Dining at the #1 RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD (In Depth Review) – Disfrutar 2024

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024 list has been announced.
This year, the Spanish restaurant Disfrutar has taken the first place.
The chefs of this restaurant, Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro, and Mateu Casañas, previously worked together at the legendary El Bulli restaurant. El Bulli closed its doors permanently in 2011, but they have carried on its legacy.
And today it’s the best restaurant in the world.
So, in this video, I will show you what it’s like to dine at the No. 1 restaurant in the world.

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My name is Alexander. I’m the co-owner of a ONE Michelin star restaurant, and I’m on a mission – to find inspiration in gastronomy. I love fine dining, good wine and sharing what I know with other people.

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In 2011, the five-time Worlds Best Restaurant, El Bulli, closed its doors for good. But three of its chefs decided to carry on the legacy. Using science to create entirely new dishes that have never been seen before. And today it’s the best restaurant in the world. This is Disfrutar. We are here in beautiful Barcelona. Where the sun shines, the sea glistens and the sangria flows. The Barcelona we know today didn’t always look this way. In fact, not long ago, it was a concrete jungle, choked with traffic and a seaside lined with factories. It all changed leading up to 1992. When Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics. It would make history – both for the city and for sports. City officials built a ring road around the city, got rid of the factories from the coast, and put in a beach. 32 years later, we can not imagine Barcelona any other way. In the city center is the district of Eixample. Where we find Europe’s top tourist attractions thanks to Antoni Gaudi as well as today’s restaurant. From the street, Disfrutar looks more like a hip little gallery than Michelin 3-star. But inside is a whole new world. After a warm welcome, we meet Andrea. Who shows us that this place just keeps going and going and going. A quick guide change and we meet head chef Eduard Xatruch. He is actually one of three head chefs here at Disfrutar, along with Oriol Castro and Mateu Casanas. They were colleagues at the groundbreaking El Bulli. A restaurant that operated for 25 years and became a legend in itself. El Bulli head chef Ferran Adrià became an icon and set the stage for other chefs that challenged the cooking supremacy of France. El Bulli changed the face of gastronomy by giving birth to new techniques and creating things with food that had never been seen or heard of before. They were so focused on innovation that the restaurant would be closed up to 6 months per year so Adrià and his team could invent new dishes. . In 2002 when the World’s 50 Best began, El Bulli was named number one. Something it would do again in two thousand six, seven, eight, and nine. This is a winning streak equalled only by Noma. In 2011, chef Adrià announced he would close for good, sending shockwaves through the culinary world. Although El Bulli the restaurant is closed, it lives on through the El Bulli Foundation. A movie called El Bulli Cooking in Progress and the chefs it inspired and developed over the years. Like the three guys here at Disfrutar. They worked together for 16 years at El Bulli. When it closed, they stuck together, calling themselves Castro, Xatruch and Casanas, or CXC. They first opened a casual restaurant in Catalonia called Compartir in 2012. The next year, Disfrutar was born. Where they continue to evolve on El Bulli’s tradition of avant-garde cuisine. Chef Xatruch continues the tour in the wine cellar. When they first opened, they had one hundred and twenty wine selections. Today, there is more than ten times that amount. But notice this is not a fancy place. It goes for function over style. Perhaps it’s because there are no investors pumping millions into this place. They decide where every penny is spent and have full control over their creative vision. Also down here are the catalogues. Each year, around 70 new dishes are created in the research lab. All of the recipes and techniques are documented and recorded. You would think they might want to keep them secret, but they don’t. In fact, they publish everything and make it available to the public. Each dish even has a QR code linked to a video that takes you through each step. You can get them in English or Spanish on the Disfrutar website. This practice of releasing secrets is something they learned at El Bulli, who was the