We wanted to try a more modern Barcelona dining experience and chose Xerta out of the 1-star class since we'd be going to Lasarte later in the week. The restaurant was located in the Eixample district within the Ohla hotel.
We loved the flamingo sculpture welcoming everyone into the dining room!
A nice wine cellar on the wall.
In the center of the dining room was a nicely decorated table and flower arrangement.
The tables were simple and elegant.
We went with the tasting menu to give everything a try.
We started off with a glass of cava which had a nice mineral backbone and green apple notes.
Right behind our table was the kitchen, it was fun to be able to watch them work, but also annoying as the chef rang a bell everytime a dish was finished, not very elegant.
With the bread, they brought out olive oil that was very nice and had a strong herbal backbone.
The first of the amuse bouches were brought on a cool platter showing where the ingredients were from. They were all tasty and fresh.
Next up was a dish of langoustine, clams and smaller clams. The langoustine and clams were good, but the tiny clams were too much work to get out of those tiny shells at a restaurant like this. If it were a casual restaurant, sure, but in fine dining it was too much work for the reward.
We worked with the sommelier to find a nice bottle of wine that had some age on it and wouldn't break the bank. This turned out to be way more difficult than it should have been given the great wines at reasonable prices we had at Lomo Alto and Passadis del Pep. Luckily in the end, this wine ended up being great after it opened up with a heavy body, deep black berries on the palate and fairly well integrated tannins, this wine will be fantastic in another 5 or so years.
Next up was a great presentation of an uni cream with a clamshell that was actually eel and some other sea related accoutrements. This dish was ok, but the uni cream could have been slightly stronger and it needed something with a little bit of acid to really tie it together.
Next up was one of my favorite dishes of a crunchy wonton bottom with tuna belly on top. Very flavorful and tasty.
Next up was almost a soup course of a nicely soft-poached egg yolk with the jowls of hake.
What helped elevate the dish was freshly grated black truffle.
I really enjoyed this dish, but then again it's like hacking just serving someone an egg yolk, hard to go wrong.
Next up was a tasty rice dish, almost paella style (but not as good as Escriba's paella), with a friend artichoke and pieces of duck gizzards. The duck didn't do much in my opinion for the dish.
Next up was sea bass with eggplant puree underneath. Nice piece of sea bass, but also forgettable.
We then had a fisherman's stew that was very flavorful and reminiscent of Manresa's tide pool dish. This was a strong dish for those who like deep sea flavors.
The final savory course was a nice piece of roasted suckling pig. The sauce helped pull it together.
Next up were several cheeses that were quite nice, albeit I could only try a small bit of each.
And finally to the first dessert which was mango dollops on top of a vanilla type of cookie. The ice cream was rice flavored and the whole dish pulled together nicely.
Then an experimental new dessert, it was a play on a sandwich, but was made of a meringue bottom, peanut butter custard "crust", strawberry piece and matcha foam. This was very creative and pretty good, but lacked something to really tie it together into the magical "wow".
The final mignairdes were tasty and came with a small custard.
Overall our meal at Xerta was ok, but nothing special. In fact there were several areas that just weren't that great. I would not recommend making a trip here until they mature some more, especially with all the other great restaurants in the city.
Trip links:
- Budapest
- Onyx
- Zurich
- Lucerne
- Bern
- Dux
- Escriba
- Xerta
- Lasarte
- A.O.C.
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