ABaC

Experimental fine dining

molecular gastronomy

Located inside a 5 star hotel of the same name, ABaC is a 2 Michelin starred restaurant at the northern part of Barcelona. This restaurant is considered one of the very best in the city, headed up by the young and extremely talented chef Jordi Cruz, ABaC is renowned for its very experimental and creative cooking concepts using prime ingredients. The well spread out dinning room is elegant and stylish, the whole place looks more like a private dining room that belongs to a billionaire than a hotel. There are two choices of tasting menu and you are allowed to order a small selection of dishes as a la carte but I would highly suggest sticking to the tasting menu as some of the single dishes costed over 50 Euro alone.

Clams with caviar, lime and sea butter

Sweet corn taco, foie gras, mile ice cream

Tartare of battered squid rings

Lulo ceviche, oyster, pisco sour

Fried brioche, grilled eel, wasabi

Saffron & orange infused prawn bouillabaisse

The meal got off to a tremendous start with some really top class appetizers, clams with caviar tasted so defined as the freshness of the clams were second to none. Sweetcorn taco had a great balance of sweetness and earthiness from the foie gras with the mole ice cream added a fun settled bitterness and coolness. The grilled eel was faultless, rich in taste and it worked like magic with freshly grinded wasabi, together with the fried brioche made this perhaps the best sandwich in the world. 

Suck it good...

Seaweed steamed seabass

with fennel, velvet horn and baked fish bones juice

Roasted lobster, baby radishes, coral emulsion

Tuna skin rice cooked in eel stock

The prawn bouillabaisse was truly an exceptional course, the taste was really rich and blessed with the intense aroma from the prawn shells, saffron and orange with the prawn itself so sweet and fresh which offered a great contrast to the palate. Less impressive was the steamed sea bass, as I found the seasoning lacking, as the seaweed and fennel element failed to blend in with the fish. The final dish of the night completed our long marathon eating journey, a chocolate dish that contained white truffle, cheese, honey and walnuts. Every elements on the plate linked up so wonderfully which delivered a multi flavoured sensation, what an amazing dessert dish it was.

 

Roasted onion juice, smoked scamorza bubbles-walnuts

Chicken trimmings, langoustines, carrot and cumin

Canolisu

Chocolate white truffle rocks, cottage cheese, honey, walnuts

Dinner at ABaC is a hell of a special experience, some really ambitious cooking and funky concepts which gave me plenty of excitement, but is it the best Barcelona has to offer? I think not as the experimental element carries a degree of risk, Lasarte for me is still king of Barcelona but ABaC is a real beast in its own right and the drama that unfolds in front of you added such a joy to the overall dining experience. Service is your typical 5 star hotel level, very professional and well mannered. It is hardly a cheap restaurant however, as I believe it is the most expensive Michelin restaurant in Barcelona alongside Enoteca inside Hotel Arts which is part of the Ritz Carlton, but this is definitely the place to go if you are into molecular gastronomy.


Food 4.5/5

Executive chef: 
Jordi Cruz

What I paid: 
£160 pp with wine

Average cost without drinks and services:
Tasting menu: £120

Av. del Tibidabo, 1, 08022 Barcelona, Spain

http://www.abacbarcelona.com/