Laclaire and stardust's dinner at Cinc Sentits in Barcelona
 

OK. I am actually in the middle of our night and a little tipsy, but stardust has headed out to meet her friends and we are meeting up at 12:30 so I can show them my favorite bar, La Concha, in the Raval. But, as it is fresh fresh on my mind, I will say that we just had an amazing 3 hour dinner at Cinc Sentits in Barcelona. I had been told to go here by my close foodie friend who was here in July. To quote her "they have a tasting menu that is not only delicious, but very well thought out and considered." Man, was she right. Stardust and I got the second tasting menu, which started off with champagne and a lot of talking. Then out came the first "course." It was a shot of maple syrup with cream and rock salt. . . absolutely delicious. . . a shot of the best pancake you have ever had for breakfast. IHOP in a swallow. I was big-eyed and excited about what was to come.

It was not long before we were delivered virginly white spoons filled with an almond and foie gras mousse. We licked them clean and were totally scrounging around for more. Of course, all this while the champagne is going down (I finished mine way before she did hers) and we are chatting away. It is funny because we are sort of dopplegangers. . . same height, physique, coloring. . . very odd.

Then comes the first wine course. The wine was described as Riesling with white pepper and it was, indeed, spicy and wonderful. . . like cloves are spicy and wonderful. That accompanied a shrimp with green almond ice cream and a light ajoblanco with 3 drops of concentrated vinegar. It went down light, tender and fast. . . I wanted more! But, alas, it was just for tasting, and the next course was on its way.

But that, Fodorites, you will have to wait for, as I must change into my clubbing clothes and move into the night.

Moving right along. . .

So, I am back from the night out and ready to continue with the dinner. We were next served a single, enormous grilled scallop over a slightly sweet tuber purée with a single, paper-thing slice of fried jamón serrano. . . like a serrano potato chip, really. Not to be anti-climactic, but that was my favorite flavor of the night.

From there we moved on to salmonete over "false black rice." False because it was really wheatberries that tasted like pasta, black because it was prepared in squid ink. This was very good and had a wonderful sea flavor.

Mind you that each of these tasties comes with a small glass of wine to taste. Actually, there was sherry as well, and it was all delicious. At this point the conversation is way more relaxed and I (who had up until then diligently finished every single glass) was having quite the time.

Then came the Ox tail. Ah, delicious Ox tail. . . so fine a flavor and so plebian a name. It was amazing! We both commented on how it tasted like something our mothers made at home and it really was a sort of blast back home in flavors. . . very sturdy, meaty, hearty and carmelized.

And like that, we moved to the cheeses. I was not really ready to be done with the delicate and wonderful dishes. . . I could have been there for hours longer just tasting. But, the cheese came: 3 separate little tasties: goatcheese with ripe fig, cured cheese with almod cake (best overall flavor of the night), and blue cheese with red-wine soaked pear). It was all accompanied by wine (again), and I loved contrasting the different tastes, though the blue was much too strong for me.

As our palattes needed cleansing, we were served an insanely lemony dessert: lemon cake with lemon cream with lemon foam and a little lemon sorbet, topped with. . . frozen vodka. My kind of palatte cleanser, indeed.

And of course, dinner would not be dinner without chocolate, so there was a chocolate banana cake with a Maria cookie on top, covered with cream, accompanied by chocolate ice cream and set up on top of a pool of "xocolata desfeta." Wow!

We sat around and talked over coffee and maracáy marshmellows (another wow!), then headed our own separate ways, only to meet up an hour later at the amazing bar La Concha.

I couldn´t have said it better, so I´m just here to confirm that it was an amazing dinner with plenty of fun conversation.

Later, after I had met my friends and we were going to La Concha, I met an Italian friend of mine who I used to know when living in Barcelona 2 years ago... and when she entered it appeared that she knew laclaire as well ! The world really is a handkerchief...

Greetings from Tarragona,
stardust, who´s really going to write a full trip report after her return !

The shot of maple syrup and cream turned my stomach but the rest of the meal sounds wonderful =D I will try to go during my trip.

Thanks for the heads up for the hotel!

Hello Laclaire and stardust,

The tasting menu at Cinc Sentits sounds fabulous....can you please share how much it cost?

Thanks!

Hi Travelcraze,

If I remember well, the menu itself was 50€, with all the fabulous adapted wines it was 75€ and the total check with cava and coffee added up to 90€.

It's quite likely that they change the menu every now and then, so don't expect to get exactly the same things as we got, but you will definitely have a wonderful experience.

What I also liked so much about the restaurant is that the waiters are very professional, yet not uptight at all. It's a very relaxed atmosphere. Enjoy !

Hello Stardust,

Thanks for your reply...Cinc Sentits may be our one splurge meal for Barcelona! :)

To add on to stardust's comment. . . a friend went to Cinc Sentits back in June and though she did not have the exactly same meal, she did tell me about the maple shot and the ox tail stew. So, though it does change, you will probably end up trying at least a few of the dishes we did.

I just found back the bill from Cinc Sentits:

2 Cobert (some cover charge) 1,25€ x 2 = 2,50€
2 Bottles of natural water 0,5l 1,90€ x 2 = 3,80€
2 Degustation Menus Omakase 50€ x 2 = 100€
2 Marriage Omakase (accompanying wines) 25€ x 2 = 50€
2 Glasses of Cava 5,00€ x 2 = 10,00€
1 Coffee 2,25€

BASE: 168,55€ + VAT: 11,80€ (7%, quite often not included in the price, check the menu in each restaurant)

TOTAL: 180,35€

This is cruel and unusual punishment! I want to go to Spain NOW!

Is one mentally ill to be on vacation and have to run back to the hotel to post reports on the laptop? I mean, come on, it is vacation. Leave the frigging laptop at home and enjoy your trip. If you have to report it do it when you get home.

Curt,

Laclaire lives in Barcelona, and I have lived there before. I was there with friends who didn't want to pay for this fancy restaurant and when we left the restaurant, it was too early to go out yet (pubs are virtually empty before midnight). So while I went to see my friends, Laclaire went home (around the corner from Cinc Sentits) to change clothes and describe the experience while it was still fresh on her mind.