first to do this in 1998. At the table, our drinks are taken care of by sommelier Rodrigo. First, we get to try two water infusions created in the research lab in 2023. One is infused with a South American fruit called lulo and looks like a tomato but tastes like a mix of rhubarb and lime. The other is inspired by coffee and is smoky and aromatic. For wine, there is one pairing for 160 euros, but instead, I talk with Rodrigo to create a little game for myself by ordering three wines right away to drink throughout the meal. I’m in the mood for an older champagne. I see the year 1995 and it looks exciting and at a good price. It’s from producer Andre Beaufort. I like to try older vintages and they are so hard to find. I choose a white Burgundy because it is one of my favorites. I was at a wine tasting a few days before coming here and I tried a Pinot Noir from Caroline Morey. She is the wife of a wine producer I really like named Pierre Yves Colin. I ask Rodrigo and he comes up with a 2021 premier cru. I love discovering wines like this. And since no one knows a wine cellar like its sommelier, I ask Rodrigo to surprise me with a truly serious red wine. He comes back with this: Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva 1968. The grapes used in this wine were grown at 485 meters above sea level and harvested by hand. Here at Disfrutar, they believe that there is no innovation without disobedience. So, this is the menu. No names, no descriptions, just qualities and emotions. Let the adventure begin. First to the table, is this. Looks like a dessert, right? That a smurf threw up on. It’s not. It’s a cocktail. Disfrutar’s version of a pisco sour. Using alcoholic ice foam. Cool presentation, and it’s super refreshing. For our first course, we go back to nature. Here we have 10 sprouts. Each of them holds a different concentrated flavor. It comes with a paper to tell you which is what. The plate is lined with a tomato jelly. Our server Adrian tells us we should start at the bottom and eat the sprouts one by one with spoonfuls of tomato jelly in between. Maybe it was the power of suggestion but I could taste each flavor as listed. They add absolutely nothing to the sprouts. It’s their natural flavour. That’s the beauty of the dish. The qualities and emotions I read on the menu earlier are starting to make sense. This promises to be an exciting journey. So far we have had two dishes in this 25-course Festival tasting menu. It’s a seasonal menu for 290 euros. They have a classic tasting menu for the same price as well as a chef’s table in the research lab. And that’s it. Next, we are presented with different preparations around one ingredient. Almonds. First, a single freeze-dried green almond. And then, this. The concept was born in 2024 and all this was created with green almonds and elderflower. When I tasted this dish, I was blown away! It was mesmerizing and dynamic with its textures and temperature. Our next drink took years to create and was perfected in 2019. It’s a truffle vodka. They need to serve it as cold as possible to keep the alcohol from becoming too strong. It’s elegant and earthy with umami flavors. It’s an iconic Disfrutar dish that has been on the menu for 6 years. It’s called Panchino or Chinese bread in English. Although it looks like a ball of bread, it is so much more. Inside is a surprise. Creme fraiche and caviar. It starts with a batter turned into foam. They put some on a spoon and then creme fraiche and caviar. Then more foam. The whole thing is deep-fried for exactly 20 seconds. Amazing. By the way, if you like what you see and want to see more, consider supporting us by subscribing. It helps us grow so we can level up our game. In the course that follows, we see bread and caviar again. But this time, instead of creme fraiche we have solid bubbles of smoked butter. To do that, they use a smart trick. First, they melt the butter, whip it in a blender until bubbly, then carefully freeze it. The magnifying glass helps us see the incredible texture of the butter. This dish was the winner of a crossover event between Disfrutar and the University School of Design and Art of Barcelona in 2018. It’s creamy and salty and finishes with a crisp. Here at Disfrutar, they don’t only manipulate food, they also do spirits. Using some unusual ingredients. I’ve never heard of anything like this before. I promise this is the last time I will say that because it’s clear the whole menu is going to be this way. This spirit is made with wasabi. It starts at full strength, and with each distillation, they add water. After two weeks, it’s down to 18 percent alcohol. And that’s why it says “The distillate that wanted to be wine.” It