The Enjoy restaurant in Barcelona, ​​chosen as the best in the world in 2024 | Gastronomy: recipes, restaurants and drinks

After nine years, Spain once again holds the title of best restaurant in the world. The Barcelona-based Diseño has achieved first position in The World’s Best 50 Restaurants list, published this Thursday, and places Barcelona on the world map of gastronomy. The predictions came true and the restaurant, which was number two in the ranking, has risen to first place. Its chefs and owners, Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro and Eduard They take over from the Peruvian Central, the restaurant of Virgilio Martínez and Pía León, which last year received this title in Valencia.

Among the top ten restaurants are, in this 22nd edition, two Spanish ones: the Etxebarri steakhouse, in Axpe (Vizcaya), which rises from fourth place to second, and DiverXO, in Madrid, which last year occupied third position in this classification and this year it remains in fourth. One of the most notable climbs is that of Quique Dacosta, in Dènia, who rises to 14th place from 20th. On the other hand, Elkano, in Getaria (Vizcaya) falls from 22nd to 28th. In addition to the Spanish restaurants, the Parisian Table by Bruno Verjus stands out in third place and the Lima-based Maido, the best in South America, stands out in fifth place.

“We weren’t expecting it,” Castro managed to say, visibly moved and almost able to articulate a word, as soon as he took the stand. A little more explicit was Xatruch, who dedicated the award “to all the people who dedicate themselves to this profession in our land”, but above all to the team at Mejorar. “Without him we are nothing, we owe everything to them.” He also wanted to remember the families for their support and suffering: “Everything that we haven’t been home has been worth it,” he said, on the verge of tears. Finally, Casañas took the microphone, his voice broken with emotion: “10 years ago, no one could have imagined that this would come here. We have dreamed a lot. It is a job that requires hours and more hours, with which we can make many people happy.”

Worldwide recognition comes to Diseño when it has not yet reached its first decade – it will do so in the month of December – but it comes to crown a few months full of satisfaction for this trio of chefs – last year they received the National Gastronomy Award and They got their third Michelin star. They met when they worked at elBulli and therefore know what it is like to work in the best restaurant in the world, where they learned not to celebrate anything. “We celebrate little, but that does not mean that we are not excited,” admits Oriol Castro, when asked about the subject. Once the legendary Cala Montjoi restaurant closed in July 2011, they decided to stay together professionally. In 2012 they opened Compartir, in Cadaqués (Girona), two years later they opened Fácil, and in 2022 they opened Share, in Barcelona.

Located in the Eixample neighborhood, in front of the Ninot Market, the aesthetics of Mejorar wink at the Mediterranean heritage and Barcelona: thus, for example, the access area is inspired by the forgings of the neighboring market and the colors (red, orange, yellow and black) of Mironian ceramics. Decorated and naked ceramics. The central hallway, made of ceramic with the colors and texture of clay, crosses the kitchen that is completely visible to the client and leads to the main dining room, which is inspired by small fishing villages, such as Cadaqués, where they began your solo gastronomic adventure. A place where avant-garde cuisine is offered that looks to tradition, designed solely and exclusively, as its name says, to enjoy. That is the objective they have always pursued, and for which they work tirelessly.

The gastronomic proposal revolves around the tasting menu: Enjoy Classic, designed and composed of creations that have become classics of the restaurant, such as panchino stuffed with caviar and sour cream, millefeuille stuffed with Idiazábal cheese, noodles of espadrilles in suquet, or a tomato powder and caviaroli of arbequina; and Enjoy Festival, with creations created in the current season, and whose price in both cases is 290 euros (this figure will be valid until August 3 of this year, when reservations are opened for the following year).

On the ground floor, where they have the R&D kitchen, they have a surprise: The Living Table, conceived in collaboration with the chefs by the interior designer Merche Alcalà, on which they offer a special menu Table M#01. The experience is designed for a maximum of six people, and they accept reservations for a single diner, who must pay 1,050 euros. For two people the price per diner is 540 euros, for three, 440 euros, for four, 415 euros, and for five or six, 390 euros. Drinks are not included in these rates, but you can opt for a wine and drink pairing for 160 euros.

The three began in the world of gastronomy under the influence of their families. Eduard in the profession in restaurants on the Costa Dorada.

Mateu Casañas grew up surrounded by the cookbooks that his parents treasured, who ended up having a bar-restaurant, Si Us Plau, where he worked, in Roses (Girona), the town where he was born in 1977. To Oriol Castro (Barcelona, 1974) he was attracted to fishing and his mother’s stews. He studied at the Joviat School in Manresa, where he won a prize that would consist of spending three days at elBulli. He was captivated and managed to enter an internship in 1996. A year later he would meet Casañas, who entered on the advice of Ferran Adrià’s partner, Juli Soler, a great friend of his parents. The following year Xatruch arrived in Cala Montjoi. There they coincided. Starting at the bottom, they rose through the ranks until they became head chefs and worked in the creative department, where they spent six months a year developing new dishes, exploring products and learning about other cuisines. They learned to be demanding and have a broad vision of the kitchen. The rest is already part of the history of Spanish gastronomy.

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