The silence of Vall de Bianya, in La Garrotxa, is a delight. As is returning to the old, very old house of the Juncà brothers. And when you cross the door of Ca l’Enric (Camprodon road, N-260 Km. 91. Girona) you are greeted by the friendly waitress whom Nina encounters, a large and gentle caramel-colored dog who lives happily in the house without not altering the protocols of a haute cuisine place even one bit but making it more earthly. The animal as grounding against the ego discharges of the starry ones?
When you see her you know that Joan will be nearby, the older brother and the one who governs the room with the wisdom and peace of those who have lived, enjoyed, suffered and learned to distinguish the banal from the essential. That beautiful dog that accompanies him everywhere is in the second category. He came into his life in 2013 when he was very ill – a gift from one of his two sons, who today work, one in the sweet kitchen and the other in the restaurant room – and he was a lifeline. Since then, not only do they go everywhere together, her gait slowed by her age, but she has set an inspiring precedent for some of her haute cuisine colleagues, who have begun to admit the occasional dog in room.
We visited the Juncà winery, where three inverted bottles hanging from the ceiling remind us of the union of the three brothers who run the business: Joan in the room, Isabel in charge of the Hostel, the family’s most informal restaurant but also taking care of the hunt. And Jordi, the youngest, who takes charge of the kitchen. Nina has settled on the floor in front of the old cellar door next to the hallway that leads to the dining room and which is a treasure for the family. A door as a sign of the rebellion of Dolores, her paternal grandmother? They say that at the end of the Civil War, and already imagining the house on fire, she tore it up and hid it in the forest. “They will burn our house but no one will take this door away from us!” Today its wood reminds them of that woman’s determination and encourages them to defend a family and culinary legacy.
The cuisine served at Ca l’Enric is respectful of the place, of tradition and of a season that is now splendid, of hunting. We would have to go often to listen to Joan’s slow reflections – his sensitivity reminds us, impossible to avoid, of another wise friend of his, Josep Roca. We would have to go often to enjoy every moment of the season before, due to climate change, we settle into what they called half-time. Meanwhile, if we had to choose a time, of course, it would be hunting. It was Isabel, the middle one, who decided many years ago that it would be easier for her to work with the cut pieces than to cook them whole.”
She does not take credit for herself – “that is very masculine” – and the restaurant has been evolving in the domain of those wild meats. Bread soup with woodcock is a dish that collects not only the heritage of those lost soups that fed so many families but also the greatness of this animal, which will be used in different preparations on the menu. A soup that is not forgotten.
There are projects at Ca l’Enric, such as installing the restaurant a little higher, where the landscape allows for fantastic views. How to strip it of all unnecessary objects and keep the essentials; how to plant the pantry in the most visible place and produce delicious sausages. Joan Juncà tells us about his plans while we taste an interesting wine, Montsacopa, made next to the crater of the volcano of the same name. Grilled teardrop peas with perol sausage and green curry sauce and fried forest nettles is one of the delicious dishes that will precede that woodcock in different bites: in a rice casserole; grilled (first the head on a canapé, the breast, the thigh…) and the Royal hare with beet and truffle. The desserts, very successful, are prepared by the young Adrià Juncà. There is relief.