has a spicy endnote and fits with our next course. It comes not on a plate but in a box. It’s a piece of coral, and we are told to reach behind the glass and pick it up. But there is nothing there. After we fail, we are told to taste it with our mental palette, using our imagination. Then, the illusion is revealed and we can have a taste. When I actually pick it up, the bottom feels like sand. Although it was a bit of fun, the dish was so powerful I felt the illusion was unnecessary. Now I see this menu has a pattern. They create an expectation in your mind and then shatter it. The dishes keep coming. This… is a salad. In the form of a soup. The ingredients are emulsified. The main one is olive. There is also pickled cucumber, tomato, almond, pistachio, and who knows what else. The next two dishes are based on mushrooms. Looking at this first one, it doesn’t seem mushroomy at all. More like a leaf in a bird’s nest. But when I taste it… It explodes with concentrated umami flavor. It’s made from mushrooms, funghi porcini butter, and rice. I really enjoyed it. The next dish uses this machine. Into the jar, they put alcohol and a lot of mushrooms. After a month of chemical reaction, they have mushroom vinegar. The device simply speeds up the process. Here we have mushroom vinegar and vegetable broth and four mushrooms. two real, two imitation. The fake ones are shaped in mushroom form and filled with mushroom essence, or as they say in France: consommé. We also have a large oyster and an oyster leaf. I guess I don’t have to say, it tasted incredibly UMAMI. Rich, bold, deep flavors. So good. So far this menu is super interesting and each course is amazing and tasty. I don’t see it as the presentation of a self-serving arsenal of technology. It’s a fantastic encounter with deep flavors. So many textures and flavors, so many unique ideas, such creativity. Technically it’s impossible to process all this. It’s a sensory overload. The service is friendly, but I feel the storytelling is a bit over-rehearsed. Next, a deconstructed onion soup. Invented in 2022. It has egg yolk and truffle oil on the top. Underneath is frozen onion bread and comté cheese that has been spherified. This technique uses a thin liquid membrane to create semi-solid spheres. When eaten, it creates a burst effect. I have seen this technique used recently with a hot and cold onion soup. It produces a unique, mouthwatering dish. Our next dish uses a process called nixtamalization. At University, I studied math and programming, not science, so I couldn’t tell you how they do it. It’s made with cream covered with liquid pepper in a reduction made from codfish. The next course looks like a pastry but is something totally different. The base is made from obulato, a type of Japanese rice paper. It’s topped with a reduction of aubergine, a butter infusion of anchovy, and a reduction of red pepper. This course comes with instructions. We should start with the aubergine end first. It’s a masterclass in texture . This is wonderfully airy and creamy. Our next dish is white asparagus with a reduction of cacao and parmesan cheese alongside kimchi granita. It was a bit spicy and very exciting. I really enjoyed this dish as well, especially the kimchi granita. Although Disfrutar releases their recipes, As you can see, these are not something most people could ever make at home. This is a different type of cooking. That takes special equipment and a special type of chef. This is molecular gastronomy, a branch of cooking that puts science in the center. It’s focused on physical and chemical processes in cooking to produce flavorful, artistic dishes. And quickly dominated the conversation in the kitchen. Soon, everyone was jumping on the bandwagon, and by 2004, liquid nitrogen seemed to be standard equipment in professional kitchens all over the world. Things started to simmer in 2006 when three molecular master chefs released a statement to the Guardian newspaper. Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck, Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, and Ferran Adria of El Bulli. Along with food writer Harold McGee. In the piece, the super chefs declare that molecular gastronomy is dead. Explaining how they feel “widely misunderstood” and argue that molecular gastronomy is “overemphasized and sensationalized.” The statement goes on to stress the importance of grounding principles, values, and tradition while at the same time embracing innovation and collaboration. Our next course is "Thai-style baby octopus with a string of pearls made from coconut. Here, they showcase a multi-spherical effect that was first presented at El Bulli in 2003. To make it at home, just grab