Birthdays are ideal times to celebrate life with family and friends. These important dates are an opportunity to reflect, to take stock, to collect the best from the past and to continue dreaming in this upward spiral that is life. Carme Ruscadella, the most Michelin-starred Spanish chef, and her son Raül Balam, offer a selection of their gastronomic memory at the Moments restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Barcelona, through a special menu that brings together and covers the best moments and dishes since November 2009, when the establishment opened which obtained its first Michelin star in 2010 and the second in 2013.
The sum of mother and son multiplies and is seen through this menu called “Els Moments” which brings together the best dishes through 13 dishes, the longest, and 9, the shortest, among which the creations of the Sant Pau restaurant. Sant Pol de Mar, when it closed six years ago, and some dishes from the thematic menus that they started preparing at Moments starting in 2016. Ruscadella acknowledges that this festive menu to enjoy until next February “It’s a change of scenario, but not of philosophy, it’s a menu of menus with which a stage ends.”
Since the opening of Moments, the motivated and enthusiastic team, led first by Carme Ruscadella then by her son Raül Balam, has demonstrated an originality which has provided pleasure, both at the table and upon entering the restaurant. guest. Today, they continue to draw inspiration from the nature and temporality of products, and also show their proven inspiration in the arts that bring soul to the world. He The menu they offer is the gastronomic memory of fifteen years of Momentsin a selection which, according to them, “was the simplest to prepare but the most difficult to achieve. We have built an exciting story,” they conclude.
Coup 15 years
The festive menu brings together emblematic dishes inspired by cinema, opera, the wonders of the world, happiness, travel ecosystems, Gala recipes taken from a book by Dalí and the Tour of Spain by bike, themes which constituted the gastronomic scripts which inspired the menus offered during these three periods of five years. “Els Moments” consists of 13 dishes plus three starters and pastry activities and is offered for 215 euros. If we add the pairing made only with the 2009 vintage, it reaches 295 euros and if you want to elevate the experience even more, the sommelier Alexandre Zaragoza also prepares the pairing with nine emblematic wines to complete an immersive journey into the wines from 2009. for 1,050 euros. There is also a short 9-course menu for €175.
Among the one hundred and twenty dishes that make up all the thematic menus developed over the last decade and a half, those that make up the “Els Moments” menu have been chosen with some of the best creations, all with a story that is explained visually and by the palace. The festival begins with three aperitifs offered at the Sant Pau restaurantpresented as a palette of natural and gastronomic colors: the green of sea bass tartare, chili pepper and parsley; the fuchsia of the beetroot tuna and the violet of the anemone of the purple potato fritter.
Gastronomic journey
The first stop on the El Viaje menu, from 2015, is in Paris, with the micuit liver and crunchy pistachios macaron. It is followed by recipe number 11 of “Gala Diners (2023)”, inspired by Dalí’s recipe book, based on leek cream with brie pasta and Pomegranate caviar with poached quail eggs. From the Wonders of the World menu (2021) is the corn-based study dish which represents the Machu Picchu of this main food of Peruvian cuisine presented on the first floor of the pass, because below The different textures of corn can be discovered with leche de tigre, a kind of natural corn ceviche.
The Felicidad menu (2021) offers the Dutch neoplasticism of a recipe for cod brandade, with peppers, almonds and olives which composes a Mondrian painting. With this pass, Ruscadella emphasizes that chefs are also artists who paint dishes and recalls that On the occasion of Paul Bocuse’s 80th birthday, he surprised everyone because the greatest difficulty of this composition is that it must be made at the time of eating.because it is not advisable to keep it cold because it loses.
From the 2017 menu inspired by the seventh art, the next dish is The Godfather, based on Pyrenees foal, dried tomatoes, vinaigrette, eggplant, parmesan, orange and basil, presented in the shape of a rose, like those he had on the menu. Marlon Brando buttonhole, to complete the nod to the scene in the film where a foal’s head appears in bed. He Maresme-style shrimp rice is another throwback, this time on the Sant Pol-Tokyo-Barcelona menu (2018) because this dish was prepared in the three restaurants in these cities.
To observe the next passage, also inspired by the seventh art, the waiters give the restaurant glasses with green filters, similar to those in three-dimensional films, with which they can watch the 2017 dish called The Wizard of Oz, based of mullet that imitates red shoes, yellow tiles of chili sauce and vegetables composed of asparagus, crunchy carrots and pumpkin cream. The Ópera proposal (2001) is that of Carmen based on Iberian pluma and gypsy pot based on crunchy chickpeas.. This is followed by a tasting of four cheeses representing the menu of La Vuelta (2023) and which reproduce the passes, with samples of goat’s cheese, sheep’s payoyo, cow’s milk and a pria. The table is accompanied by a graph with the different heights and intensities in the mouth and is served with figs, quince paste and a small brioche bun.
Moving on to desserts, another cinematic inspiration from the 2017 menu arrives with the title Finding Nemo, spectacularly presented inside an aquarium in which the film’s protagonist is suspended cartoon, which disappears when you remove the container to enjoy a dish of sea water and an almond sorbet. Back with El Viaje (2018) comes Miami, with red fruits with coconut, mango, pineapple, guava and tamarind, until reaching the base of sweet potato sorbet and spicy peach that goes well with intense chocolate, or sponge cake, cherry, creamy cream. , the Black Forest, included in the Ecosystems menu (2017). A birthday that will surely also please those who celebrate it by going to Moments at Mandarin Oriental.
