31 replies to this topic

[The Flame]

I am wondering if anyone has any information or reports of this new restaurant? I am not even sure if it opened already, but I know that Albert Raurich, the former chef de cuisine at elBulli for the past 7 years left at the end of the 2007 season to open this new venture.

It is going to be an asian inspired tapas restayrant in Barcelona and from what I had heard they were hoping for a December/January opening.

Any news or reports will be great.

[Dan Ryan]

Not open yet. I went by today, and they said it would be another month or so.

Sounds great though...

[Lenski]

Could you please give us more details? Location?

[Revallo]

behind the boq. on c/ elisabets... right next to the camper hotel... (where the old ¨foodball¨used to be)

[Silly Disciple]

behind the boq.  on c/ elisabets... right next to the camper hotel... (where the old ¨foodball¨used to be)

Ah, neat, I didn't know that was the space they took. It's a very nice space, shadowed by the catastrophic failure that the whole Foodball concept was.

Any idea on when they plan to open?

[chrishow]

Any more news on when Dos Palillos may be open?

[Jennifer]

Any more news on when Dos Palillos may be open?

I heard end of April. They've had a few teething troubles.

[Dan Ryan]

Next Tuesday is the plan. At the moment...

[Silly Disciple]

Next Tuesday? Maybe I'll stop by after the market then...

[Silly Disciple]

Any news? Has anyone stopped by yet?

[Saborosa]

Walked past last night after dinner elsewhere. It was all locked up but from the outside it looks 'finished', but couldn't see inside. I presume if they were 'open' it would have been open. And the website still says 'we're coming', so looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer.

It seems to be a bar, rather than a restaurant. I cleverly deduced this from the extra large Scrabble-style letters on the wall above the door spelling BAR.

I've read a blog post (of unknown reliability) that suggests it will be an Asian-food version of Inopia - an homage to old-school local bars. I'm not sure how they're going to do this. If the food's not going to be trad, I suppose the decor must be. Will there be an old guy with suspiciously stained trousers playing the fruit machine in the corner? Will the toilets offer a bottle of supermarket shampoo with which to wash your hands?

[MoGa]

If they're really brave what you'll get are things like hueva de mujol served this way:
http://blog.yam.com/...article/8503330 - 5th & 6th photos from the bottom (just past the omelet photos). - the blog shows a Japanese restaurant in Taiwan BTW

There are a lot of similarities between much of the 'old school' Spanish bar food and many Japanese dishes. It would be wonderful if someone was aware enough of the gastronomy from both cultures to be able to adequately exploit this.

During the Edo period, the Japanese considered the word's three greatest delicacies to be sea cucumber, sea urchin, and mullet roe (konowata, uni & karasumi).

None of these are out of synch with Spanish tastes, even Etxebarri is serving sea cucumber

Course 5: Sea Cucumber with Cannellini Beans

[docsconz]

There are a lot of similarities between much of the 'old school' Spanish bar food and many Japanese dishes.  It would be wonderful if someone was aware enough of the gastronomy from both cultures to be able to adequately exploit this.

If anyone would know it would be the team from elBulli. Albert Raurich would likely be as expert as anyone on this. There are plenty of similarities between Spanish and Japanese cuisines, so much so that at the Spain and the World Table Conference in 2006, Japan was the only non-Spanish country represented to present on these very similarities.

Edited by docsconz, 03 May 2008 - 02:05 PM.

[Silly Disciple]

I've heard that the source of this whole fusion thing is that Raurich's wife is of Asian origin, thus his interest in bringing the two culinary cultures together.

Edited by Silly Disciple, 03 May 2008 - 01:43 PM.

[Saborosa]

Well, they're open and it sure doesn't look like an old school bar. The back room through a bead curtain is minimalist and black - stools around a square island bar where you can have a menu degustacion at 60 euros a head. The front bar (rather a small space) is serving asian inspired tapas from about 4 euros to probably quite a lot more than that. Sorry, I don't have much more info. I was in a bit of a rush and just poked my head round the door. I was a bit disappointed that they only do 2 choices of white and red wine by the glass in the bar. I just wish more places did a greater variety of by-the-glass wine choices.

