Osmosis

I left thinking if I just experienced a Michelin star restaurant in the making. Perfect balance of modern Catalan dishes. My favorite tasting menu of Barcelona.

The food was good but a bit flat. For the status and recognition they have I was expecting something that could blew my mind. The dishes lacked depth and contrasts. They didn’t have those peaks of flavours that impresses you. But, overall was a very good and pleasant dinner. The service was great and the waiter serving the wine was very helpful and nice. The atmosphere can be a bit more joyful and warm. Overall a great place to eat!

You gotta check out this restaurant. Everything was awesome. Definitely try the tasting menu.

Wow! Reserved based on Michelin guide which isn’t always a guarantee of success. This restaurant went beyond our expectations. Well balanced and seasoned dishes. Accommodating for dietary restrictions. Enjoyed the sea bass, with fine jelly, the cocuilles and octopus green gazpacho and the lamb neck. Grind let informal service. The lighting in the front could be less white.

It’s not often you can say “I’ve found my new favourite restaurant” in a place like Barcelona where competition is extremely high, but the food this place produces is beautiful, paired with some great wines and served with a welcoming face. There’s a quiet air of confidence, but never arrogance, for what they create. Delicious.

One of the best restaurants we've been to in Barcelona. While they do have a great looking tasting menu, the real hit was selecting a whole bunch of items of their regular menu. The highlights were the salmon and mango, the foie gras, anchovy filet, but everything was great. Sit in the front, the AC works much better there. :)

Superb dishes and excellent service without a hefty price tag. We went for lunch and tried five dishes plus a dessert. Everything, from the hors d'oeuvres to the dessert, was perfectly executed and it’s our favorite restaurant on this Barcelona trip. There are some private rooms on the second floor of the restaurant, while the ground floor has a more casual feel. Would gladly return and visit regularly if we live in Barcelona.

One of the best paces for casual food I have ever been to. Great atmosphere. Father and son are amazing hosts. The food is spot on. The best Foie Gras I ever had. The chocolate dessert is also out of this world. A must go if you are in Barcelona and like great food.

My first Michelin star experience and it has successfully ruined normal dining for me. Where do I start? The responsiveness of the staff: 11/10. We emailed them two days prior and were able to bag a reservation. Value for money? Where else would you get a 8 course meal for just €60? THE FOOD: every course was a party in itself. Right from the amuse Bouche to the exquisite desserts we experienced the pure genius of the chef. Highlight of the meal was when they got us an additional serving of dessert in the end because we let them know how we couldn't have enough of it. They have my

These guys do a really nice job! The owner usually delivers each dish and wine pouring. His understanding of regions, grapes, and wine are very strong. This alone makes a dining experience worth it! Very dish is unique and if you enjoy wine pairing with it then you just 10x your experience. Go try it, sure there may be one dish you like less than the others but overall amazing value and experience.

This was the coolest place EVER. The food is art. Everything was presented so beautifully with such detail. It was almost too pretty to eat. I absolutely LOVED it. I had the lamb, steak fries and chocolate ice cream. The ice cream plate was so colorful it looked like a paint wheel.

is there some chemistry going on here??? osmosis /äzmōsis/ Noun 1. the tendency of molecules of a solvent to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one, thus equalizing the concentrations on each side of the membrane. 2. the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, etc. Synonyms osmose but fear not as they do not belong to the molecular gastronomy category. they merely position themselves as a new catalan market cuisine, a fresh take on tradition. dressed in my desigual best, i turned up unannounced, like most michelin star inspectors do, just before their 8pm dinner opening. their shutters were still half drawn. their staff taking a break by the kerbside. casually i established eye contact and enquired about a possible seating. whisperings in spanish ensued before a courteous just one moment. shortly after, they indicated that they were indeed willing to accommodate me on the condition that i could vacate by 9.30pm, to which i answered no problemo. at first glance, ambience is intimate and classy. on closer inspection, even the toilets are equipped with proper fluffy hand towels! their ever friendly chatty staff were really informative and tried their best to make you feel at home. nothing snooty here. it is tasting menu only and tasting menu it is. reasonably priced at €52 for 7 courses. pa i entretenimets for €3. copa de cava for €5 each but unfortunately the pour was not generous. vichy sparkling for €3. just as the food fan fare was about to begin i was told that the table was mine for the night due cancellation, so no need to hurry on my part. yay! now bring it! the quality of the bread, olio and salts set the tone for what's to come. crusty with a sourdough taste and stretchy texture. smooth as can be extra virgin olio. british, australian and intriguing black hawaiian volcanic salt. amuse bouche consists of deep fried cheese on a stick, larger than life fresh olives and a mussels with chopped tomatoes in seaweed cream concoction. foie micuit with apple and vanilla, which looked more like a dessert, was a sweet rich creamy, one bite use your hand start. sun-root cream with baby squids at garlic's style, the staff described this as a canadian potato but it tasted more like artichoke with a good roasted brown garlic punch and sweet tender baby squids. pig's trotters rice with prawns, my favourite of the lot. a risotto with the full flavour and gelatinous essence of pork without any signs that a pig died for this dish. fresh as day prawns adorns. roasted monkfish with oregano and anis suquet, a close second. this reminded me of a bouillabaisse! the plump monkfish was firm and full of bite accompanied by a distinctly anise perfumed, not overpowering, suquet enhanced by slow caramelised onions and a tofu mayo. veal with steamed eggplant and roasted peaches, probably my least favourite due to the fact that the veal medallion was served seared outside but almost raw within. it was good quality meat but a slightly higher core temperature would have been ideal. peaches or rather the slice of peach was seasonally sweet. duo of desserts were accomplish but nothing to shout about. time check: 9.30pm. as promised, i delivered. not that it mattered any more but it's good to know just how fast i can eat, so the bottle neck is always how fast they can cook! the continually joking staff then wanted to know what i was doing after dinner, to which i gestured bedtime. that was immediately greeted with a no no! it's saturday night and the party is just about to start! the advice was, when in spain do as spanish do, no sleeping! and it being my last night in barcelona it is sacrosanct to do so! sigh, no wonder nothing is opened early here on sunday mornings!!!

