Cinc Sentits

Now for the Cinc Sentits review:

Cinc Sentits was recommended by the New York Times Travel section as the one upscale place to go if you are in Barcelona for a weekend, and I can definitely see why. It was one of the top dining experiences of my life. Every single thing was exquisitely good. I went with Ba and my dad, and the three of us spent hours enjoying every course with a wine pairing. This picture of me and Ba looks pretty silly, but it captures the mood of our afternoon.

We started off with olives, almonds and anchovy crackers. I decided to put my usual food inhibitions aside, i.e. eat the olives, and I was rewarded with the tastiest olives ever. The next course was a 'shot' of cava, cream, maple syrup, sabayon and salt. It sounds weird but tasted fabulous.

All the bread was really good, and you could have as much as you liked. It was full of bacon, olive and herbs and served with Catalunya olive oil and rock salt.

An asparagus soup was pure, unadulterated asparagus heaven. The next dish was seared foie gras with chive sauce on a pastry with a thin layer of burnt sugar on top. The burnt sugar was the perfect counterpoint to the foie gras.

A Galician scallop with Jerusalem artichoke puree, an onion reduction and ham chip was incredibly creamy and rich. Wild Mediterranean sea bass with spring onion, green peas, garlic sprouts, and pil pil highlighted the super crunchy, sweet taste of spring peas.

Carrot foam, parsnip puree, 36-hour cooked oxtail and beet cubes blew my mind. The meat was super tender and the sauce it was in was blissful. The cheese course was bleu cheese, pear, truffle reduction and a cube of brioche. It was probably the least impressive, and it would still be the best cheese course ever at a lesser restaurant.

Dessert part one was strawberry and rhubarb with sorbet and almond cream. A second dessert course was vanilla and olive oil ice cream with chocolate and macadamia nut.

My cappuccino came with five different kinds of sugar: regular granulized white, granulized brown, crystalized white, crystalized sugar in the raw, and vanilla. The petit fours course was lemon muffins with mango-passionfruit mousse.

If you have plenty of time and money on your hands and happen to be in Barcelona, for sure try this place.