Sleeper hit of my Spain trip, while I have seen others suggest Enigma veers too far into experimental or "Mugaritz territory" I found this to be an excellent balance of interesting ingredients, delicious application of a whole lot of individuality and flair when it came to technique and service far beyond the 1 star standard.
Contrasting to the much more highly regarded Disfrutar, the ambience here was leagues more impressive, loved the choice of Steely Dan for the soundtrack and the constant table side preparations were entertaining and well executed with an aesthetic side table setup. The service people were excellent, as were those from the kitchen doing the preparation. Appreciated the "Noma style" welcome where Albert and the chefs greet the guests as they walk in.
There was a very broad range of dishes I'd deem "ok" to mindblowingly delicious, the sea cucumber in the title photo in particular was superb, a variety of foreign contrasting textures, Japanese elements and a comforting chicken based sauce. Loved seeing the giant cucumber at the table after trying the dish.
The peach dessert towards the close of the meal was similarly impressive, I appreciated that despite many of the dishes deliberately veering experimental and focusing on one or two elements, there were times like this where there was a focus on truly exceptional craft of the dish, everything in its right place and the level of thought and precision becomes obvious.
While many have suggested an overabundance of "slimey" textures, broadly I found the sauces to be beautifully executed, proteins/vegetables were wonderfully cooked leaving textural integrity of central ingredients and the majority of the dishes provided a balance of crisp and soft textures. Although I certainly understand where they are coming from, it definitely veers this way well beyond the norm.
Trying to limit alcohol consumption due to the amount of restaurants piling up, we went with the non-alcoholic pairing and at 75 Euros quite frankly they're getting robbed. Loved the variety of drinks, not simply focusing entirely on kombuchas or teas as you see elsewhere, you have a huge amount of thought and effort going into something that at this price is going to easily outperform wine and is less taxing on how you feel the next morning. Really appreciated the effort here.
Were there a couple of marginally above "mid" dishes? Sure, I enjoyed the chickpea tempeh but its easily replaceable, the savory foie flan was interesting and tasty, but again not entirely necessary and again veering maybe slightly too far away from textural contrast.
Overall though this is an extremely reasonably priced restaurant with a star chef, a variety of surprising and delicious food you couldn't get get anywhere else, and a near perfect balance of experimentation and exceptionally executed craft. In my opinion, not as experimental and more refined than many suggest.
The fact that the menu seems to completely change regularly also gives great incentive to go back. Would happily try a new menu once every season if I lived anywhere near the restaurant.
8.7
by jeanlDD
Dining and Cooking