Chef Jordi Vilà brings his greatest hits to the seafront in Begur.

Begur"We want to introduce Catalan cuisine to our guests," Jaume Vilardell, the director of the five-star Hotel Victoria, tells me. He has extensive experience managing hotels around the world and is happy to be back home in Catalonia. The hotel just opened this June, and they still have a few details to finish, such as the name sign itself, and a new entrance. These are just minor details, because the hotel's rooms are already full, guests are swimming in the blue pool, and in the restaurant, chefs Jordi Vilà and Àlex López, as head chef, have brought the greatest successes of the Barcelona restaurant Alkostat, facing the sea in Begur.

After passing by the divinely blue pool, we arrive at the hotel bar, and a few steps further, in the space that I feel the hotel manager calls by the name of cloister.It refers to the restaurant Al Kostat del Mar, and I immediately realize that the name is appropriate: it has a central garden, where there is a majestic olive tree, and four wings, that is, four porches around the garden, one of which has the open kitchen, and two other tables that touch the pool and also the service houses.

Being a June day that is not yet scorching hot, I sit at a table in the central part, next to the olive tree, whose fruits I have always written so many pagesUp front, I'll see Jordi Vilà, Àlex López, head chef, and also Marcos Valyi, who accompanies him in the kitchen.

At the table, the menu begins with the trinity: bread, extra virgin olive oil from the Gramona farm and tomatoes. While I prepare a well-soaked slice of bread, I look at the menu and see that it's divided into sections that reflect Jordi Vilà's great culinary obsessions: recipes you can eat in two bites; in four; starters, Catalan pasta, rice dishes, surf and mountain dishes, and, finally, grilled ingredients.

For starters, I order a caramelized onion omelet, the tomato salad, and the green beans. Three humble yet sublime starters. I first tried all three dishes at Alkostat in Barcelona, ​​and I've always recommended them to everyone who reserves a table. The omelet is flavorful and melts in your mouth; the green beans with potatoes and butifarra de perol (a type of sausage) reconciles you with the world, because never again can we say there's no way to find a good vegetable dish in a restaurant; and the tomato salad deserves a whole paragraph.

The salad, of sea and mountain

It's a salad that breaks the mold. It's tomatoes with tomatoes, all blanched for a few seconds so the chefs could remove their skins. In the center, there's a large tomato, which serves as a container for all the other varieties of tomatoes, small, red, and also orange, which make room with peeled shrimp and pieces of espadrilles, sautéed for a few minutes. A few sprigs of salicornia add crunch and also enhance the sea flavor. It's a surf and turf salad, and I emphasize the word "turf" because you'll also find snails, peeled and without their shells. It's a fun starter, bringing a smile to your face as you find the snails with the pieces of espadrilles and the thousand and one types of tomatoes, all with different flavors.

From the starters, we moved on to the "rice of the gentleman." I tried what's called "del barco" (a type of rice dish), made with shrimp, crayfish, and espadrilles. Finally, one of the dishes that both Jordi Vilà and Àlex López have told me I must try: the "caldereta de Sa Riera," named after the beach where it's located. Egg romesco sauce: a symphony of flavors, in which every piece of seafood is peeled and cleaned (no tweezers required, as is often the case with traditional "caldetas"), and this alone leaves you amazed at the work behind it. From the "sauteed" stuffed with bikinis (yes, stuffed with bikinis), to the €38 grilled chicken for two. The "caldereta," also for two, costs €45 per person.

I continue writing about the caldereta, which deserves its due. It's a dish that has stirred passion among chef Jordi Vilà's followers, and it's based on fumet, like a good caldereta, combined with a romesco derivative. "We put in half-scrambled eggs, mix them with romesco, and the result is this dish," explains chef Jordi Vilà, who affirms that the cuisine at Alkostat, and from now on also that of Al Kostat del Mar, is just as demanding as that of Alkimia. "They are different concepts, because Alkostat's is everyday cuisine, but I demand the most from myself to prepare both," notes Vilà, who also adds that he is happy with the new project.

On the drinks menu, Catalan wines, preferably from the Empordà designations of origin, which is where we are. And for dessert, ratafia. "In the hotel bar, next to the restaurant, we'll be offering courses to teach how to drink from a porrón," the hotel manager tells me. The idea, along with the Catalan cuisine menu that the chefs at Al Kostat del Mar are masterfully crafting, is linked to the intention of raising awareness of Catalan cuisine. "We'll also have activities to showcase the region, such as a visit to the Palamós stage," explains the hotel manager, Jaume Vilardell. The Hotel Victoria wants to integrate itself into the landscape, into the territory, and to be a flag-bearer. Chef Jordi Vilà's cuisine at Al Kostat del Mar is the flag they most want to wave. Starting on Sant Joan Day, it will be open to the general public, both those staying at the hotel and those who come just to eat. And all of this in a restaurant reminiscent of a cloister, with an olive tree that brings peace, and with a chef who makes his war in a new land, facing the sea of Begur.