BUBO - One Of The Best Patisseries In Barcelona

Inventive and stunning shop display coupled with innovative design.Loved the ideas and colours.
Very smart modern patisserie
Beautiful individual pastries.
Macaroon's of every flavour and colour.Sweet tooth's really are spoiled for choice in Barcelona, it seems every street has a world class patisserie, ice cream shop or bakery. We think we found the best though, Bubo was fantastic and an inspiration to us. Their design, packaging ideas and beautifully executed patisserie was outstanding. Obviously the chef is a very talented man and we applaud his achievements. Burch & Purchese are looking forward to returning very soon. http://www.bubo.ws/

Great Dessert And Wine Pairing! Inopia Restaurant - Barcelona

Albert Adria's 'Egg Custard Of The House'
A glass of Castano Dulce Monastrell 06Really fantastic combination, we just thought you should know.

Adriano Zumbo - A Must Visit In Sydney

Adriano poses for us outside his patisserie in Sydney.We popped into our friend Adriano's shop in Balmain in Sydney last week to catch up with him. Its been a while since Burch & Purchese worked with Adriano when Ramon Morato was over from Spain for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival in March. Since then Adriano has been flat out out and achieved a certain celebrity after his T.V. appearances, well we can say it's well deserved as his pastries are stunning. Adriano captures depth, flavour and texture and showcases modern pastry techniques. His playful description of his works are also very clever and Burch & Purchese say thanks for the fantastic creations and well done on all of your success, it won't be long before we return!!!! http://adrianozumbo.com/patisserie.html

A Visit To Espai Sucre

Outside the school, Carrer Sant Pere Mes Alt 72, Barcelona 08003
Stunning cooking school, inside the 'old building'.
Jordi Puigvert chats with Xano Saguer
The 'new' building, very smart and modern.
All the kitchen gadgets you could think of including 'MyCook'.
Jordi Puigvert (left), Jordi Butron (middle).
A beautiful summer dish at the restaurant Espai Sucre.
We enjoyed four courses of dessert for dinner. Fantastic!Our friend Jordi Puigvert, met us in Barcelona and promised to introduce us to Jordi Butron and Xano Saguer the pastry chefs behind famed restaurant/school Espai Sucre. During the day Jordi took us to the school which has just had a new wing added. The old one looked pretty good and efficient but the new one was stunning! Very modern and minimalist, it is home to students from all over the world interested in learning patisserie from one of the most accomplished pastry chefs in the world. Jordi Butron has worked for and with so many great chefs. He has headed up pastry sections in Bras and Pierre Gagniare and El Bulli to name a few, Jordi Puigvert used to work at Espai Sucre and introduced us. It was fascinating taking a look into such a professional operation and while we were there a class was being held on taste and senses. The students were given blindfolds and put through a series of tests and sensory experiences, all part of the course they had enrolled in. We met Xano Saguer as well who was working on dish development for the Espai Sucre restaurant down the road, everyone was very friendly and hospitable and a table was booked for us at the restaurant later in the week. The dinner was special as we were treated to two savoury courses and four dessert courses all of which were stunning and culminating in a fantastic brioche, chocolate and fresh truffle dessert which lingered in the mouth long after it was devoured. In all a special experience and new friends made whom we will look after when they come to Australia. Special thanks to Jordi Puigvert for spending the day with us and showing us around Espai Sucre and virtually every pastry shop in Barcelona. http://www.espaisucre.com/index.php?page=intro.language

Burch & Purchese Dishes - 11 Apple, Celery, Beetroot & Walnut

This is a first version of a new dessert we are currently working on. The flavours seem to complement each other very well. We wanted to create a dessert that used unusual flavours coupled with modern techniques and differing textures. We made a vibrant beetroot sorbet using freeze dried beetroot powder. The finished sorbet was a stunning colour and not too sweet, we were happy with this result. This dish has a lot of components and has a savoury feel to it. We paired the sorbet with walnut jam and candied walnuts, lemon curd, candied celery and an unusual apple balsamic jelly. We pickled some apple pieces in white balsamic vinegar and made an espuma of yoghurt. Also on the plate we added apple 'pringles' which were a fun element as was the apple 'bubbles'. The bubbles were an adaptation of a technique passed on to us by Chef Andoni Luiz Aduriz from Mugaritz restaurant where they developed a recipe for chocolate bubbles. We find that the bubbles are a fairly easy application to replicate with most flavours and we were happy with the vibrant, almost effervescent effect given from the malic acid in the apples. The dish works well and has been popular when put on the menu. It seems to attract the sort of customer who says 'I don't normally have dessert', and for that we are thankful. As always we will rework and refine this dish and post back the results.

