The creative capacity of the Roca brothers together, Joan, Jordi and Josep, is something inarguable. As a testimony to this, it suffices to mention the sheer number of Best Artistic Dishes of the Year awarded to them in the last few years by this publication. Counting the two this year, they have already amassed ten, a number only surpassed by Martín Berasategui and, of course, Ferran Adrià at El Bulli.
The Melon with ham is really more of a dish of ham and pork with melon than the other way around. With regard to the pork ingredients, they are wisely expressed, each one boasting an unsurpassable conceptual and technical preparation. The jamón is served in slices, the Iberian consommé takes on the role of sauce and the pancetta is cooked at low temperature, browned on the grill just before serving and cut into crispy cubes that melt in your mouth. And if the central character of the pork is vital to the dish, the role of the melon is equally important. To such a degree that we aren’t sure if this should be ‘Ham with melon’ or ‘Melon with ham’. Perhaps the title “Melon and ham” is the most representative. The melon is artistically denaturalized in the scene, taking on a consistency with a fresh ice-blended element, though not cold, in the shape of a slice. A round slice of fruit that calls one’s attention, both visually and in terms of flavor, especially considering that the denaturalization does not affect the palate in any way: pure melon.

How many cooked dishes are capable of surpassing the natural magnificence of caviar in its pure form? After having eaten hundreds and hundreds, maybe over a thousand, I only remember one, fifteen years ago, at Alain Passard’s “Arpège”. It was the main ingredient in that particular dish. I also remember a brilliant dish of marrow with caviar, the latter only taking 50% of the stardom in the best of all possible cases for sturgeon eggs.
The same question can be asked about another universal delicacy: barnacles; probably the shellfish most preferred by the Spanish. The answer is similar. Martín Berasategui’s version of barnacles with peas comes to mind, or the sautéed barnacles of Josean Martínez Alija (Guggenheim), though this latter must be categorized as a much more profound homage to the percebeiros (the people who collect the barnacles). Infinitely oceanic, packing all the punch of the sea, with a natural purity and flavor… Barnacles in haute cuisine. Artistic barnacles that respect their intrinsic qualities 100%. Many years will pass before anything comes along to surpass this work of art, dedicated to barnacles and the Bay of Biscay by a Mediterranean born in Extremadura: Quique Dacosta. Paradoxes of life…
Let’s move on to the dish description: beautiful barnacles, seaweed (codium, cochayuyo and oysterleaf), barnacle air and jelly all under a frozen dome of shellfish adorned with tosaka seaweed and chondracanthus acicularis.

A worthy preparation that captures all the spirit and history of chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo. The liquid escarole emulsion is poured over a bed of delicate, buttery buffalo cream cheese (burrata). The dish is then completed by a strip of breadcrumbs, pieces of anchovy and aromatic herbs: so simple yet with so much impact! It has everything to do with the ingredients, the perfumes and flavors wrought from the chef’s native region (Campagna), contrasted with reminiscences of the Mediterranean, represented by the Eugenio Pol bread (baker from Fobello, in the high valley of Sesia, at the foot of Monte Rosa in the Piedmont region). In short, it is a voyage from north to south made in a blink of the eyes… and mouth. Everything is a game based on balance: the creamy, unctuous qualities of the burrata, the acidity and freshness of the escarole, the intensity of the anchovies, the perfumes of the herbs and the mountain bread, with its crispiness and fragrance, evoking the rustic aromas and hearth fires of a mountain inn. Ingredients of a humble cuisine ennobled by the hands of the chef.

An original interpretation of sushi by Damiano Nigro in which the roll of nori seaweed is served whole rather than sliced, and the rice and fish filling is substituted exclusively with cooked cabbage. The fish element (raw prawn in a light ceviche) is placed on top of the sushi, accompanied by a delicate ginger foam. To give the dish a certain rhythm and intensity, a drop of tamarind is added. Result: a pleasant creation in which the flavor of the prawn, only lightly touched by the bitterness, is dressed with the different textures of marine and earthly vegetables (nori seaweed and cabbage), along with the freshness of the ginger foam and tamarind, expressing all its aromatic intensity. Damiano had the brilliant and daring idea to combine techniques and materials from different continents in a single dish, with the cabbage (a humble vegetable) being the sole ingredient from Piedmont, perfectly integrated in this globally spirited creation.