As every Friday, at noon the activity in the reception of the Hotel Món (Sant Fruitós de Bages) increases quietly, while guests settle down to immerse themselves in the calm emanating from the neighboring medieval monastery of Sant Benet. L'Ó restaurant —for devotees of the Michelin guide, the only starred restaurant in the region— justifies a trip to this place that hosts the culinary proposal of Iván Margalef and Xavi Benito, his right hand and creator of successful desserts.
But those tourists who are looking for silence, scenery and history, have many other incentives when they cross the door of this hotel that is part of Món Sant Benet, the cultural, tourist and leisure project of the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera and which includes, among others spaces, the thousand-year-old monastery, with its beautiful cloister; that part of the medieval building that was converted at the beginning of the 20th century into the summer residence of the painter Ramon Casas (whims of the bourgeoisie!); or the Fundació Alícia, a world reference center that combines science and cooking, where work is done, and very well, to improve eating habits and value food heritage.
The chef resorts to this privileged environment to try to build a discourse that seeks to seduce, seasoned with showy techniques that provide a certain theatricality in the room and which in turn includes historical references and the landscape. There is, for example, the almadroc brought to our days, also known in the restaurant as the host of Sant Benet, due to its wafer shape and the liturgy with which the diners take the medieval delicacy based on cheese and garlic that finish next to your table. There are the false stones from the nearby Llobregat stuffed with river fish or those creamy white aubergines, recovered and claimed years ago from the gardens of the Fundació Alícia, which they use in one of the recently released desserts. From L'Ó's kitchen, they are lucky enough to be able to consult Alícia's experts with the familiarity with which one knocks on the door of a kind neighbor in search of a little salt. All of this fosters interesting synergies that favor the work of this experienced and discreet chef, who has taught at Joviat for years. But it is not his only inspiration: his love for the Delta de l'Ebre comes as a surprise to the diner, in dishes such as eel or duck coca.
Before Magalef arrived at L'Ó, whose room is managed by Marisa Graners, Jordi Llobet was in charge of the kitchen and, in its beginnings, when the Espinet Ubach Arquitectes team gave shape to the hotel, he was Jordi Cruz's first Angle.
The menus bear the names of El Camino de Sant Benet (the longest, which costs 115 euros) and A walk through Sant Benet, in the shorter version (95 euros). The pairing proposed by Eduard Cucurella (72 euros) reminds us that we are in the Pla de Bages with an Abadal Arboset, but escapes to the land of cava are allowed with a rosé from Oriol Rossell or with a Nun Vinya dels Taus, a la Venezia Giolia with a Livio Felluga; to Jerez (Fino 1 Palma), to Terra Alta with a Bárbara Forés en Moviment or finish in La Garrotxa with the elderflower bubbles of a Sanbukina Nature. When many Barcelona haute cuisine restaurants close at the weekend, L'Ó does the opposite, opening from Friday at noon (with a chef's menu for 50 euros) to Sunday at noon.
The most extensive of the menus starts with colorful appetizers that are grouped under the play on words L'Ó riu és vida, to move forward with sweet bites, such as the aforementioned almadroc, the crab salad (those who defend salads brimming with mayonnaise will like ); successful cold creams, such as the gazpachuelo of langoustines with fennel, macadamia nuts and salmon roe or the almond cream with cherries; These are the dishes that we highlight, along with the zucchini with neck bacon and espardenyes, the chicken royal with Norway lobster and, especially, the succulent onion and tomato sauce with canyuts and dill.
