Pakta is owned by El Bulli’s celebrity chef Ferran Adria and his brother Albert Adria, located near the Plaça Espana section in Barcelona. It was opened almost two years ago and offered Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine. It was my 1st stop of fine dining in the Catalonian region in this trip. Pakta occupied a small space allowing mid-20 guests, some by the counter and some at the tables. I ordered a Machu-Picchu (large) menu, comprised mostly local seafood.
Honzen Ryori
1 -1) Tuna Toro with spicy gel; 2) Baby scallop with chalaca (tomato & chive) sauce; 3) Avocado tofu with yuzu, wasabi and dashi sauce; 4) Corn Tuile (choco corn chip); 5)Pea salad with chopped cora (Peruvian potato) and olluco (kimchee) sauce.
2 – Gomadofu: Tofu made of sesame and Japanese corn starch, served with wasabi, black sesame, dashi, kumbu seed weeds.
3 – Uni, black truffle with panzu and truffle sauce.
4 – Crispy yucca (corn puff) with huancaina sauce.
5 – Chilcano - Peruvian fish soup with fried tofu coated with yucca flour.
6 – Mixed tiradito with “aji Amarillo”, including leche de tigre, squid, clam, barnacle in citric sauce and spice.
7 – 1) Tuna nigiri with fresh wasabi; 2) Anchovy nigiri with smoked “aji Amarillo”; 3) Salmon nigiri with aburi (garlic and lemon sauce).
8 - Nikkei Shimesaba: Mackerel marinated with citric and vinegar, served in sauce made of Peruvian chili, daikon and tomato.
9 - Sea bass ceviche with kumquat “leche de tigre” and fried sweet potato.
10 - 1)Crab maki causa with avocado and umeboshe mayonnaise; 2)Fried causa chicken (coated with Japanese flour) and huacatay.
11 - Fish “Sanguchito” with Nikkei “acevichada”mayonnaise, corn, onion and tomato.
12 – 1) Mushroom tempura with Peruvian porcon fungus and potato foam in Mexican moly bean and ginger sauce; 2) Suckling pig gyoza with jelly inside.
To Finish
13 – Warm ceviche with “rocoto” orange color pepper.
14 – Grilled chicken “Anticucho”, Spanish potato in Peruvian sauce.
15 – Fried rockfish with “escabèche” sauce. Red mullet was coated in Japanese panku and deep fried. Broccoli, onion and bah choy were on the side. Escabeche sauce was made of vinegar, sage and black pepper.
16 - Duck liver “nigiri” with smoked pepper sauce.
Desserts Honzen Ryori
17 - 1) Sweet potato “picarones” (petit donut) with cinnamon honey; 2) Banana bonbon with umeshu gel; 3) Coconut pearl; 4) Black sesame and yogurt tree. Black sesame cookie was inserted into a slit on a Pakta tree trunk. This is where the restaurant got its name from.
19 – Cocoa cone with lucuma ice cream and coffee. Lucuma is a Peruvian fruit looks and tastes almost like peach. Ice cream did have its flavor in addition to the cocoa flavor.
20 – Chicha candy. Chicha is a sweet Peruvian drink tastes almost like hibiscus.
21 – White chocolate, tea with sakura and chocolate rocks. The white chocolate piece was painted with some Peruvian faces in multi-color.
Pakta was a cozy place, with friendly servers who tried their best efforts to explain to you in Catalan-English. However, their food offered sophisticated and balanced taste, appealing presentation and creativity. My favorite were – Uni, black truffle with panzu and truffle sauce, and Tuna, Anchovy (Ordinarily, I am not a fan of anchovy) and Salmon nigiri with aburi sauce.
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