HALF-BREWED!

Enoteca Paco Perez is one of the two-star Michelin restaurants in Barcelona. It is the restaurant of Hotel Arts Barcelona which is located by the marina. Enoteca Paco Perez received its first Michelin star in 2010 and the second one in 2013. Catalan Chef Paco Perez has five Michelin starred restaurants in total. We were informed by the staff that this wasn’t actually his main restaurant. Although he wasn’t there when we were dining, Perez tends to visit the restaurant twice or three times a week.

Ambiance

Decoration was quite simple but nice. It was mostly white and classy. There was a ham slicer in the middle of the restaurant, which looked attractive. Overall atmosphere was elegant. The lighting was a bit too dim for me. I had a hard time trying to take the photos of the dishes. Restroom was very clean and located on the outside of the entrance.

Taste

It is important to mention that the dishes were pretentious and may not suit with everyone’s gusto. There were many raw and half-cooked dishes from the sea such as squid, scallops, sea bass, shrimps, sea urchin, and mussels. The staff warns you beforehand that the flavors are really intense.

I think that two of the courses should be excluded from the menu; squab and crepe suzette. Squab was served towards the end of the degustation when we were already very full and ready for the dessert. It was not tasty and broke the harmony of the whole menu since all the other courses were from the sea. Crepe Suzette was also not tasty, I expected to have a much better dessert from a two Michelin star restaurant. Chocolate mille-feuille served after crepe suzette was much more delicious.

The creamy rice with mushrooms, sea urchin and truffle were said to be chef’s special dish. It really had a tremendous flavor and was the star of the menu. Yet, the serving needs to be smaller.

Creativity

Most of the courses weren’t so creative, but most of the dishes looked nice and colorful. I think that some of the courses should be more surprising for an unforgettable experience. It is hard to recall the dishes later since there was no unique experience.

In terms of decoration, I enjoyed the ham slicer in the middle of the dining room.

Service

Service was excellent from the beginning until the end. We were welcomed at the entrance by the staff and they immediately introduced themselves. The staff accompanied us even while going to the restrooms. They were very kind and helpful.

Website is very informative and well-designed. You can find the detailed degustation menu on the website. In order to see the pricing, you need to click on booking online. However, the restaurant doesn’t have an Instagram account.

It’s easy to make an online reservation from the website.  They send you an e-mail later and asking you to fill the confirmation form which includes your credit card information in case of a later cancellation or no show.

You receive your personally printed degustation menu as a souvenir.

Value

One of the staff has recommended us a great wine, which we later became fond of. It was an incredible 2013 Milmanda from Videnos Familia Torres. There was a sommelier in the restaurant, however, he was not the one to inform us. Although the staff was informative, I would rather talk to the sommelier for further questions about the wine.

Pricing was reasonable considering the large seafood composition of the degustation menu. Price per dish was EUR 13 approximately, and the degustation menu was EUR 170 per person. If you would like to have the wine-pairing menu, it was EUR 95 per person.

We have been charged for the teas we have ordered after the degustation menu. I think the tea/coffee needs to be the restaurants’ treat with the degustation menu, to be served with the petit fours.