Enigma or the end of the 'restaurant' as we know it
Enigma . A space of seven hundred square meters (work of RCR Architects ) absolutely opaque to foreign eyes ; without a menu on the door, advertising claims or more bell than a keyboard (yes, a keyboard) where to insert the code with which each diner arrives, under the arm — What is all this theater about?
Enigma is the icing on the cake elBarri (after which they walk Albert and Ferran Adria and the brothers churches ) in the Parallel but also a puzzle of pieces whose final gear we only intuit. “The restaurant that Willy Wonka would have designed”, they write from Eater ; “the clandestine dinner with fifty bites” ( Jose Carlos Capell ) or "The spirit of elBulli in 2017" states the Albert . The just nonsense; and ahead, all the expectations of the planet about the team of almost thirty people (for twenty-four diners) whose trenches lead the chef Oliver Peña, the sommelier Cristina Losada and the barman Marc Álvarez.
“An enigma for me, for my team and for my clients”
THE GASTRONOMY
The first, in the front: the revolution will not be gastronomic . That because? because it was already . The revolution on the table has already happened; happened in that Cala Montjoi over the last twenty years and this Enigma only confirms what we already sensed: the present of gastronomy is about product . That (apparently absurd) comparison that Ferran already slipped is not misguided: Enigma is the fusion of elBulli plus Etxebarri. There is nothing.
THE TRANSGRESSION
Ryokan, velo, planxa, lyokumquat, nigiris, kumquat or artichokes. Seven stations (in seven different scenarios) with dishes that reproduce the kitchens of Japan, Korea, Brazil and Spain . The first thing (and almost the only thing) that Cristina Losada demands from the diner is not to reveal anything that is served on the table: and I will do that. I only allow myself a note, which I leave in the hands of my admired Philippe Regol : “it is not a restaurant brilliance social, fashion-trendy for snobs. It is for people who enjoy gastronomy madly”. And so it is, Adrià also believes (like Dieter Rams) that design must be invisible; and any more or less avant-garde technique really has only one purpose — gastronomic pleasure.
enigma are you
EXPERIENCE AND HELPLESSNESS
Years of planning and more than three million (3.2 according to _ Food and Wine Gazette _ ), twenty-four diners who move through the maze (Inside the labyrinth) and that, surprisingly, they will never cross —partly because they are divided between the seven stations and partly because of the staggered arrival, my dinner started at 7pm. The result of this game is a fascinating feeling of loneliness; always wrapped in silence (and in a disturbing soundtrack that starts with 'My heart's in the Highlands' by Arvo Part for The Great Beauty ) and at most, surrounded by two or three people in the same room. It's disturbing and fascinating and I like what it suggests: only experience matters, and experience is always individual.
POLITICS BEFORE SOCIAL NETWORKS
Enough spoilers in the gastronomic They don't say it, I say this. In Enigma they are more subtle: “The publication of photographs is not allowed” . Spot. I know that the warning will not last and that it is already easy to find each of the dishes on the net: my advice is that they remain virgin before the visit.
Designed by RCR Architects
HERE AND NOW
“Peace comes from within. Don't look for her outside." it's a Buddhist topic but I can't think of a better way to express what happens in Enigma: I think it's the first time in the last decade (and look, I visit restaurants) that I see something like that —I didn't see any cell phone . Beyond the prohibitions (they do make it clear that you can take all the photographs you want “for your personal and private use”), the format invites you to be “what you are in”. I didn't see any cell phones on any table: and that's wonderful.
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