Moo (Barcelona)* - HE

At my first stop this way around, we visited Moo, a restaurant supervised by the Rocas and located inside Hotel Omm at calle Rosellón in Barcelona. Moo is trendy and modern, where creativity plays a major role.

Service: 15/20
You should not expect formalities or classical servicing at Moo, it would not be fit. Instead you have simplicity and friendliness, but with a few mistakes. The coordination between cuisine and front of house seemed fine. A special note to the sommelier, for his enthusiasm and detailed explanation of the history and contents of each wine.

Ambiance and décor: 16/20
The opinions here may vary, Moo is located on the lobby floor of Hotel Omm, after the reception and right next to the hotel's trendy hangout bar. On top of that, such lobby floor is a massive open space with movement, noise, chill-out music in the background. If you don not like it, just forget it, but if you feel like going out on a Saturday night this might be the perfect place to start. There are quite a few tables, some with white cloth, all with different design items with a final good result.

Food: 15/20
It is quite magical to open a large book full of appealing dishes and menus. À la carte and three tasting menus are available (vegetarian, seasonal and Joan Roca), considering that in three days we would be sitting at the real Roca's table, we decided for the Seasonal Menu.

Moo's food is a blend of art, colour, flavours and textures. Each dish is composed of several different elements (some complex with a lot of processes others more simple) with different colours and all kinds of textures. However, it is still at an early stage of maturation, lacking consistency and making some unnecessary "unforced" errors.

Altogether, it is definitely a place worth visiting.

The Seasonal Menu:

The seasonal menu was composed of 2 sets of abuse bouches, 6 dishes (three starters, one fish and one meat dish and a dessert) and petit fours.

The first set of abuse bouches had crispy patatas bravas, a tasty mini olive biscuit, a shrimp tempura (lack of crispiness) and an amazing mussel with edible shell (genius!) - 16/20

The second set of abuse mouches comprised a corn creme with herring roes (good toasty flavour of the creme well balanced with the roes' freshness), a correct mini sandwich of cheese and oxtail and the "grand" flaw of the meal, a vegetables' broth with sesame. It was not the flavour, which was intense and complex, but the fact that mine was completely liquid and my wife's had large chunks of gelatin in it (unforgivable). 13/20

And then they called Fabergé for an inspiring and unforgettable work of art! Ladies and gentlemen I present you the "huevo de oro" (golden egg). A perfect combination of a caramel base, a nest of small bits of cooked sweet potato, a creamy egg yolk with a drop of truffle oil and a magic golden dome covering the egg (which is actually caramel). Huevo de oro has everything a great modern dish should have: intense and distinguishable flavours, an array of textures and an extra pinch of geniality and creativity. Well done, great work! 19/20

The huevo de oro was followed by a mushroom carpaccio with foie. This dish characterises Moo, several elements in the same dish (ones at their natural form others completely "transformed"), complexity, harmony (almost perfect of flavours), different shapes and textures. Heavy hand on salt though. 15.5/20

A perfect caneloni of woodpigeon flew onto the table, perfectly cooked and with intense and strong flavours (woodpigeon, macadamia and truffle oil). Additional points for the creativity. 16/20

An ordinary fried cod with rose pepper, white bean, lentils, carrots and others in a broth. The cod lacked a bit of salt and had no flavour. Easily earned the award of "worst dish of the night". 12/20

Finally the pigeon (pigeon and woodpigeon, despite being different they are both pigeon, why repeat?), cooked to perfection with a comfortable flavour of thyme in air format over an indistinguishable garnish covered with the game's jus. Once again intense flavours and textures. 15.5/20

"Citrics", please! Once again the winning recipe, a lot of citric elements (simple and complex), colours, textures and intense citric flavour. If this was not at the tasting menu I would have never tried this one and would never know what I would had missed. 17.5/20



Petit fours: a poor display for a surprising restaurant. They were very good though.

Genre: International (creative)
Price: €79 (seasonal menu) + €35 (wine pairing)
Michelin: *
Date of visit: Spring 2012

Overall: 16/20

Pros: food, creativity, the friendly and enthusiastic sommelier, the space.
Cons: some inconsistency in the food (vegetable broth or the fried cod fish).

Moo
Hotel Omm, Rosselló 265, Barcelona
www.hotelomm.es/moo