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What the three chefs of Disfrutar, the best restaurant in the world, eat and hate

Blue cheese and raw espadrilles, among the three foods that the chefs of the Disfrutar Barcelona do not tolerate

2 min
Mateu Casañas, Eduard Xatruch and Oriol Castro, chefs and owners of the Mejorar restaurant.

BarcelonaThey have similar food preferences and also some different ones, and the three chefs agree that, around a standing table of food, bonds are created. "If this were not the case, we would not have chosen the names we chose for our restaurants: Share, first, and Disfrutar, later," explains Mateu Casañas and Eduard Xatruch and Oriol Castro confirm. Eating at the table opens up avenues for conversation, agreements are reached and, above all, it is enjoyed, they say.

1.
Oriol Castro
Oriol Castro.
  • What do you hate? He likes all dishes, but he couldn't stomach one that was offered to him on a trip to Korea. It was a raw espadrille that had been cut into slices and, when he tried to bite it, it was hard, very hard. The texture made him refuse to continue eating it. "I respect the morbid texture that Korea likes so much, but I couldn't handle the raw espadrille," he says.
  • What is the dish that makes a party at your house? Squid with peas, cuttlefish and beef with juice, snails a la llauna and fricandó. With his father, Jaume Castro, he catches fish with his boat; With her mother, Montserrat Forns, she cooks the dishes she mentions.
  • What are your favorite restaurants? From Sitges, where he lives, El Pou, La Asa, El Cable or la Seu (the Barcelona supporters club). From Catalonia, Els Casals, where he goes with the family twice a year, in winter and summer.
2.
Mateo Casañas
Mateu Casañas.
  • What do you hate? The small ones, but it's not that he can't stand them, but rather that they have little attraction for him. However, he remembers that when he was little he ate kidneys, livers and turmas (in Spanish, criadillas).
  • What food makes a party at your house? The connection with his native town, Roses, where his parents have a restaurant, Si Us Plau on the Paseig Marítim, means that his favorite dishes are sea and mountain, such as chicken with shrimp. Also the black rice, which is cooked with caramelized onion without ink, with short ribs and well-grilled sausages.
  • What are your favorite restaurants? Roses, who cook grilled fish and seafood, who assure that there are quite a few who know how to do it very well. Your favorite ingredients when you eat at Roses? The San Pedro rooster with a good splash of extra virgin olive oil and the prawns, from Roses, of course.
3.
Eduard Xatruch
Eduard Xatruch.
  • What do you hate? Snakes and turtles, which explains that they have been offered for food in some countries. And from our house, blue cheese, which he values for its gastronomic value but neither buys it nor tries it at home. He doesn't tolerate the intense smell it gives off, and he hasn't tolerated it since he was little even though they were big cheese makers at home. Of course, if you go to a restaurant and there is it on your plate, you don't reject it.
  • What are the dishes that make a party at your house? The fricandó with prawns, the zarzuela, unpeeled potatoes with escalivado tomato sauce, roast chicken, suquets, rice and noodles. At her mother's house she is the one who cooks, except for the rice and noodles, of which she only makes the brand and he finishes them.
  • What are your favorite restaurants? The Esportell del Bou, in Picamoixons, which has his sister-in-law in the room, and the 7 Portes restaurant, of which he has very good memories from a birthday of his daughters that he celebrated.
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