We found this through another trip advising site and were lucky to get a reservation for the 7 course tasting menu with wine. The place is very small, but good neighborhood in the L'eixample district in Barcelona. The menu started extremely well with some very interesting dishes that looked and tasted amazing. The wine paired well. If you don't speak Spanish or Catalan, though, it may be a challenge to get the nuances of the description. We did not have a problem though and it was a great and elegant dinner that was reasonably priced for the level of food and wine.

The ambiance is great or poor, depending what you are looking for. It is a very small and narrow restaurant. We were seated in the upstairs room which held our party of 10 very comfortably (probably could hold 14). The decor doesn't feel upscale, so some may not like the ambiance. The conversation levels were better than sitting at my house, as everyone could hear each other at a comfortable volume. We chose to go with the "wine pairing". Each of the 7 courses were paired with a separate wine (Total of 75 Euros per person). Each dish has small portions, so you will come away feeling adequately fed. If you have a growing teenager, you may ask for "extra large" portions. The Foie Gras was uniquely good with a sweet flavor to it (apple and Vanilla). The Mushroom cream with sausage was a very good combination. The 3 slices of beef with apple and red fruit sauce was tender and complementary. Dessert had two dishes: fig in a creamy sauce with sorbet on top; and 3 chocolates (so good). The wait staff was very friendly, but eccentrically so... Our waiter commanded (I do not use this term loosely) our attention to explain each dish, and a separate expert came to tell us about the wine pairing. The chef was very friendly, as he came out to greet us as we were leaving. The food and wine were delectable, and I only give it less than 5 stars because I know some will not like the overly intimate and somewhat bland setting.

An interesting place to eat - but some strange juxtapositions. Trip Advisor gives it a super high rating, but I can't agree. It is a small restaurant, two levels. Supposed to be sleek and minimal, but I found it a little worn down. The staff and service is beyond excellent, 6 stars for them. The menu currently (Feb 2012) is a fixed tasting menu, with another option for each item if you don't like one on the menu. Perhaps that changes in tourist season? While we waited we were brought olives and fresh bread with a local olive oil and three different salts to dip the bread into, white, pink and black. Although the bread was delicious, as was the olive oil, sadly my palate was not sophisticated enough to taste the difference between the salts :(. The starter was fois gras with apple and vanilla - quite interesting since I'm not a huge fan of fois gras - but I actually liked it. Lots of vanilla made it almost taste like a very rich dessert and the slight tartness of the apple almost balanced the richness of the fois. I would only say that the thin cracker on which it was served was not appropriate to hold or balance the richness of the fois - I think it would have ben better served with bread, a number of pieces, on which to spread it (just my opinion). Next was the cream of squash soup with sausage, bacon and carrot puree - delish! Mushroom risotto - quite good as well - I love mushrooms! I then had beef tenderloin, also good, but not excellent. Crispy pig back with liquorice, hmmmm. Not my favourite, tho I had a similar dish in California with chocolate and it was to die for.... Two desserts - both good :) First was some fruit sorbets - good, fresh, interesting, then a dish with 3 bites of chocolate - white chocolate and baileys ice-cream, a chocolate scroll filled with mousse (?) and a dark chocolate ball filled with chocolate ice-cream. Good in my opinion, but again not great. I am a chocolate purist and to me, chocolate is not a dish best served cold (I think that may only apply to revenge). I prefer my chocolate room temp or better still - warm! Take out the mousse stuffed chocolate roll and replace it with a bergamot/chocolate lava cake, replace the chocolate ball-icecream with a simple truffle with chill and they'd be all set! We had good wine pairings as suggested by the waiter - Alsace with the fois and a bottle of Spanish red with the rest. I like that the waiter told us about each dish and how best to approach them - first taste this, then take a bit of this - if it is to increase the enjoyment of the food then I am all for it. I like tasting menus because I like to eat as many interesting things as possible in small amounts and not be too full to have dessert, so this was a good place for me, but I found all the courses to be just good, not great. I think they would need to experiment just a little more to enhance the flavours, and perhaps move away from their comfort zone.

