Dos Palillos

Did you know that you can eat raw chicken? Perhaps I should be more specific - Did you know that you can eat raw chicken, AND not get food poisoning? And not only that, it actually tastes quite nice? As a youth growing up in 90's suburban Britain, my parents had me believe that certain foods have to be 'properly' cooked. 'Properly' cooked meaning anything from burning to disintegration. Take sprouts for example, thankfully only inflicted on us once a year at Christmas. My dad, proudly boasting about how much he loved them (which does raise the interesting question of why he didn't lobby to see them on the table more often) would sit in front of the TV on Christmas Eve, peeling an enormous bag of sprouts and putting crosses in their small, stubborn little bottoms. The following day, they would be boiled for at least 20 - 30 minutes, lest (God forbid!) they arrived at the table 'like bullets'. Nothing worse apparently.

My Dad would happily pile them on his plate, and wink at me down the table, 'come on Wiseman, they'll put hair on your chest!'. It's not the best line to get small girls to eat foods they don't like, and I don't mind admitting that it didn't work on me. Bitter, mushy, grey...need I go on? Everyone around our Christmas table has to have at least one, even if they, like me, can't stand them. My Mum will usually have about five, my brother likes them, but my Aunt and I only adhere to the one sprout policy out of respect for family tradition. Being left with half a kilo of overcooked sprouts does leave the following day's bubble and squeak decidedly sprout heavy, which is probably why I have never liked that either. In later years, as my Brother and I have wrestled the reigns from my mother (less of a wrestle, more of a seamless handover as she wandered triumphant into the living room clutching a G&T) and taken full responsibility for the planning and execution of the most important meal of our year, we have tried a range of ways to make the sprouts more exciting (aka palatable).

We've tried them shredded and stir fried, roasted, steamed, and pan fried with chestnuts and bacon. To me, despite everything, they still taste like sprouts. My Dad has been less than impressed, but it demonstrated to me early on in my time in the kitchen that many notions and ideas about cooking times and food safety are just that. As I read somewhere once, you can eat virtually anything raw, how much you decide to cook it is just a matter of taste. And what freedom knowing this provides. Other than sprouts, I grew up thinking that beef should never be anything more than a bit pink. Sausages should ideally have a charred exterior, fully grey interior. Pork should be thoroughly brown and dry, prawns should be cooked through to bouncing ball squeaky perfection, and chicken should be cooked for at least ten minutes longer than the timings provided by Delia Smith. Just in case.

Thankfully a formative trip to France taught me that blue steak is not only safe but utterly delicious. The taste and texture a world away from overcooked Sunday roasting joints, hacked to pieces by my Dad's electric meat carver (just, why?) After I left home and started eating out more often, I tried things I never had before - oysters, sweetbreads, sashimi, foie gras, beef tartare, bone marrow...and for the most part I loved everything (duck tongues left me utterly cold, and I've never enjoyed frogs legs that much). As I got older, some things that I thought had to be cooked, I had raw. Like prawns. And I have started leaving pork pink, fear free. Some things however, remained on my 'don't do under any circumstances' list. Top of that list, is raw chicken.

I know I am guilty of getting over excited about food and restaurants, and when I read back over things I get a bit embarrassed about how often I use words like 'the best in the world', 'you have to try this', 'favourite thing ever' etc. but what can I say, I'm enthusiastic (and I like eating a lot of things). However I unashamedly say, with my hand on my heart, that the meal that I ate in Dos Palillos in Barcelona, just under four weeks ago, was the best meal I have ever had. No capital letters, no drama, it just was. The restaurant is in probably the coolest city in Europe. The décor is quite kitsch, but still very cool and kind of punky. Dos Palillos roughly translates at two wooden sticks or toothpicks, and is a reference to the wooden sticks used across Barcelona and Spain for eating tapas, and chopsticks. This is a restaurant that serves Japanese food, in tapas size portions. The chef-owner is Albert Raurich, head chef at El Bulli for a number of years before its closure, and from the first contact that I had when booking a table, to the smiles and goodbyes we had from the chefs who served us as we left, everything was spot on.

