Lasarte is the Barcelona outpost of the Basque chef Martín Berasategui, and the kitchen is run by Paolo Casagrande. The restaurant is spaciously laid out, and the tiles on the walls replicate the Gaudi tiles on the Paseo de Gracia – a nice touch.
We were impressed by the ingenuity of the menu, and for the most part dishes were very well judged and delivered, both in terms of presentation, quality of ingredients and presentation.
Of particular note was the home egg dish, which was an extraordinary umami tour de force. It is apparently the dish that most diners comment on, and it delivered incredible flavour without technical trickery. Indeed, as with all of our meals this week, the focus is very much on locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. There were less Catalan specialities here, but given that Martín is Basque, that was only to be expected.
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“Snacks”: curried pistachio nuts, melon caipirinha,
grapefruit and olive, ham croquettes and peach with mint and soya
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| Peach gazpacho, with cockles |
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| Eel sandwich |
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| Trout tartare, and tangerine and curd cucumber, and prawn crisp |
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| My oyster-free dish: pulpitos (baby octopus) sautéed with Maresme peas and basil, lobster sparkling juice, coffee, black pepper and curry |
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| Smoked oyster, with a soft cream of figueres, small squid ragout and crispy tubers |
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| Vegetable leaf salad, herbs, sprouts and petals, avocado, with lettuce cream |
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| Tempered beef steak on a foie gras curd, lobster slice, and mustard ice-cream |
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| Red prawn, royal of sea urchin, caviar of goat’s burned milk and almond |
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| Home yolk with toasted butter, black truffle toast, cauliflower, crunch black garlic and pimento d’Espelette |
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| Roast pigeon, ragout of pork, tomato and lemon with apple cream, and ‘interiors’ toast |
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| Low temperature gilt head, sliced octopus, onions, paprika marmalade, braised endive, barnacles tarama and black olives |
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| Pressed apple juice, with meringue |
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| Hazelnut cake, beetroot, yoghurt ice-cream and cereal broth |
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| French toast with frozen coffee cream and plum compote |
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| Petit fours and pineapple juice |
Restaurante Lasarte – Martín Berasategui
Carrer de Mallorca, 259,
08008 Barcelona, Spain
Phone: +34 934 45 32 42