Osmosis is a truly singular experience and is a great value for the tasting menu. We paid 52 euro for the dinner tasting menu which was comprised of seven dishes and bread. They also offered the wine pairing but we elected not to have it. The service was top notch and provided a fine dining experience. The restaurant is small with limited seating so make a reservation ahead (online reservation available.) We did notice there was a majority of tourist in the restaurant so the staff speaks varied languages. The head chef greeted us at the door when we arrived and consulted us on the options for the tasting menu. He offered different options if a dish was not agreeable. The overall ambiance was also delightful as the decor was muted and modern. The midday tasting menu is also offered at a nice price.

**Same review as on my tripadvisor** I thought it would be nice to do a little fine dining in Barcelona, so i made reservations in advance once we had our trip details confirmed! We came here at 8pm on a Tuesday night, first table ever (until another hour or so when other tables got filled). Maybe it's a Spain thing, but I thought it was quite odd. It's tasting menu only, so be sure to check the menu (changes every now and then, but for reference). They started off with a plate of green and black olives with some chips, then brought us bread with olive oil and 3 kinds of salts. Chips are good, the bread was really crispy and the salt was fun to try. 1st dish, it's a foie muit which was very good and creamy. 2nd dish, peach gazpacho with cockles and orange, very yummy and love the cockles! it works with the sweet-ish taste of gazpacho 3rd dish, prawn rice with squid - super yummy! tasted like paella but the squid was very good and prawn was cooked perfectly 4th dish - cod fish - this is my least fav dish, didn't even finished mine 5th dish - duck confit - cooked rare, very good but very small piece, could have been a little bigger piece 6th - vanilla ice cream + hibiscus soup, just seems uninspired to me 7th - trios of chocolates - good! Bailey's ice cream with yummy chocolate! this is good Overall, it came up to 135 euros (had a bottle of cavas, 2 bottle of mini waters)

Nice fine dining restaurant, I have attended a wine pairing dinner and I have really enjoyed it. Food was complex but yet simple, absolutely matching with the wines that have been promoted. Not sure if they are used to organize these type of events cause at the beginning the service has been incredibly slow (it ended up being a 3hrs dinner for 4 dishes and 4 glasses of wine) O_o apart from this "detail" I highly recommend it

Sleek small restaurant. Waiter was great. Presentation was fanstastic. The food, however, was a bit adventurous for some of us. First two courses both included foie gras which doesn't appeal to all. Hake/cuttlefish dish just wasn't good. Dessert with red fruit done fresh and dried was delicious. Clearly, they create some great dishes, but won't appeal to all.

Osmosis is just perfect. We had two dinners with them during our eleven days in Barcelona. The staff at Osmosis was ultra professional and very sweet to us and our two young children. The tasting menu was creative, tasty, and sophisticated for each of our meals. If you enjoy food and appreciate excellent service then you will like Osmosis.

Osmosis is an outstanding restaurant. I booked it at the last minute when other, much more casual, plans fell through and I was a little worried that it might be too formal for our slightly worn-out group of travelers. But they greeted us warmly and gave us a table where we could take in everything that was going on in the jewel box of the ground floor dining room. (The restaurant is arranged so cozily that we weren't even sure if there were more tables upstairs until one of us went exploring for the bathroom). For me the secret to a really great restaurant is matching the service to the quality of the food, and that's where Osmosis shone brightest. Despite the fact that we assured our waiter that three of us could at least understand Spanish and would be happy to explain what he was telling us to the fourth, he insisted on repeating everything in English so she wouldn't feel left out. And though he sometimes struggled to come up with all of the esoteric vocabulary, the wine guy spent a lot of effort explaining the pairings to us in English. He even brought the bottles back to the table afterwards so we could take pictures of the labels we liked best. Even the other diners were helpful. When we struggled to figure out the name of one ingredient ("avellana"), a woman at another table shouted "hazel nut!" Overall the staff spent so much attention on us, chatting and joking around, that we felt like real guests rather than obligations. Oh, yes. The food. We had the longer tasting menu and everything was both delicious and beautiful. In particular, the "foie micuit amb poma a la vainilla" that opened the meal was one of the best few of bites of anything I've ever eaten, and I'm not even one of those people who is crazy about foie gras. At the prices they are charging for this level of food and service, Osmosis feels like a real bargain. It wouldn't be hard to spend almost as much on ubiquitous tapas and you'd be unlikely to have such a wonderful experience. That said, don't go to Osmosis if you're looking for a quick meal or a raging party scene. Instead take people you like to talk to, settle in for 2 1/2 or 3 hours, and let the wonderful food and wine wash over you.

Osmosis offer one fixed menu at a time, that they change on Tuesdays. In the evening it has 7 courses (45EUR) and 5 at lunch time (25EUR). We had the house wine of very good quality for 5EUR per glass. They adjust courses on request. The food and the service is of very high quality and is excellent value for money. In our case the courses showed a certain continuity in the sense that the soup and two sauces served with subsequent courses resembled themselves. We definitely enjoyed our dinner and would return there when we go to Barcelona. We had a hard time reserving our table by phone, because we couldn't reach them during the first attempts. Probably the web is the way to go for reservations.