Name: ABaC
Address: Barcelona, ES

Jordi Cruz's three-star flagship, set in a discreet hotel on the slope up towards Tibidabo, above the noise of Barcelona. A long tasting menu of high technical reach, with Catalan produce and ideas running under the modern surface.

By Dimitris Stathopoulos

The cooking

The menu is a long tasting sequence of high technical reach, playful in places and exact throughout, with Catalan produce and ideas running underneath the modern surface. Jordi Cruz made his name young, one of the youngest Spanish chefs ever to win a Michelin star, and ABaC gathers everything he does. The dining room is calm and contemporary, set back from the city and opening onto a garden, a world away from the crowds on the Ramblas below.

Why it is in VANE

It holds three Michelin stars in the current guide, the top rank, which in a food city as strong as Barcelona means something. Quietly above the tourist city towards Tibidabo, it is a serious kitchen you build an evening, and a good part of a trip, around. A researched profile, drawn from the restaurant's own record and reporting, not a first-hand VANE visit.

Where

The ABaC hotel, above Barcelona towards Tibidabo

Kitchen

Chef Jordi Cruz

Michelin

Three Michelin stars, current guide

Style

Contemporary tasting menu with Catalan roots

Best for

A long, serious evening

VANE selection. Chosen with a critic's eye and judged independently. It's here because we judged it, not because it paid.
On this profile: a researched profile, drawn from the restaurant's own record and reporting, not a claim of a first-hand visit. Where we have eaten there, the review says so.
Image: Photo: ABaC (official)

ABaC

The cooking

Why it is in VANE

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