The kitchen at Disfrutar*** (Barcelona, Spain) lives up to its name from the beginning to the end. The culprits are none other than their alma maters Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas. Their firm’s commitment to innovation is the ingredient that gives them a personal understanding of cuisine, not only when it comes to presenting it, but also in the whole process of gastronomic creation, in which they never leave anyone who visits their home indifferent.

In half an hour, they tried to go through all the concepts and techniques they have been working on in their flagship restaurant throughout 2023, but in a "universe that is impossible to cover in such a short period of time", they focused on some of the techniques that they have liked the most and that have left the best "taste in the mouth" of diners.

And true to their origins, they presented their special calçotada with hydrophilised products. "It is a very crunchy calçot that looks like a wafer and is made directly on the fire", says Eduard Xatruch. Inspired by miso, we made a traditional romescu and left it to ferment, although you know that at Disfrutar we are not experts in fermentation", he said very sincerely, "until we achieved a very fine texture", he added. One of the details of this Romescu is its colour, "because it tends to age and blacken", which is complemented by "a very long depth of flavour". It is served with a broth made from the skins of the calçot.

Another of their bets was the nixtamilised coulant, a technique in which water and lime are mixed until a particular and unique texture is obtained, depending on the time used. "We have made them sweet, but we have also gone for savoury ones, with varied flavours such as pistachio, peanut, tomato and some more daring ones like Roquefort, chipirón sauce or spinach", confesses Oriol Castro. However, at Disfrutar they are not only experimenting with flavours but also with shapes, so they have opted for almond coulant in the form of balls, truffles, cherry segments, raspberries, "all made with the same process and pectin", he added.

But in terms of innovation, Oriol wanted to focus on one of his star dishes, a pumpkin seed coulant. "In addition to the coulant, it is served with yoghurt, roasted seeds, caramelised seeds, diced pumpkin jam, a pumpkin ice cream with flavour and depth, topped with star anise", he explained at full speed, as if he did not want anyone to "steal" the secret of the dish. It was a dish that reminded him of the importance of explaining to the customer "how to read a dish".

And finally, Eduard Xatruch confessed that he used a machine from the Esferiko company in his kitchens, where they leave little room for imagination in what they do. "The tools help us to have more time to create and innovate, so they are helpful. With this machine we can make different spherifications in terms of flavour, size and thickness without losing quality", reveals one of the three minds behind Disfrutar.