Firstly, I will make a disclaimer. This restaurant is not my usual style of establishment, or a meal in my usual price range. I know, part of my motto is that that food does not have to be expensive or Michelin star in order to be good. However, the following meal is pretty much both of these things.
To be fair, this restaurant didn’t have a Michelin Star when I ate there a few weeks ago. Just the other day it was awarded it’s first Michelin Star. And rightly so. But you know what they say – everything in life is good in moderation, and sometimes there are meals that are more than just a meal. They are an experience.
And Pakta definitely one of those places you go, not just for the amazing food, but also for the experience.
With 33 courses to take in and analyse, I really should have begun writing this post straight after the meal.
I should have been taking painstaking notes as I was going, bite by bite, course by course, noting down every flavour, every deconstructed technique and every extraordinary pairing. But I didn’t. Yes, I thought about it doing so. But chose not to for two reasons.
Given that this meal was quite an expensive occasion for me, obviously there was a reason behind it. C and I ate at Pakta in celebration of his recent birthday so, out of respect for him, I didn’t want to be scribbling and taking notes during the meal. Even taking photos was a stretch, but with the immaculate presentation and creativeness involved in the dishes, even C, the hater of photos at the dinner table, couldn’t argue on this one.
Secondly, experiences that you have when travelling are there to be enjoyed.
The moment is to be savoured, and I don’t just mean the taste. I mean the atmosphere, the conversation, and unexpected happenings.
Sometimes these moments can be of the “blink and you will miss it” variety. Much along the same lines as a recent post by Audrey from That Backpacker, I’m telling you that sometimes one needs to step back, seize the moment, and enjoy. One needs to forget about being a travel (or travel and food) blogger for a moment, and not forget the real reason why one is there. To experience.
And truth be told, I didn’t start working on this post immediately after the meal because I was lost of words.
I know what you are thinking, me, lost for words? True, it doesn’t happen that often. But every now and then something, usually some kind of experience, does something to me that creates this strange, wordless effect. And the meal at Pakta was one of those occasions. Where exactly does one start to talk about 33 bite sized dishes of awesomeness?
I actually never came up with an answer to that question, so I am going to do the obvious. I am going to go through every course, one by one, and let the pictures do most of the talking. So if you hate photos of food, I suggest you look away now. The onslaught of Pakta is about to begin.
About Pakta
Before I get too carried away with photos, let me just explain a little bit about Pakta to you. This restaurant is run by Albert and Ferran Adrià, of the late elBulli fame, and is one of their experiential restaurants in Barcelona. The brothers were fascinated by the Nikkei cuisine, a term which was originally used to describe any Japanese food made outside of Japan, and therefore using foreign ingredients, but is now commonly accepted to label a blend of Japanese and Peruvian elements. They teamed up with two young and budding chefs from Japan and Peru, and so Pakta was born.
But why Japan and Peru?
Well, Peru was the first South American country to allow Japanese immigrants to enter in 1899, but despite the relative minority status of the Japanese (at around 90,000 people), they have been the most influential ethnic group, contributing to decisions about politics, business, culture, and most importantly, food. The Japanese immigrants and their ancestors were, and continue to be, refered to as Nikkei. I think we are all beginning to get the idea where I’m going with this. Enter the Nikkei cuisine.
Nikkei Cuisine
Really, it was out of necessity that this cuisine was born. The Japanese immigrants would add a Japanese touch or technique to an existing Peruvian dish. Then, decades later, when Japanese businessmen began travelling to Peru and seeking out Japanese cuisine during their stay, Japanese dishes began to be created with the local Peruvian ingredients – that’s all that was available.
Aside from the two cultures love of rice, Peru’s fresh Amazonian fish and spicy kick blend seamlessly with Japan’s love of raw seafood, and delicate sauces and flavours. Today, this blend is being cooked intentionally, rather than out of necessity. It’s now become a part of every day diet in Peru without having been given a label. Perhaps Peruvians are eating in this style without realising they are eating a particular cuisine, and especially not one that has become the latest gastronomic sensation in European restaurants.
How Pakta Works
Pakta offers a choice of two tasting menus, the shorter 25 course Fujiyama menu at €95, and the longer Machu Picchu menu at €125. The set menus are in place because they believe that the only way for a guest to properly experience the cuisine is to be guided through all of its elements. This is actually a personal belief I have for dining in any Michelin star or fine dining restaurant, so I was happy to settle for the larger Machu Picchu menu and really make a night of it.
I notified Pakta in advance of my dietary requirements (gluten free and pescatarian) and not only were they more than happy to accommodate, they did a damn fine job at doing so. At no time did I feel that I had been served an inferior course, and there were two courses in particular where C was staring at my plate with green eyed food envy.
Pakta was the first restaurant in Barcelona to serve Nikkei cuisine, and given that Barcelona is a city itself that is influenced by immigrants and cultures from around the world, it seemed only fitting that Pakta was where I dived head first into this gastronomic combination that has got the culinary circles talking.
