ABaC (BARCELONA)
- Mommy the Foodie
- Nov 8, 2017
- 4 min read
Food: 4.9/5 Ambiance: 5/5 Service: 5/5
Some people fan-girl over celebrities, I fan-girl over amazing chefs and amazing restaurants. Tonight I had the opportunity to dine at ABaC, Chef Jordi Cruz’s Michelin starred restaurant. Fun fact: Chef Jordi Cruz was the second youngest chef EVER to be awarded Michelin stars. Pretty badass.
The dinner actually began in ABaC’s kitchen, which already made me love this restaurant. First, a real, live cactus served as the presentation piece for a lime and tequila sorbet shaped like a cactus flower. Beautiful and delicious.
Next, raw salmon topped with trout roe in nori two ways. First a nori “taco” which contained the salmon. Second, a foam atop the salmon. Yum.
We arrived at our table and formally began our dinner (ABaC only offers fixed menus, and since we’re out of our damned minds, we picked the 16 course meal).
A Bloody Mary was first. This happens to be one of my comfort foods. I simply love the savoriness and spiciness of a Bloody Mary. Happy girl right here.
Crispy kale topped with a sweet seaweed cream, accompanied by a seaweed broth. I could have had a bucket of the kale (not a sentence you’ll hear me say often). The broth, however, was a wee bit salty 🙈
Next a foie gras taco (praise!). The taco was sweet and the foie gras (which was shaved foie gras because we’re in the big leagues) was salty and spectacular. Next to it, a corn ice cream on top of mole crumbs. Mexico would be proud.
My least favorite dish was a carrot soup of sorts. It was like a stew, with about a hundred types of carrots. Interesting and tasty, but the rest of the food blew my mind.
Gnocchi with nuts and mushrooms in a mushroom broth was next, and it was amazing. The gnocchi were actually Parmesan cheese “spheres” which, when bitten, exploded in your mouth as the most marvelous cheesy liquid.
Tuna three ways added to my joy. The presentation of this dish was on point: two tuna vertebrae contained the first two types of tuna: a perfectly fried fritter containing sweet tuna, and a tuna broth. Yum. But the winner on this plate was the tuna steak. It was so meaty I kept forgetting I was having fish. Plus the reduction it was topped with gave it an almost caramelized taste. Unbelievable.
Keeping with the tuna theme, rice with tuna. The rice was risotto like and was paired with raw tuna, tomato sauce, and pecorino romano “air.” Mind. Blown.
Next, it was the duck’s turn. Duck two ways: a rillette (sort of like a paté), which was creamy and perfect, and crispy duck tongues. The rillette was paired with a sort of hard meringue and was delicious. The crispy tongues sat atop vegetables cooked in duck broth. Surprisingly very tasty.
The final duck dish was a duck magret, which was out of control. The skin was crispy and salty and amazing, while the duck was beyond succulent. Wow. It was surrounded by a squash and lavender cream which was sweet and paired perfectly with the saltiness of the duck.
Last, lamb ribs, which were so soft they just fell right off the bone. Yowzah. On top of the ribs, a variation on the lamb rib meat which had been cured and dried and was crispy and amazing. Yum yum yum. After all that, I was stuffed, but I’m no quitter. I begged my stomach to not fail me now. The desserts were next.
The “pre-dessert” was a tart yogurt topped with honey, paired with hazelnut ice cream. I was digging it.
Next was the chocolate dessert that all chocolate desserts should aspire to be like. We were presented with a box marked “fragile.” Inside, a chocolate shell, flanked by sheets of dark chocolate. Crack the shell and reveal all that is good and pure in this world. Chocolate in about a hundred variations (okay, maybe it was more like 4). There was a dark chocolate cake, an ice cream, some cream, and even some toffee. Swoon.
Following that was a dessert they called “tea service.” Cubes of iced yogurt were to be had first. Next, there was a bowl with citronella flavored ice cream and hints of Earl Grey. It was incredibly creative but honestly the chocolate dessert was far superior.
Last, but not even close to least, the table decorations turned into serving plates for ABaC’s petit fours. To start, there was a lipstick case holding a sort of sorbet made with beets and rose water. Amazing presentation and quite yummy. There was some weird, pillowy candy confection (too weird for me), dark chocolate and mint (tasty), milk chocolate topped with a nutty, caramel cracker (wow!), white chocolate cheesecake, and both a hazelnut chocolate my ball with amaretto and strawberries with amaretto.
ABaC was amazing, and a true gastronomic experience. The creativity behind the dishes and the presentation make it obvious why this restaurant is so highly regarded. There was one, slight miss (the salty broth) but in the end, I would be ecstatic to eat here any time. Spectacular. Address: Ave. del Tibidabo, 1, Barcelona, Spain
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