I had booked us seats in the restaurant, for which you can only book certain times. We had to arrive at 7.30 pm precisely, as emphasised by the numerous very polite email and telephone reminders I received. On arrival, I was so excited I was verging on a panic attack. It hadn't helped that we had struggled to find it, and were still running up and down Las Ramblas dodging the living statues with me shouting 'we're going to be late!' at 7.25 pm, but anyway, my nerves calmed shortly after we arrived (and had our first drink), and we enjoyed 16 + courses of some of the most precise, adventurous, perfectly executed food I have ever been fortunate enough to be served. I have certainly never eaten somewhere where you are so close to the food being prepared. You sit around the U shaped bar around the kitchen with the other diners, and watch the chefs put the food together, quite literally, under your nose. These same chefs then serve the food to you, and explain what it is, and answer any questions you may have. Incidentally, they were mostly extremely good looking. Just in case you don't know and were wondering - most chefs definitely aren't. Throughout the whole evening, there was an air of studied calm about them. The whole performance was orchestrated by a chef who reminded me a bit of Jack Sparrow, who sat at one end of the bar, monitoring which dishes had gone to which diners and who was to have what next. There were no raised voices, no angry words, just concentration, swift and delicate movements and smiles and quiet polite requests. It is fair to say that it was a million miles away from any kitchen I have ever worked in.

There is a choice of three menus, the more expensive containing more dishes, and one of which you were told about 70% of what you would have, but agreed to take any new dishes that they wanted to serve you. This is what we did. They obviously checked whether we had any allergies or dislikes (we don't - I didn't think mentioning that neither of us like sprouts would be necessary) and then they brought us the wine list. Which, rather wonderfully, was unbelievably reasonable. I drank wine and sake by the glass (ranging from 7 - 14 Euros), and Diesel ploughed his way through a bottle of rose cava, which was an extremely decent 20 Euros. For a restaurant with 1 Michelin star, I think this is unbelievably good value.

Before we arrived, I had debated with myself as to whether I wanted to take photos of the food. Nothing marks you out as a food bore and general irritant more than if you sit there snapping away at your food as it arrives. I wanted to just enjoy myself, but when the food started arriving, I couldn't not take any photos. I knew I could have a go at describing to the people in my life what I had eaten, but I also knew that some of what we ate needed to be seen to be believed. I avoided photographing everything, and looking back I can't remember exactly what order we ate in, but by the end we were both blown away. Below are a few of the highlights and my best attempt at describing them.

Mackerel sashimi with tororo kombu

This is the best fish to eat raw in the world in my opinion, and this was absolutely perfect. Totally simple, expertly prepared, fresh, delicious. The kombu was full of umami flavour, and a very unusual texture. It just sort of dissolved in the mouth. I should mention that prior to this we had monk fish liver, which is meant to the foie gras of the sea, and extremely unusual. I'll be honest, the flavour was nice but not overly exciting, and the texture of it left me a bit cold. Onwards and upwards...

Fresh crispy chicken roll

Dear God. A very fine rice paper wrapped around shredded fresh vegetables (cucumber, spring onion, mooli, herbs) and crispy chicken skin. But crispy like pork crackling crispy. Why are pubs up and down the land not selling crispy chicken skin? WHY? We were instructed to eat this by hand, and it came with a slightly sweet salty thin dipping sauce. It was absolutely delicious. Crispy, crunchy, salty, fresh...please can someone with better organisational skills and more free time than me open a street food stall making these? you would make a fortune, and you'd make a lot of people very happy.

Sunomono, with fresh seaweed and mollusc

The picture I have taken doesn't really do this justice, but is was so beautiful, even more so watching the chef arranging all of the ingredients with chopsticks. This was a cold dish, and totally fresh. The cockles were the sweetest I had ever eaten, the seaweed added a great contrast and most importantly, this was the first time in my life I ate percebes (goose barnacles). They have now beaten scallops and oysters to take number one spot as my favourite shellfish. Sweet, meaty, utterly different in texture to shellfish I have eaten previously. A totally unforgettable food moment.

