2023 has been a great year for Martina Puigvert. At only 29 years old, this chef who shares the kitchen of the two-starred Les Cols (Olot) with her mother Fina Puigdevall, has not stopped winning awards in recent months. The biggest one of hers, the one that the Michelin Guide gave her last November: Best Young Chef 2024, a new distinction from the red guide that she deserves despite her young age.
Together with her sisters, Clara and Carlota, Martina leads an applaudable generational transition at Les Cols, since they have managed to make the present and the past coexist fluidly without arguments or power games, as has been seen in other houses. According to the cook, “our project is more alive than ever, and the garden is increasingly present in the kitchen. We are focused on trying to close the circle of sustainability as much as possible.”
Today he makes his solo debut leading the new pop-up that the Bar Veraz of the Barcelona Edition hotel will offer until next May 5, to which chefs of the caliber of Xavier Pellicer have joined in other editions. He believes it is right that this is the right space for his kitchen, since the philosophy of Les Cols, a restaurant in which luxury is understood as art and in which architecture plays a fundamental role (we remember that RCR Arquitectes, in charge of the design of the restaurant, won a Pritzker Prize with this project), matches perfectly with that of the hotel.
We sat down at the table to exclusively try the dishes that Puigvert has created for the occasion, which for the next few months will coexist with the honest cooking proposal of Bar Veraz chef, Pedro Tassarolo, and which can be tried both in tasting menu format as separately.
For those who choose the first option, the experience starts with an onion royale with breadcrumbs and licorice, an iconic Les Cols dish to which Puigvert has added some touches with the intention of exalting one of the most humble products that exist and making it visually much more attractive.
It is followed by what we consider to be one of the most creative dishes on the menu: the very delicate fresh egg from the Les Cols chicken coop accompanied by Km 0 vegetables (potato, green bean, carrot, red pepper, corn and tuna) that Puigvert presents in emulsion as if it were a play of colors inspired by the colorful compositions of artists such as Kandinsky or Miró.
Then the cod arrives on the table, remember that in the Olot restaurant (La Garrotxa) due to its philosophy of proximity, marine fish are not served, prepared with perfect cooking and accompanied by brandade, pilpil, raisins and muscatel.
Don’t expect a closing menu with great fireworks, since Puigvert’s sober but generous cuisine, inspired by “untraveled” seasonal ingredients, is felt until the end. So the dessert also comes from the garden, making the carrot the extreme protagonist of the last dish. To it and to the different cooking that this ingredient allows.
