Hoja Santa – Barcelona
Hoja Santa: an interesting take on Mexican cooking!
| ONLINE RESERVATIONS | |
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Avenida Mistral 54-56, 08015 Barcelona, Spain |
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+34 93 348 21 92 |
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www.hojasanta.es |
Hoja Santa in Barcelona is one of the restaurants associated with the Albert Adria group in Barcelona. The restaurant conceptualizes the culinary Mexican culture in an innovative restaurant located in the Avinguda Mistral in the Paral·lel neighbourhood of Barcelona. It is one of the must visit places of the Adrià empire, next to Tickets, Bodega 1900, Pakta, and Niño Viejo. Niño Viejo is the sister restaurant of Hoja Santa, located in the same building, where the chefs serve more traditional Mexican street food in an authentic setting. At Niño Viejo, the “taqueria”, guests can enter without a reservation, but at Hoja Santa, prior reservations are strongly recommended.
Hoja Santa has a cocktail bar in the entrance area and an open kitchen in the dining room. The interior of Hoja Santa keeps the tradtion and breathes the lively Mexican atmosphere. They used a lot of wood, Mexican decoration and colourful touches to create a vibrant and authentic atmosphere.
Adriá has strong chefs behind each of his restaurants. The chefs need to have the understanding of on one hand the specialties of the themed cuisine and on the other hand Adria’s style and approach to food. At Hoja Santa, chef Paco Mendez showcases the very best of what contemporary Mexican cuisine has to offer. Paco gained experience at El Bulli and was the former Head Chef of Tickets.
At Hoja Santa they created an adventurous restaurant where they want to share the flavours and traditions of Mexico. The name Hoja Santa is derived from an aromatic herb with a heart-shaped leaf (Oaxaca) that grows in the tropical parts of Mexico and is often used to prepare tamales and green mole in Mexico. Using the best that is available from Mexico and supplementing it with great produce from Spain, Mendez has managed to put together an impressive menu. To prepare his dishes he mixes traditional techniques with innovation.
The haute cuisine Mexican restaurant seats up to 70 covers and it is possible to order à la carte. However, you can rely on the waiters to select for you a tasting menu with 15-25 bite-size snacks. To pair the dishes, guests have the possibility to choose a Tequila or Mezcal pairing. Both Mexican distillates are processed into delicious cocktails or served pure, depending on the dishes they have to pair with. Restaurant director Donatello Romanazzi, who previously worked at 41°, is in charge of the service at Hoja Santa.
We started our great tasting menu with a fermented juice followed by a Margarita: one with tequila and on the other side of the table one with mescal. We continued our menu with the two pairings tequila & mescal, which was extremely good.
Mexican pickles with peppers, young carrots, zucchini & shallots.
Crunchy banana with ash from chilli powder and a hoja santa leaf.
Cornbread with corn butter, chia seeds and coffee.
Spherical olives: this signature of the El Bulli family is a green version and filled with a mixture of salsa verde, Tabasco, lime juice and cilantro.
Avocado gazpacho with tomatillo, onion and coriander.
Huacamote quesadilla with cepes, cheese, jalapeno chili and powder of cepes, which are served with a sauce of cepes.
Trip to Mexico: Caesar salad as a skin of chicken and a spherification of Caesar dressing. As you know caesar is original from Mexico.
A crunch with marinated chilli, prawns, avocado, radish and cucumber. This was served with a extremely concentrated broth of shrimps.
Jicara: bowl of corn filled with lamb, radish, onion, coriander and a coriander flower.
Tomato salad, emulsion of Mexican herbs, crunch of pork.
Oyster with green nopal juice which is a kind of cactus, pineapple, lemon and olive oil.
Mussels on coconut powder with a sauce of yellow plum aguacile.
Pipian papanteco with king crab, crunchy pumpkin seed. The Pipián is a type of sauce used in Mexican cuisine; it is a pumpkin seed sauce that combined extremely well with the tender King Crab. This dish was the absolute highlight of the evening for us.
Cochinita pibil infladita: corn inflated with the pork meat, peppers and onion.
X-ne-pek:Red onion in the Josper with coriander, juice of onion and chilli.
Mole negro: Black chichilo & beef tenderloin. The Chichilo has a deep dark colour from the combination of the dark chiles used in this recipe, and the burned tortillas.
Fig in chocolate with sesame, toasted pistachio and smoked corn.
Margarita with coconut cloud: almond cookie, marshmallow of coconut.
A delicious fake corn was the end of a great experience. The lookalike corn is made from corn ice cream and served with chocolate pralines with hazelnut and Cajeta. Cajeta is a Mexican confection of thickened syrup usually made of sweetened caramelized milk. What a superb sauce and amazing combination.
Hoja Santa is a great place that offers a modern and interesting take on Mexican cooking. Hoja Santa is yet another brilliant move in the Albert Adrià food universe. In a unique way Albert and head chef Paco Mendez bring authentic Mexican cuisine in a trendy format. Tradition, food intensity and innovation are combined with a casual experience. Another gem in Barcelona that you should not miss!
Be-Gusto
Be-Gusto score: 16,5/20
Be-Gusto value for money: 16,5/20
Hoja Santa
Avenida Mistral 54-56, 08015 Barcelona, Spain
Phone: +34 93 348 21 92
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