Hot and raw fresh red prawns

I had watched with some interest a chef count out these prawns when we arrived. They were impaled toe to head on long metal skewers, and I almost started a victory dance when four of them arrived in front of us. The heads had been balanced over the hot charcoal pit, until charred and the insides boiling hot, while the tail remained perfectly raw and slightly cold. The trick was to eat the tail first and then suck the heads. You probably already know that this is my favourite bit, and my God, it was good. The only seasoning they had received was a healthy whack of salt on the heads prior to cooking. Just, fucking, awesome.

Free range chicken sashimi

Raw prawns hey? Not a problem pal. I've worked in a few kitchens don't you know. I love oysters and sweetbreads. Prawn heads? Not a problem. I'm foodie, hear me roar!...and then they served us this. After the prawns, I had a quiet chuckle to myself and thought, this meal is mental, really crazy. Some things like prawns, it is still a bit weird eating them raw, but you can always rely on never being faced with the final frontier. The ultimate taboo. And no I'm not talking cannibalism, I'm talking raw chicken. When this was put in front of us, I think my chin literally hit the table. They've got this wrong, surely. I checked the menu again, and there is was, chicken sashimi. After I'd gathered myself, I tried the first small bite, and it was actually very nice. Smoked slightly on the edges, but still raw. It was deeply chickeny, and had the texture of fudge. No doubt it was still very odd, and I can't say it was may favourite, or even that I would have it again, but what an experience. Incidentally, Diesel went mad for this, and he told me categorically that this was his absolute favourite. 

Oyster and bone marrow 'doteyaki'

warm raw oyster and bone marrow with a white miso sauce. Utterly delicious, the textures and temperatures were a bit challenging, but a great combination. So beautifully presented as well. Not much more to say about this.

Tempura fried cherry tomatoes with wasabi

So simple, but so effective. Like little tomato doughnuts. The batter was perfectly crisp and thin and delicate, and the peeled tomatoes within were hotter than the sun and sweet and salty. I could have eaten about 20.

Nippon burger

Soft sweet dough (similar to those Chinese buns you get filled with BBQ pork), with sharp crunchy pickled cucumber, shredded greens, and a ball of finely chopped wagu beef cooked very rare. Heavenly.

Chargrilled bone marrow

With something sweet brushed onto it, and bonito shaved on top after cooking. This was my favourite dish of the evening. The texture was jellylike and it was so rich and delicious, I almost didn't know what to with myself. When it arrived, some wood shavings had been placed underneath the bone, which was so hot it started smoking them, so while you were eating, you were surrounded by aromatic wood smoke. Genius.

Iberian pork jowl Cantonese style

At least 50% fat, this was the most buttery, melting pork I have ever eaten. The sweet crispy edges added perfect contrast.

This is one of the sweet courses, and I've no idea what it was or what it was called. The outside was a kind of jelly like texture, and the inside was a soft intense strawberry jelly. It was very refreshing, if a bit odd. They felt to me (although Diesel tells me I'm wrong about this) a bit like flaccid penises, which I won't lie, was a bit off putting. Still, it was a new experience, and the tastes were actually very nice.

There were more courses, a lot more. Any one of them taken on its own, or as part of another meal would stand out as a shining example of perfect ingredients skilfully prepared. having 18 in a row though is a bit like dropping Maria Sharapova into a Victoria's Secret catwalk show. I could tell you about the tuna belly, which was the best tuna I have ever eaten. Or the steamed shrimp and Iberican pork dumplings, or the beef fillet...but just trust me when I say that it was virtually impossible to pick a stand out dish because they were all stand out. If I have one aim for next year, it is to save enough money to go back to Barcelona for a long weekend as soon as I can, and get a table here again before it becomes truly impossible.