Mikel Pardo arrived in Barcelona nine years ago, determined to open his first restaurant. He wanted to make his own paella because he couldn’t find good rice in town, an opinion full of reasons. But in addition to this main dish from his land, the municipality of Onda in Castellón, he also wanted to have fun and continue learning, as he did with Ricard Camarena or Albert Adrià. With this hope, Cruix was born in a small place on Entença Street, 57. It quickly became successful and rose to new levels in both the kitchen and the dining room.
Eight years after the first adventure, the Valencian chef is aiming higher with a proposal that enters directly into the gastronomic range, at Mallorca Street, 303. With only four weeks of filming, Milos can already be considered a high-level restaurant, say Valencians.
After the recent setback of the rice farm project that did not go well, Mikel Pardo did not feel discouraged, but rather became bolder to implement another idea that had been on his mind for a long time. “I wanted to offer a very considered cuisine, considered from the point of view of feeling,” he says of his new restaurant, located on an elegant and cozy ground floor in the Dreta de l’Eixample district, surrounded by royal buildings like the one he occupies.
As you enter, there is a small burgundy-painted hall, presided over by a dark wooden bar where you can have your first drink. It’s a warm space, with a Persian-style rug reminiscent of old houses and board games, one of his hobbies, that enhance that desired feeling when coming home.
The space continues towards the dining room, small, simple, but full of details, such as the paintings by Castellon artist Joan García Rebules that occupy one wall, and the armchairs, also in the same reddish color, that give continuity to the space. At the back, past the kitchen, there is a courtyard full of peace for coffee or a drink, and where the oranges and tangerines that his father brings him from the village are waiting, in the open air, the moment they enter the kitchen.
Since it has only been open for four weeks, there are still many things to implement, such as the menu or lunch menu. For now, they’ve started offering two tasting menus, one shorter (90 euros) and one longer (120 euros), “to lay the foundations for what Milos should be,” he enthuses about his new toy.
The experience begins in the best way for these cold days, with a chamomile and rabbit broth accompanied by sausages, as well as rabbit, made in-house, which is very sweet. Over white tablecloths and wine-coloured embroidered napkins, handcrafted solid stone dishes arrive, revisiting Catalan cuisine, its host land; While the sequence includes a tribute to bread in oil, which highlights a bottle of Lágrima from the Viver cooperative, made from the local Serrana de Palancia variety, and bread from the nearby bakery, Forn Sant Josep, one of Barcelona’s best, which has been baking since 1913. “We want the customer to feel loved as soon as they arrive, to notice that we take care of them,” says Miquel Pardo.
Slowly, the table fills with other delicacies, such as quail, chestnut mushroom and eel, sea potato noodles, stingray casserole, or oxtail meatballs. There is no shortage of paella, with a wonderful combination being prepared in front of the restaurant. Here rice is not the main product, but the crayfish steals the show as well as some nettle that completes the recipe. Once at the table, the chef drizzles the dish with a honey sauce also emulsified by the crustacean head. Paella, with a very thin layer, really sets the party in the dessert direction. Here Mikel Pardo shows his assets again. Mandarins, presented with different delicacies and textures, show how this technique elevates any everyday food and allows you to benefit from everything, as even the peel can be eaten. The pin comes with a tribute to Horkata with a farton, showing the imaginative mind of a chef who suffers a broken hand in the kitchen.
Cruix, another successful name
Mikel Pardo’s passion in everything he does shows even in the names he chooses for his restaurants. Milos It means sweet in Catalan. Cruix (crunchy in Catalan) was what he needed in 2017 to present himself in this city as an expert on rice, which should always be slightly undercooked, otherwise… socarrat. So he didn’t want to put labels on himself, but he had to introduce himself in some way and he chose Contemporary Rice, a name that explains only half of his cuisine. With local and seasonal products, “because they are at their best,” he asserts, but while allowing some tourist touches to be added to them, especially in sauces or accessories that give them a kind of cultural pluralism. He thinks I wouldn’t have understood it any other way while I was in Barcelona. With the opening of Melós, Cruix has gone back a little to its beginnings to offer more dishes to share, but it maintains a tasting menu (€89 with wine). Although there is a level, he always talks about his cuisine in a casual way, because he wants people to take it. You don’t need to dress up to eat well.
On his first visit to Cruix, he recommends trying some of their classics, e.g Cheese ball From parmesan cheese, Peking duck croquettes, cod aioli foam, or oxtail meatballs with mash. Wasabi And algae. Now that it’s time for the artichokes, serve them with a Caesar dressing that has olives instead of anchovies as the base. You should try the old-fashioned beef paella if you prefer meat or the garlic shrimp paella for those who can’t imagine rice without the flavor of the sea, although the classic one has chicken, rabbit, green beans and jugs. In addition to the other main dishes, there is a dish that you cannot leave off the menu and that brings up a lot of memories: a sad day at the beach, where the ice cream hit the sand. Thank God that at the hands of Michel Bardot, even sand is edible and tastes like chocolate and salted caramel. Happy ending.