Anyway, I'll try and investigate further soon. But if anyone beats me to it, please report back.

[The Flame]

I just want to confirm that yes, chef Albert's wife is indeed asian and a big inspiration for doing this. Albert travels to Japan often and I'm sure he got a lot of inspiration in recent years also from the asian influence at elBulli. It is indeed a asian-spanish fusion tapas bar.

As for the team I am not sure who else is there but I know the "sous chef" (I think that would be his position) is a japanese guy that used to be a chef de partie for several years at elBulli. You can see him in the staff pictures from the 2003-2004 books.

I'm sure it will be amazing. Can't wait to go to Barcelona to try it out.

[vserna]

If you like that style, then a visit to Diverxo in Madrid should be a must...

[Silly Disciple]

I finally managed to visit the place yesterday, and it is really, really good.
Albert was there running the pass, and his wife was behind the bar serving drinks and excellent tea.
I told Albert that IMHO he needs to double the prices, because at the current prices (light meal from the a la carte menu, with sake, 80 EUR for 3 people) it's a steal.

[Saborosa]

I finally managed to visit the place yesterday, and it is really, really good.
Albert was there running the pass, and his wife was behind the bar serving drinks and excellent tea.
I told Albert that IMHO he needs to double the prices, because at the current prices (light meal from the a la carte menu, with sake, 80 EUR for 3 people) it's a steal.

Silly! No! Maybe you're a pasta tycoon now , but spare a thought for the poor mileuristas who may want to have the option of both paying the mortgage/rent and treating themselves to jellyfish salad and monkfish liver once in a while...

I ate at the front bar from the a la carte menu and, though I did think it was good value considering the market and the competition in BCN, a steal may be going too far (7 euros for one, admittedly delicious, pork rib?). Mind you, it probably seems a lot better VFM in the rear dining room, where you actually get proper seating rather than plastic crates.

My grazing partners were more disgruntled by the prices, though I think this was inspired by a combination of extreme hunger and an inability to square the concepts of Asian 'street' food (there are a lot of dumplings) with 'fine dining'.

Personally, if I got to the end of the month with just 9,50€ in my pocket, I'd happily spend it on their higado de rape. But if it was 19€...

It's not really fusion, I think. The dishes I remember were all Asian. Local ingredients are used, but not as innovations, just local versions of what could also be found in, say, Japan or China. But perhaps there are some fusion-style dishes I missed?

By the way, Albert's wife, Tamae, is Japanese - just thought we might want to narrow it down from 'Asian'.

Anyway, definitely worth a visit for a couple of dishes and some sake - try the more unusual (for this city) platillos, such as a wonderful kimchi.

[AlexForbes]

I recommended the restaurant to a friend and blogger, Ricardo Freire. He went, loved it and posted a full report, in Portuguese, with photos of all the dishes. So even for those who don't read Portuguese, you can see what the place and the food look like by clicking here.

[Matthew Grant]

Dos Palillos was fantastic, this should be a must on a visit to Barcelona. Great clean tastes and good produce. Superb razor clams with Thai red curry kaffir lime and long leaf coriander , Aubergine tempura, japo burger (a mini burger, lovely sweet and sour veg as a dressing), Shitake mushrooms had been lightly battered and fried caps and were finished with a little yuzo. I forget everything we ate but remember also good gyoza, gambas, Vietnamese spring rolls and two fabulous desserts. Mango Flan was basically a creme Catalan flavoured with Mango Puree and an almond sponge cake made us laugh out loud it was so light (piped from a whipped cream canister and microwaved for 30 seconds). Overall great and sensible use of Asian flavours. Make sure you book in advance, we only just sneaked in to the back room. Albert Raurich was an excellent host and happy to recommend dishes once we had finished our first wave.