a few apples, get the juice out, add alginate, and drip the liquid into calcium chloride, one by one. And boom, there you go. You got apple caviar! If you don’t have calcium chloride in your cupboard, you can use any neutral-flavored oil. Our next course is a special Catalonian tradition and lesson in culture. It’s Calcotada. It starts with a legendary onion invented by Spanish farmer Chat de Benaiges at the end of the 19th century. He planted onions but decided to increase the amount of soil above them as they grew. The result was sweeter and more mild than a regular white onion. He called them calcots, and soon, everyone was growing them. In Eastern Spain in the town of Valls, the farmer’s hometown, there is a festival every year. Forty thousand people come to celebrate the onion. At this event, calcots are cooked over open fires. Then wrapped in newspaper to rest and finish cooking. When ready, the now-blackened outer layer is stripped away. Before eating, each bite is dipped into romesco sauce. This small newspaper is a throwback to the past. It also tells the story and gives us the full recipe. As the old saying goes, we fear what we do not know. And this course is a perfect metaphor. It’s called Fear! We are told to put our hands into the unknown and pull out the next bite. Let’s see what we find. Oops. Not the droid we’re looking for. And then, here we go. A perfect, humble prawn. This menu goes from complex to basic in the blink of an eye. Golden goose eggs were the inspiration for the next dish. It’s a hard-fried egg white topped with an “egg yolk”. But it’s not egg yolk at all. That is actually a spherized spicy prawn consommé. Normally, the membrane would be transparent, but in the lab, they were able to turn it gold. The spices, ginger, and peanuts give this dish an Asian touch. Adrian is making a drink for our next course. It’s apple cider that needs time to get ready. Before pouring, he smokes our glasses with oak. It tastes a bit like drinking apple cider around the campfire. They’ve been doing this one since 2016 and I know why. It’s good! Believe it or not, this is squab or pigeon, with amasake kombu spaghetti, almond, and grape. At this point, I’ve had as much culinary magic as I can handle, and I’m experiencing sensory overload. If you’ve ever done a tour of the Vatican, you know what I mean. It’s huge, and every inch is full of beauty, history, and marvelous art. So much, that by the end, you can’t take it anymore and stop looking. In this moment, I am the same way. I can’t take in any more. For the first time today, I wasn’t impressed by the flavors. The flavor of the pigeon was a bit like liver. Desserts are next. And molecular cooking is on full display. We start with a crispy nitro parmesan cookie. A few ingredients here are lemon skin, walnuts, and parmesan cheese. Before we continue, we have a dramatic way to clean our hands. There is no smoke or mirrors here, these are just perfect roses. It becomes clear when the next dessert is a ring. What looks like flowers here is more science that combines flavors of fruit. Coming to the end of the menu, we have three inventions on one plate, all created in 2023. Nixtamalized pumpkin oil coulant, coconut, and curry puffed waffle, and freeze-dried “Merengada” with confitted chicken. To put a pin in things we have the petit fours. When it’s time to settle the bill, they only allow me to pay for the wines. Now that I’ve had some time to process my experience at Disfrutar, I’ve come to a few conclusions. First, this restaurant is a technology-based flavor parade. The tastes are fantastic, and the technology is ingenious. The menu showcases the brilliant minds of three genius chefs and their thoughts on gastronomy. Everything has a twist and nothing is what it seems. Here, they respect the ingredients in a different way. I really liked all the different textures, temperatures, and techniques. Despite all the trickery, the flavors remained fantastic. But at a certain point, it became too much for me. I was overwhelmed by the incredible number of things they presented. Is this the best restaurant for me? No. Is this one of the most innovative kitchens? Probably yes. In my world, the kitchen is an important part. Although it’s complemented by the people, the interior, the wines, the atmosphere, and more. Here, the focus goes straight to the food. The magic that happens at the table is nothing compared to what the guys do in the kitchen. I hope they continue to push the boundaries of gastronomy for a long time and provide unforgettable moments for their guests. and that does it for this episode. Thank you for joining me! If you like this video, hit subscribe. See you next time.