The first courses: Hobzen Ryori
The first six courses were served on a wooden platter. This is a basic principle of Japanese cuisine called Hobzen Ryori, where the selected dishes are served arranged on a tray. Pakta emulates this in a pint sized version, served the bite sized courses on a wooden platter. And it works.
The softly spoken Peruvian waitress carefully explained the dishes, as she pointed what can only be described as an oversized chopstick – wrapped in bright Peruvian thread, another nod to the seamless blend of cuisines and styles inside Pakta – around the platter, in unison with the description of each object. We were to start with the pistachio and move clockwise around the platter, some dishes were to be eaten with the teaspoon and others with the small wooden spoon. Some were even to be eaten by hand.
We started with the tender pistachio, moved onto the avocado tofu with sea urchins, and then the sunomomo (salad) with sea crab. Then, the smoked mackerel with mashed satoimo and miso, the corn tuple – basically a corn chip with corn kernels on top which I was pleased to hear could just be picked up and popped in the mouth, and finishing off with the Daikon with “ají Amarillo” – white radish with chilli pepper. That was six courses under my belt, only another 27 to go.
Oyster with black chanterelle mushroom
On top of the oysters the waitress poured a small amount of mushroom broth from a small jug, with instructions to drink the rest of the jug after the oysters had been eaten. A strange concept, but I obliged. And enjoyed. I love oysters (and mushrooms don’t fare too badly either, especially exotic varieties) so after eating this I was sure that I had already tried the best thing I was going to try that night.
Yuba with white truffle
Yuba is tofu skin, an ingredient that (at least, to the best of my knowledge) was new to me that night. But this dish followed tough competition. The dishes come out so fast – in fact, SO fast that I even needed to schedule bathroom breaks with the waiting staff – meaning there was no time to decompress between courses.
So perhaps eating this dish immediately after the oysters, meant this dish didn’t get a fair chance in my eyes. It’s not that I didn’t like it, but the general feeling of being overwhelmed by the experience so far, coupled with being on such a high after the oysters, meant that I didn’t enjoy this as course as much as I could have.
Crisp yuca with huancaína sauce
This course was basically little delicate puffs of yuca filled with huancíana, a spicy cheese sauce, that oozed out with every bite. Interesting. And good.
Nikkei prawn
This course was actually one course served in two parts. First, we were served the tempura prawn head – or the gluten free friendly ricotta tempura for me – on a bed of smoked pine.. I have never really eaten a prawn head whole before, but I was in this for the experience so I picked up the head, closed my eyes, and dug my teeth right through it’s brains. And I loved it.
Flavoursome, tasty, and surprisingly unfazing, it put eating prawn heads in a whole new light for me. Then, it was followed up immediately with the body of the prawn – much lighter, fresher, and on a bed of rocoto – a popular Peruvian hot pepper sauce.
The Nigiris
Next up was the nigiris. I had read reviews of Pakta before coming to the restaurant, and some reviews said that it was “just a million courses of sushi”. Obviously I ignored the haters and decided to find out for myself, but this really was the only course that was sushi-esque. People just love to be haters, don’t they.
We ate, in order of appearance, Sea Bream nigiri with red miso and “ají panda”, Bonito nigiri with ponzu, and Zuke Tuna nigiri. I have eaten nigiris before but, as cliché as it sounds, these really were the best Nigiris I have ever tasted. Especially the middle one – Bonito with ponzu, a Japanese citrus based sauce.
Sea Bass ceviche with guanábana in ” leche de tigre”
I got over the fact that the amazing nigiris were finished so quickly. All it took was the Sea Bass ceviche with guanábana (AKA soursop – a tropical fruit native to Central and South America). The sea bass and guanábana were served in the “leche de tigre” which is the marinade where the ceviche has been “cooked”. This fresh and zesty concoction is made of lime juice, onion, chilli and seasonings with an unmistakable fishy flavour.
The Causas
In traditional terms, a causa is a mashed potato terrine, layered with fish or chicken, and garnished with olives or avocado. But of course, Pakta has downsized the causas to bite sized beauties, and topped them with their own creative inventions. We had baby cuttlefish causa with oyster sauce and lime with mentaiko (marinated fish roe) and fried causa with chicken and huacatay (or the pescatarian friendly version with tuna for me).
At this point I need to apologise for my lack of photographic skills, because not one photograph of the causas turned out properly. Instead, I had to go for the artistic route – not bad if I do say so myself.
Grilled octopus “sanguchito” followed by Suckling pig gyoza
A sandwich isn’t something that one would typically see on a menu in an almost-Michelin-star restaurant, but when it comes creatively done (grilled octopus? Yes please!) and in Pakta’s typical bite sized fashion, it works.
Unfortunately, I didn’t eat this one. At the same time I got served a gluten free friendly tuna tartare. Tuna tartare is one of my favourite things in the world, I will eat at a restaurant based on the fact that they have tuna tartare on the menu. But no tuna tartare I have ever eaten topped the one that I ate at Pakta. Although C reported back good things about his grilled octopus sanguchito, he definitely had food envy over my tuna tartare.