[drosendorf]

My thoughts and comments on Dos Palillos are finally up on my blog. We had a very nice meal with a few really pleasing items, and it's a place that I could happily recommend as a fun, satisfying and fairly reasonably priced meal, but on a certain level, I was somewhat disappointed given the expectations that may (unfairly) come about when eating at the restaurant of someone who was the chef de cuisine at El Bulli for nearly a decade.

I enjoyed the food and am a huge fan of Asian flavors, but - at least as someone who is pretty familiar with those flavors already - there just wasn't much in the prep methods or the flavor combinations that struck me as all that adventurous. A few items were standouts - the ankimo, the navajas, the tempura'd cherry tomatoes - and at least one other was close, a dashi-infused chawan mushi topped with trout roe (disappointing only b/c the crunchy trout roe texture was not a good pairing to my tastes against the super-creamy and tender custard) - but I suppose I expected something more cutting edge in light of the chef's resume.

It's a place I could happily return to as a regular dining destination, particularly if items are offered a la carte rather than just as a tasting menu (as I believe they are in the more casual front bar) - but it was largely missing the "wow" factor I anticipated.

[marc at fraiche]

anybody had any recent experience here? just debating over trying here or going to gresca as have yet to try either but time restraints leave me with one or the other

[Dan Ryan]

What else is on your itinerary Marc?

[marc at fraiche]

What else is on your itinerary Marc?

im going to epai sucre and moo, maybe cinc sentits at the mo not sure, which leaves one hit left so what would you pick or would you go to eat at somewhere else?
or should i go to lasarte instead

[vserna]

Dos Palillos is a terrific combination of two philosophies - Asian street food and Spanish tapas. No, it isn't wildly cutting edge, but it doesn't pretend to be. Excellent wine list. Go to the bar and order à la carte.

Coure is another outstanding (and great QPR) Barcelona restaurant that never gets written up here. Very unassuming but very professional, and they know how to find (particularly) great fish and how to prepare and present it.

[drosendorf]

Dos Palillos is a terrific combination of two philosophies - Asian street food and Spanish tapas. No, it isn't wildly cutting edge, but it doesn't pretend to be. Excellent wine list. Go to the bar and order à la carte.

I'm not sure that the reference point for Dos Palillos is "Asian street food" so much as dim sum on the Chinese side and izakaya on the Japanese side. Having said that, it was a fun meal and I liked the price.

[marc at fraiche]

well i made it to have the smaller tasting menu in the main dining area around the kitchen, food and service was very good, and broke up my other dining experiences.
i enjoyed most dishes with a couple of great stand outs, but the sea snails were not for me but i know that is a personal taste as they were cooked well just hard for me to swallow just like marmite

[vserna]

Gyozas, dim sum, Vietnamese rolls... These were all born on Asia's streets!

[jesteinf]

We ate at Dos Palillos on our first night in Barcelona.

The restaurant is intended to showcase Spanish/Asian fusion tapas (the name translates to two sticks, referring to both chopsticks and the toothpicks that some tapas are eaten with). I think fusion might be exaggerating what's going on at Dos Palillos as I found most of the food to be pretty firmly in the Asian camp.

Without notes or pictures I can't really give a terribly detailed account of our meal, but I will say it was fun. Some of the courses were pretty pedestrian if you're used to eating in Asian restaurants, like a plate of stir fried vegetables. Granted, the vegetables were really really good, but it was still just a plate of veggies. Other more interesting courses included monkfish liver, razor clams with seaweed salad, slow cooked egg in dashi, and a make-your-own toro handroll (absolutely fantastic toro, quickly torched to really bring out the oils in the fish). We also enjoyed a plate of fried sea anemone, not realizing it would be the first of two anemone encounters on our trip.

A fun meal at what appears to be a Barcelona hot spot (numerous diners were turned away at the door for lack of reservations, almost all of them tried dropping names of people at or associated with the restaurant in order to get a table). Not sure if I would go back since there are so many more restaurants to explore in Barcelona, but overall an enjoyable experience.