Added on August 30, 2012
East 47 operates no longer as a restaurant, but has become a Tapas Bar. The brilliant chef Daniel Padró is now working at the hotel's rooftop restaurant, Restaurant La Terraza del Claris.

East 47
The restaurant at Hotel Claris Barcelona
Article added on December 2, 2005

East 47
 
In the 1990s, Barcelona has grown into a gourmet destination. Today, the culinary offer is better than ever. Part of this fortunate development is the restaurant East 47 at Hotel Claris (article in German). Executive chef Daniel "Dani" Padró may not be widely known yet, but he already deserves wider recognition. It was my favorite, although all gourmet restaurants tested on this tour were excellent.

The restaurant's name refers to the address of Andy Warhol's NYC studio, The Factory. Therefore, lithographs of the artist's work ornate East 47. In addition to the gourmet restaurant, the hotel offers a bar and, as the summer highlight, La Terraza del Claris, where food is served too from about April to October.

The gourmet restaurant East 47 concentrates on excellent Mediterranean produce and is particularly influenced by the cuisine of France, Catalonia and the Basque region. However, Padró prepares even dishes he has not created himself in his own style, e.g. the Catalan cod with apple on a pil pil sauce from the Basque region is made à la Padró. In addition to the produce, the spices as well as to the perfect cooking time (al dente) are the chef's key recipes. All products are very visible on the plate. It is the mix of all products together that brings out the particular flavor. Padró pays special attention to the cooking techniques, choosing the most appropriate for each dish.

The menu changes four times a year according to the season. In addition, five to six dishes change on a monthly basis. Among the specialties always on the menu is the grilled T-bone stake from the nearby Girona region, which is famous for its exceptional quality. Another classic are the sea-scallops with tomato, artichokes and dried fruit oil. Among the desserts, you will always find one based on hot chocolate.

East 47 only seats only 30 people, which ensures that each guests receives special attention from Daniel Padró and his team.



A vegetarian dinner at East 47
 
My dinner started with a glass of Cava, Perelada 2002, Brut nature, from the region of Emporda on the Costa Brava. In addition to excellent black olives and crisini, three appetizers were served. Two types of strong salt, one from Majorca with hibiscus, the other one with black olives were on the table, together with two varieties of Catalan olive oil, one 100% arbequino, the other one a mix of rojoblanco and arbequino. The accompanied the bred, of which Dani always four types. On my day of testing, it included, among others, one with carrots and one with black olives.

My starter consisted of a frozen asparagus soup, a touch too watery, with outstanding and tender green asparagus tips. The soup was followed by carrots and pumpkins cooked with orange and honey. I could enjoy the sublime quality of Catalan vegetables, prepared in a wafer-thin way.

Olive oil bread with artichokes, buffala mozzarella and herbs were next. The artichokes replaced the meat, which on the "normal" menu accompanies this dish. It was simple, but pleasant. Eighteen varieties of salted fruits and vegetables with strong taste followed, cooked to the point, accompanied by an avocado and mango ice cream. Outstanding, as well as the gnocchi with a black truffles sauce - it was not the season for fresh truffles - convinced with their intensive flavor.

My dinner ended with a few desserts. First came one typical for Dani: a ricotta with peach, a yoghurt ice with lemon sauce. Brilliant! The other desserts included a pastice of bananas and a petit four au chocolat, a very dark and bitter one with a lot of cacao. It ended with a chocolate mousse with mandarin ice-cream and thin spiced bread accompanied by a sugar cream, where the intensive flavor of the mandarin married well with the rest.

The white wine which accompanied my desserts was of a sensibly superior quality than the cava a started the evening with. It was a D.O.C. Priorat (from the Catalan region), Clos Nelin 2003, with 13.5% alcohol. Producer Clos Mogador has done a fine job for a 2003. This wine is recommended to accompany meat or strongly tasting fish.

East 47 with its inventive chef is highly recommendable, last but not least to vegetarians. Especially the quality of the vegetables was impressive.

Biography of chef Daniel Padró 

Daniel Padró was born in 1970 in Barcelona. He studied at Ecole d'hôtellerie Arnadi (Director Mrs. May Hoffman), notably with professor Eric Sinnig (C.A.P.), and had individual kitchen training with professor Bernard Benbassat (O.I.R.).

As early as 1997, Padró had the chance of an internship with the eminent chef Martín Berasategui, from whom he learned a lot about cooking techniques. In Berasategui's two Michelin star restaurant in Lasarte in the Basque country, Padró worked as sous-chef de partie in the pastry, vegetables, garde-manger and bakery station.

The next famous chef he had the chance to work with was Michel Bras in Laguiole, France. In his two Michelin starred restaurant, Padró spent the entire season of 1998 as sous-chef de partie in the pastry, vegetables, garde-manger and bakery station. Both chefs, Berasategui and Bras have now three Michelin stars. Padró was in both cases part of the teams which laid the foundations for the third star.

After the one-star Michelin restaurants l'Esguard in St. Andreu de Llavanderes as chef de partie and the equally one-starred Michelin restaurant La Cuina de Can Pipes in Mont-Ras as second in command, Padró started to work for Fermín Puig at the gourmet restaurant Drolma in Barcelona in 2000. He stayed for three years as sub-chef. In January 2004, for the first time in his career, Daniel Padró became executive chef, at the five-star Hotel Claris in Barcelona.

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