Âme, Barcelona (Michelin recommendation)

Upon request from this sub, I‘m happily reporting back from our dinner at Âme tonight. This intimate little restaurant (~20 seats) opened early this year, and already has a Michelin recommendation.

It was our third dinner there, and there are many reasons why we keep coming back. One of the things that impressed us the most is the sequence of flavours throughout the menu. Creating one perfect dish, or 10 or 20 perfect dishes, that is something many chefs achieve over the years of practice. But creating a dozen dishes that really work beautifully together in a tasting menu, each dish complementing the one before and the one after, in a menu that makes perfect sense from the first to the last dish, well, in our opinion, Âme does this exceptionally well. We ate at restaurants with one or more Michelin stars that were nowhere near that level, regarding the progression of flavours throughout the courses.

Something else that struck us is the mood and spirit in the kitchen. Pachi, the chef, told us once that he wants to have fun at work, and cook in a peaceful environment, and this is exactly the atmosphere that radiates from the kitchen. The chef, his business partner Joey and the two other guys working in the kitchen, form a perfectly harmonic team, serving the most amazing food. Just imagine dishes straight from "The Bear", but with Ted Lasso as chef de cuisine. And noRoy Kent (as much as I loved the character).

Now, for the food. Âme‘s cuisine makes use of local Mediterranean products, mostly seafood, leaning towards French cuisine, with some Japanese influence.

The tasting menu starts with a wonderful triptych of a mushroom consommé (which has recently replaced the mushroom flan), a pil-pil of red prawns and an amazing bluefin tartar. It‘s a powerful and very tasty start, but leaving room for a lot of progression.

Next comes Maitake, a mushroom which grows on chestnut trees, grilled so it has crispy edges, and served on a cream of foie and cashews. Amazingly earthy taste, yet so refined.

Following are scallops on a beurre noisette, with a citric mollusc foam. Also a strong dish.

After that, Hamachi (briefly cured), on a sauce vierge with Yuzu. Between this dish and the next, I‘m having a hard time thinking of a better fish course I‘ve eaten in many many years.

The menu goes on with trout on a beurre blanc with trout roe, with herbs and fig oil. A fantastic fish course.

The meat course is Iberian pork "pluma", a very precious part of a muscle that gained the name "secreto", because butchers were keen on keeping that part for themselves, the meat is so precious and tasty.

After this, you may (and must, if available!) choose to add the rice dish with red prawns, which is extremely flavourful.

Afterwards, the chefs serve a wonderful little cheese platter. The (not that) secret stars of this dish are the foie with kombu and a homemade bone marrow butter which I can only describe as highly addictive.

Finally it is time for the first dessert: a strawberry sorbet with champagne foam, a perfect palate cleanser, and a very nice pre-dessert.

And last, a pudding made of dates, salted caramel butter and tonka beans. I‘m always happy to decline if anyone offers me dates. They are really not my thing. But this dessert takes the best of them, and turns it into a wonderful little cake, with a hint of dates.

If you made it to the end of my enthusiastic (and probably rather lengthy) review, you will understand why I strongly recommend Âme to every visitor or resident of Barcelona who is into fine dining. Such a quality, such a personal experience, with a chef who is very happy to come to the table and discuss the dishes with you, and all this for a (as of yet) ridiculously low price. It‘s hard to find a match for this, even in Barcelona.