Dinner At El Cellar de Can Roca

Anticipation of entering this legendary restaurant.

Darren with Joan (left) and Jordi (right)

Our 'Feast Menu' - click to enlarge
The A la Carte Dessert menu.
'Green Chromatism'

'Caramelized Apricot part 1'

'Caramelized Apricot part 2'
'Milk Dessert' - Milk Caramel, sheeps milk ice-cream, sheep's curd cheese foam

Petits FourAt dinner at this superb restaurant, I (Darren) was treated to the exceptional talent and artistry of acclaimed pastry chef Jordi Roca. The meal as a whole was outstanding with Chef Joan and sommelier Josep pairing exquisite course after exquisite course, with touches of flair from Jordi more than evident throughout. The 'feast' menu was delivered and enjoyed thoroughly by myself and my wife and we were delighted with the service and execution. The desserts though were a standout, the dessert menu is included above for your interest and most of them were tried on the night in addition to the 'feast' menu as Jordi sent out three extra desserts for us to try. The picture above of the apricot was a superbly lifelike blown sugar ball which resembled the freshest apricot you have seen, inside was smooth sorbet of apricot and it tasted delicious. A truly memorable night was capped off with Sommelier Josep guiding us into the superbly renovated kitchen to meet the chefs who were extremely hospitable despite a language barrier. In the coming weeks we at Burch & Purchese will look more closely into these dishes and explain the thought and technique behind them, but for now we will leave you to drool over the pictures.
http://www.cellercanroca.com/PORTADA/intro.htm

Interesting Omelette Dishes

During our dinners at El Cellar de Can Roca and El Bulli in Spain last month we noticed two similar dishes on both of the menus. The top photo shows the 'Omelette Surprise' at El Bulli and the next two photos show El Cellar's 'Herring Smoked Caviar Omelette', both of these dishes were very interesting. On first inspection these both looked like a classic omelette, but bot were not as they seemed. An outer membrane held a liquid substance which burst upon piercing. Both dishes were amazing in presentation, technique and were most importantly delicious in flavour. We are always interested in techniques and new applications on classic dishes and wanted to share these with you.

A Day At Sosa Products - Castelltercol, Catalonia

In a small village around one hour from Barcelona Darren and his wife Cath, visited the factory of Sosa Products. Sosa is a company servicing the savoury and patisserie sides of the kitchen and their products are being used worldwide. A former biscuit manufacturer, Sosa has extended their product range in recent years and focused their attention on flavour compounds, chemicals, equipment and freeze dried products. Led by Francesc (Quico) Sosa, an enthusiastic and talented professional, a character seemingly styled from an Patrick Suskind novel, Sosa delivers cutting edge technologies to the industry.

We were met by Quico himself, who warmly welcomed us into his world of flavours. Quico explained to us the process of freeze drying and showed us his new products and the machine they are dried in. Off then on a tour of the factory, first through the biscuit and wafer production centre started by his father before him. Sosa still produce these products for the food service industry but have evolved with Quico's visionary ethos. Next we were taken to the new wing of the factory and Quico's world of flavours. We were first shown Sosa's chemical mixes available for retail, Quico made demonstrations to us on these and explained their uses and told us of some of his prestigious clients. Agar and gelatine mixes, algae gelification products and egg powders were all explained with enthusiasm. Quico then showed us his flavour alphabet, a new range of flavour profiles of virtually every ingredient you could think of. He demonstrated uses for these and we were impressed by the possibilities, Quico stresses though that these products should only be used to enhance a natural ingredient and not replace them. Cool mini demonstrations followed including and egg free alioli, and a chocolate free Macadamia ganache. In all Quico was very generous with his time and knowledge and we left the factory with an enthusiasm for his products and the new techniques now available to the chef. Certainly exciting times and a great help to the time strapped chef, look out for Sosa products which are going to be huge in Australia as soon as more top end chefs come to know about them. Thank you to Quico for his hospitality and Sosa products are now available in Australia through Imports Of France. http://www.sosa.cat/index.php