Lillas Pastia

Restaurante Lillas Pastia will soon turn ten years old; in that time, its chef and manager, Carmelo Bosque, has been able to ensure the advancement of a project that today is not only completely solid, but also gradually evolving.

Carmelo has spared no effort, both in structuring his team to his liking and, above all, clearly defining the elements of identity with which he wants to set his cuisine apart. Starting with solid technical knowledge, he practices a cuisine based fundamentally in the ingredients, in the clarity of flavors and in lightness. The dishes express, with great success, an idea of delicacy, elegance, equilibrium and harmony, intermingling and combining tradition and modernity to create a symbiosis prized by the chef. This allows him to take traditional preparations and update them with other, riskier and more innovative ones that are never strident and always carry large doses of sensibility and good taste.

The almond, lychee and alpicoz (a cucumber variety) cream with sardine crunch must be considered an extraordinary creation, for the quality of the fish as well as the exquisite blend of sweet, salty and bitter counterpoints, and the presence of two textures: creamy and crispy. He achieves great success with two other dishes in which the garden takes center stage: the tomatoes in three versions (one dressed with basil, another with bonito and spicy mojo sauce, and the third filled with a crunchy black olive salsa, and the borage sautéed with ham oil, fried toasts and soufflé potatoes. The scallop with onion cream and Port sorbet is especially brilliant as well. Another stimulus to the palate arrives in the form of honeyed cod with zucchini flowers—very aromatic, to be sure. Another sure bet is the free range chicken prepared two ways—the legs stewed in red wine and the breasts simply pan-seared, served with a crunch made from its own skin.

The desserts at this restaurant have always had substance; a good example is the peach with its own foam, heart of apple sorbet and pumpkin seeds—an excellent finale to the feast.