Only moments after the grilled octopus sanguchio/tuna tartare course, we were served our next one. For C, that was the gyoza with suckling pig, but for me, I was served the pescatarian and gluten free friendly crispy nori chips.
There was a reason the waitress served these courses at the same time. Piling the tuna tartare on top of the crispy nori chips was the perfect way for me to eat these two courses.
Rib eye steak tataki with “lomo saltado” ponzu sauce
Tartare and tataki, my two favourite things. Although, this time the takaki was rib eye steak – thin slices of steak very lightly seared. Although this dish was for C, I tried some and actually liked it.
However, I was served a pescatarian friendly grilled tuna nigiri. I wasn’t sad to see another nigiri on my plate after the three delightful nigiris I had finished just minutes earlier. I loved them.
Nikkei soba tsuyu
Soba, stringy buckwheat noodles served with “tsuyu” dipping sauce were next on the menu for C.
For me, I actually enjoyed everything I ate at Pakta and nothing was “bad”, but the gluten free friendly version I was served this round I can’t exactly recall. It was good enough, and I remember enjoying it.
Amazonian ceviche
This time the ceviche was not only made with Amazonian fish, but Amazonian banana too. Upon the waitress’ advice, we poured the roasted peanuts inside the ceviche and ate it all together. The three different textures and flavours made for quite an interesting dish that didn’t compare to anything else we ate the entire evening. It was definitely unique.
Grilled chicken “Anticucho”
These were like fancy BBQ kebabs. The flavour of the smokey coals, mixed with the pepper dipping sauce, made for a course that had a little bit of novelty value attached – the mini BBQ was basically served on the table!
C had the chicken as per the menu, and I was given a pescatarian version with tuna. At least, they told me it was tuna but I was sure it tasted like another type of fish. Whatever. Who am I to complain? It was good!
Gindara “añejo”
Somewhere earlier in the meal I was reminiscing about the time I ate black cod at Nobu in London. To this day it was one of the best things i had ever eaten. And like clockwork ,Pakta served up the goods. Gindara, or black cod.
The gindara was cooked in a sauce of carob, white miso and pisco, with a side of peppered potato mash. Stiff competition, Nobu, stiff competition. As if Pakta can get any better than this!
Furofuki daikon with foie cream
Daikon, the Japanaese radish, made an appearance on the menu again, this time as Furofuki, a popular Japanese vegetarian dish made by boiling the Daikon with kelp and miso.
The Peruvian element in this is the heavier foie cream. I was served a veggie friendly version without the cream, but C wasn’t particularly impressed by foie cream anyway. He thought perhaps it worked better without it – and I agreed. I was happy with my plate.
Desserts Honzen Ryori
Just as we started the meal with the Honzen Ryori, the desserts also started with the Honzen Ryori. We began with the Mandarin with pisco and green tea (wow!), followed by Momokochan, Wild strawberries and cream mochi, Fermented fig, and finished with the Soy sauce flan.
All of the courses were tasty and had their place on the dessert version of the Honzen Ryori, but even as a non-sweet tooth I really loved the Wild Strawberries and cream mochi. Mochi is a Japanese cake made from short grain rice. It was soft and squishy and the strawberries and cream gave it the flavour of a marshmallow, but less artificial. It was the best sweet thing I had eaten in a long time.
Steamed cake with ginger cream
This was the only course I didn’t take a photo of. I didn’t actually have the steamed cake (gluten alert!) but was served a much more appealing home made raspberry sorbet. In fact, as soon as the sorbet was placed down, I started digging in.
“Wait, you didn’t take a photo!” said C.
“Oh well, I can’t take a photo of every single one of the 33 courses.” I responded.
And that was that. Sorbet finished. Smile on my face. Next course!
And to finish: Pakta Sweets
We were served a lovely herbal tea and then some token sweets – Wild quinoa, Chocolate rocks and a Green tea bonbon with yuzu. The chocolate rocks and quinoa were served in a little vase as if they were a plant, and garnished with a Physalis – a little bit of fruit is always necessary. Then, the green tea bonbon was packed up in a little Pakta box, and made the perfect finishing touch to a mind boggling meal.
So, the onslaught of Pakta is complete.
At the end of the meal C and I both agreed the Nikkei prawn was possibly our favourite. But each course was not only perfectly presented, but different and well balanced. So it was hard to choose a favourite, as each course had their place in the tasting menu.
As well as the Nikkei prawn, I loved the tuna tartare, all the nigiris, the gindara (black cod) and the Amazonian ceviche. Oh, and of course, the Wild strawberries and cream mochi for dessert. C and I finished out meal in agreement that for a totally different experience in Barcelona, Pakta is the place to go.
I hope you didn’t mind so many “food” photos. What did you think? have you eaten Nikkei cuisine before? Perhaps you have been to Pakta?Would you like to go? Tell me all about it below.
northierthanthou says
Eating that meal would be an accomplishment. Wow! the grilled chicken, er tuna, does look particularly delicious.
Cyra says
That one was really good! The presentation of it was great too, just so cute, which always helps. 🙂