THE BEST IN THE WORLD 2024: DISFRUTAR VISITED LIMA
Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro, and Mateu Casañas were once head chefs at the legendary restaurant El Bulli by Ferrán Adrià.
Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro, and Mateu Casañas were once head chefs at the legendary restaurant El Bulli by Ferrán Adrià.
Written by Jimena Agois (IG @jimena.agois)
Disfrutar, the Spanish restaurant recognized as the best of 2024 according to the World’s 50 Best List, visited Lima a few months ago. Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro, and Mateu Casañas were once head chefs at Ferrán Adrià’s legendary restaurant El Bulli. This place marked a before and after in avant-garde kitchens worldwide, where creativity was always the main ingredient.
This creativity sustains the cuisine of this restaurant today, which usually doesn’t leave home to cook in other countries, nor does «four hands» events in its venue. Still, with Pía León and Virgilio Martínez, the situation is different. The friendship and admiration among the chefs have resulted in several back-and-forth trips between their dining rooms. The Peruvian chefs have hosted a couple of dinners in Barcelona, and the first to come to Lima was Oriol Castro, who cooked at Mil, Moray before the pandemic. The latest local event took place a few days ago in Lima. This time, Eduard Xatruch brought Disfrutar to Kjolle for one night in a dinner featuring a menu inspired by our country and the hosts’ cuisine. At the table, a flip chart awaited us with 50 words that inspired the restaurant for this evening and described its philosophy: nostalgia, minimalism, Lima, excursion, experiences, stories, among others. These words paved the way for the first bite of the night, a tribute to the pisco sour, with a frozen pisco sour foam with passion fruit and spirulina, a dish eaten with a spoon but in the mouth feels like drinking a pisco sour by the sea.
Several snacks followed, where Disfrutar’s technique and creativity were displayed in every bite. Techno-cuisine arising from deep research, exhaustive knowledge, methodical and rigorous work: first, crispy olives with a liquid interior, an homage to the olive tree. Next, a light and airy panchino made with fried dough foam filled with truffles and sour cream is an emblematic dish of the Catalan restaurant. The toast with smoked butter bubbles and caviar was marvelous.
A unique play of textures. The fried egg, another classic of Disfrutar, is an egg that isn’t fried, with its golden yolk containing a warm crab and coral gelatin, playing remarkably with temperatures that arrive at the table perfectly controlled. The ceviche spaghetti was unexpected, and the pork dish with corn spherifications resembling a pearl necklace was magnificent. Avant-garde cuisine is in their DNA, in each of their dishes. What in others is affectation in them is naturalness; what seems forced for many here flows effortlessly.
Alcohol-free alcohols that pair perfectly. The caçotada (a traditional Catalan spring onion) arrives wrapped in a sort of newspaper (a traditional serving method) but freeze-dried using an ancestral Aymara technique to preserve potatoes.Authenticity is the main ingredient in each of the dishes we tried that night. Pure technique and flavor in these 18 unforgettable bites unite kitchens and continents. Technically surprising dishes were executed perfectly, where flavor is the common thread and humor is the additional seasoning.
This visit ended on a high note with Eduard’s master class for the students of the Faculty of Gastronomy at PUCP, where he spoke about his creative processes and innovation: «The engine of creativity is the spirit of improvement, self-criticism, and constantly taking risks,» the chef commented. Innovation in the service of pleasure.
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