-fish menu. If someone is pescatarian and wants some protein for the evening, I will recommend here. However, the warning is, I felt bored because many sauce and fish themselves taste alike, nice and smooth, but I thought I had the same thing from the previous plate. To my personal taste, I found the presentation was too busy, yet I could imagine some audience would find them impressive. The view to the coast was stunning, though, it would be better I got someone to share with. In summary, it was a restaurant of the starred standard, though will they stay there long?
🐼 Score: 3/5
