Tapac 24 in Barcelona

I only managed to try one dessert at the New York Times recommended Tapac 24 in the Eixample in Barcelona, but I can tell you it was memorable.  As a matter of fact our whole meal was memorable and a spectacular value for what we ate.

The “xocolata pa, oli i sa”  was one of those desserts that just doesn’t sound that good when you hear the ingredient list but when you eat it, it just works.  Chocolate mousse.  Ok, that sounds good but then you learn it will be sitting in a half-inch of olive oil!  Hmm.  Well, no worries the mousse was very dark and super flavorful and was unusually dense for a mousse.   It was more a cross between mousse and softened, solid dark chocolate  And something about the olive oil and the coarse salt really made the chocolate taste “pop”.  What can I say?

Recommended: xocolata pa, oli i sa

Tapac 24 is located at Diputació 269;

Phone: 34-93-488-0977

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Chocolate pyramid from Aldonando in San Sebastian

Aldonando in San Sebastian Spain, is a traditional Catalan restaurant serving unpretentious, perfectly prepared regional specialties.  It’s old school, with rustic wooden tables and old men smoking cigarettes.  There are no plexi-glass counters or foamy amuse bouches served in bent spoons.

I never guessed they would have a modern French-style plated dessert like the chocolate pyramid.   It consisted of a cake layer and two dark mouse layers, one very dark one less dark.  The outside shell was also made from a light colored dark chocolate and was very soft not crisp.  This is actually not easy to do and the dessert must be kept at a constant temperature after it’s made to keep its form.  This dessert would have held it’s own in any of NYC best restaurants.

For our last meal in San Sebastian we went to the one-star Michelin restaurant Kokotxa for lunch.  This place was the polar opposite of Aldonando.  The interior was bright, airy and modern.  Smoking was not allowed as it was inside Aldonando and we were served an amuse bouche in a decidedly bent, folded over spoon!

After a great meal I ordered the chocolate crisp – which turned out to be the same dessert that Karen DiMasco used to serve at Craft a few years back.  I’m not certain she originated it but it was good then and it was good here as well.  In any event, the crisp consists of phylo-dough wrapped, semi-molten, warm chocolate cake made from very dark chocolate.  It was served with mango sorbet and was made to order over like a souffle.

This lunch represented somewhat of a splurge for team dessertbuzz, however we thought the staff was particularly friendly and helpful and I thought all the courses we had were special and perfectly prepared.  I think Kokotxa lived up to their Michelin star.

Recommended: Aldonando chocolate pyramid, Kokotxa chocolate crisp

Aldonando is on Euskal Herria, San Sebastian, Spain

Kokotxa is on Campanario Angel, San Sebastian, Spain

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