Enigma, the return of Albert Adrià (now, for dinner)

After 27 months closed,

reopened last June with a double format of lunch and 'afternoon'.

after the summer holidays with a change in schedule and part of the concept: only à la carte dinners will be served from Monday to Friday, from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

This

Enigma Pizza.

It is not just any

that is served here with

, 'subtitled' as "the finest", with a price of 7.50 euros.

Neither are

(16 euros) or some impressive

(12).

Behind these presentations of dishes -which, taken out of context, may sound pretentious-, is one of the most creative chefs in Spain and in the world.

had

a 'left over' curriculum: as a teenager,

and where he ended up becoming a

Cala Montjoi space, with the

as a specialty that he has accompanied since then, without being at odds with his high abilities to devise savory dishes.

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Then came

, a tapas bar in Barcelona with which, as he often says, "we were inventing the concept of 'gastrobar' without knowing it."

In 2011, allied with the Iglesias family (owner of businesses such as the Rías de Galicia seafood restaurant), he opened

, head of the creation of elBarri, an Adrià-Iglesias alliance that created a gastronomic conglomerate in Barcelona's Paralelo.

Through a pandemic, it was dissolved, as well as the chef's relationship with the owners of Grupo Iglesias.

But that did not affect the

-almost a culinary 'amusement park'- that was 100% owned by Albert Adrià:

.

Margarita Cala Montjoi de Hibiscus.

The first new Enigma

This

closed in March 2020 due to the health emergency;

He then lived through the dismemberment of elBarri and, no less than

Given that Albert Adrià is not only an innovator on the plate, he opted for a model that seemed to reflect a possible change in post-pandemic habits:

, eliminating the dinner service and the formula of the tasting menu replaced by a menu, which thus sought to grant more freedom of choice to the diner.

In its first weeks, some diners doubled up and stayed after lunch

to enjoy good cocktails, snacks with the 'Adrià touch' and even a bar with impressive hamburgers ('smash burgers' style) made at live moment.

Others reserved specifically for the afternoon.

"I don't shy away from the tasting menu. Making a tasting menu restricts you and takes away your freedom.

Of everything I've done, the two places where people left the happiest and had the most fun was the fifth year of Heart -a project in Ibiza by the Adrià brothers and the creator of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberté, closed in 2020- and 'el' Tickets, where it was the fullness of enjoyment, since you went to work pissed off and left happy.

I didn't want to lose that point and, if I put on a tasting menu, it would generate personal confusion about what I want from the client", Albert Adrià reasoned a few months ago.

Was he then afraid of losing the night?

"Yes, it scares me, but we will change if necessary.

, I think we have the ability to modulate and modify the concept according to customers and what they demand. We are testing a language to see if it works and then it can be adapted to different contexts," he adds.

Pate en croute.

Return with changes on August 23

Enigma has returned

after the holiday closure started earlier this month.

, which are eliminated to focus the service solely on dinner, a time slot that it had dispensed with when it reopened in June and July.

They are, in any case, early dinners that are only served from Monday to Friday, from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., so it will close on weekends.

Too much work, complex and 'beast' to maintain two formats at the same time that, in themselves, were -at least- two restaurants in one?

It may be and, yes,

Among them, that ultra-thin Iberian ham and bacon sandwich or a versioned pizza and canapé.

And many more, since it

, formulas that range from a pizzeria or a contemporary sandwich shop to a sushi bar or a skewer grill.

At the same time,

: elBulli, Inopia, Tickets, Pakta, Bodega 1900, 41º, the old Enigma, Heart Ibiza and Cakes & Bubbles - patisserie-champagne bar that has a headquarters in London-.

"A la carte gastronomic proposal where the previous tasting menu is dispensed with, which is committed to a 'fun dinning' concept, but without giving up 'fine dining' and includes all the work carried out both in the previous Enigma and in the extinct restaurants of elBarri The result is

, in a succession of tapas and dishes in the same way that happened in the now defunct Tickets", they define from Enigma.

What is eaten in the 'new' Enigma

The menu of the 'new' Enigma starts with a section of Cala Montjoi 'cocktails'

, that is, a tribute to elBulli, such as the crispy beet € meringue with Negroni sorbet or the 'Nitro margarita' with Jamaican flower with its air , snacks that allow you to discover

One more section of snacks with their own identity adds options such as the basil waffle with green pistachio cream and yuzu or the cup of cauliflower with lobster consommé and caviar 'Homage to Joël Robuchon'.

Because,

, after spending more than 3 months in Paris at the head of ADMO, a restaurant opened as a temporary 'pop-up', allied with Alain Ducasse.

The dinner can continue with the Barnacle with codium seaweed emulsion (a dish from the old Enigma offer), the Squid Handkerchief, the Ugly Tomato from Tudela cured in kombu -a type of seaweed- with olive and pepper vinaigrette or the Aubergine 'Japan/Mexico' with black sesame mole (a Hoja Santa-style dish, his old Mexican restaurant) or the

Each diner chooses how many dishes they want to eat

and, therefore, determines the average ticket, which, although on the restaurant's website they estimate at 180 euros (below the 250 euros of the tasting menu of the previous stage), you could dine at least.

In addition, two options are maintained as extras released in June, which the client can add if they want: Shinkai Bar, as a succession of 'nigiris', with a price of 54 euros;

or Sua Bar, for the same price and plated as a 'sequence' of Galician lobster prepared in front of the customer with different elaborations on the fire and on the grill (the claw cured in sashimi, the head and roe in an omelette or the tail matured in beef fat).

They are

, so that if the customer adds one or both, he will get up from the table to visit the corresponding bars.

If you dare to try Enigma,

(right now, the online system is open until mid-October).

In the memory of those who visited the new Enigma in June and July, there are

made live in front of the diner.

"We'll set up a hamburger restaurant," they joke -or not- from the Enigma team.

Riddle

Sepulveda, 38-40.

Barcelona.

Tel. 616 69 63 22.

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