The most recurring ingredient of the night was osetra caviar. It appeared in a Spanish panchino filled with caviar and sour cream, a thin toast with aerated butter and caviar, and a crispy amaranth cake topped with oyster, seaweed emulsion, and more caviar from Disfrutar—plus minibar’s famous Coliflor Caviar. After the third caviar course, Andrés quipped, “Now you understand why they are the best restaurant in the world. And if you like Finding Nemo, now you understand why there is no more Nemo: you’ve been eating all the eggs in the ocean tonight.”
Eggs appeared several more times throughout the evening, often in playful and unexpected ways. Disfrutar’s Crispy Egg Yolk with Hot Mushroom Jelly was a standout in both presentation and flavor. Set on a simple white plate, the dish arrived on a tiny stand topped with a red rooster figurine and a miniature ladder leading up to a pristine white eggshell. Inside was a tempura-coated egg with a soft yolk that oozed when bitten, resting over a smooth, warm mushroom gel—a perfect umami counterpoint to the crunchy exterior. The dish was paired with Estrella Damm’s Inedit Damm, a malt and wheat beer brewed with spices in collaboration with Ferran Adrià.
A few courses later came another egg dish—one that was not at all what it seemed. Xatruch lined the counter with gold eggs before servers presented what looked like a fried egg with a golden yolk. In reality, the yolk wasn’t a yolk at all but a spherified crustacean bisque inspired by chili crab and finished with gold leaf. The illusion continued with the “yolk” placed over a real fried egg white, served alongside prawns and a rich Indonesian satay sauce.
Another classic Disfrutar dish that made an appearance was their take on calçotada, a playful riff on Catalonia’s beloved roasted spring onion (calçot) with romesco, traditionally served at festivals each January. Disfrutar’s version featured a freeze-dried grilled spring onion that almost shattered in the mouth, paired with a miso-romesco sauce and a smoky onion consommé to finish.
Minibar also showcased several of its own classics, including the theatrical Pistachio Tart. Using a metal mold dipped in dry ice, the team froze pistachio oil into a delicate tart-shaped bite—served directly into each diner’s mouth from a thin spatula.
Dessert began with two walnut courses from Disfrutar. The first invited each diner to crack open a walnut shell to reveal a perfect walnut and a tiny cube of Idiazabal cheese inside. The second presented walnut four ways: fermented walnut, walnut ravioli, candied walnut, and green walnut with its skin intact—treated in liquid for a year to make the peel edible, the nut tender, and the bitterness removed.
Minibar closed the evening with its playful take on mango sticky rice—a mango sorbet sculpted to resemble fresh slices, served with puffed rice and coconut foam. Dessert continued with a Krispy Kreme–inspired doughnut filled with ice cream, and a miniature tree adorned with petit fours brought the extraordinary night to a close.
Xatruch summed up the night perfectly: “When we go to a gastronomic restaurant, we don’t go just for the food. We go for the sensation.”
