Moo
265 Carrer Rosselló
The ever-creative Roca brothers have made the Zen-like restaurant in the Hotel Omm a local favorite for haute Catalan cuisine (think, slow-cooked baby goat in a rosemary honey glaze). The dishes (a red-chard, truffle, and yucca-root salad; sea bass seasoned with rosemary and pear) combine traditional flavors with a deconstructionist flair.The Rocas are obsessed with scents: The meticulous dishes don’t just complement Moo’s stellar, eclectic wine list, they also riff on the wines’ aromas in tasting-menu pairings such as foie gras with Grenache and red mullet with Moscatel. A salad called Verdejo, after a white Rueda grape, echoes thewine's delicate, grassy nose by layering lamb's lettuce, mango, fennel, chervil, rhubarb, and dill oil. The smoky coarseness of the Clos ManyetesPriorat strikes a harmonious chord with the slow-cooked baby goat in a rosemary honey glaze and served alongside a bubbly herb-infused sheep's-milk air. After sniffing out the citrus, vanilla, and saffron notes in your Château Doisy DaeneSauternes, marvel at the uncanny precision with which they are mimicked in a dessert that combines orange cream, saffron flan, honey gelée, brioche cubes, and apricot sorbet. Then again, this streamlined version of the high-minded food the Rocas serve at Celler would taste terrific even with a glass of Vichy Catalan mineral water. But scent isn't the only sense awakened, the design and decor are stunning: The dinnerware was created for Esteva by local artists; the expansive slate-and-steel space dead-ends into a glassed-in bamboo garden. Our Favorite? Foie gras soup with cherries and coffee, matched with Banyuls Terra Vinya.
As Featured In...
From Travel + Leisure, Jun 2005
“Famous for desserts that replicate the fragrances of well-known perfumes, the Rocas have channeled their obsession with scents into revolutionizing wine and food pairings. At Moo, a sommelier doesn't match a wine to a dish devised by a chef independently; instead, the Rocas create flavors that not only complement the wine but actually riff on its aromas....” MORE>>
From the May 2008 Food & Wine Go List
This fashionable slate-and-steel space is helmed by the three Roca brothers—chef Joan, sommelier Josep and pastry whiz Jordi—who also own the Michelin two-star El Celler de Can Roca. The Rocas are obsessed with scents: The meticulous dishes don’t just complement Moo’s stellar, eclectic wine list, they also riff on the wines’ aromas in tasting-menu pairings such as foie gras with Grenache and red mullet with Moscatel.
We loved: Foie gras soup with cherries and coffee, matched with Banyuls Terra Vinya.
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