If you are in Olot, you must consider to lunch here :-)…read more The staff is professional, courteous and fast. The food is tasty and you will be full of energy to climb the volcanoes after a break here ! The daily meal (for 11e) is the best option. You will have the choice between several local specialities (butifarra, patates, veal hamburguesa ...) The red wine is the only downside but it is included in the menu :-)

On a one-week cooking and cultural tour of Barcelona and the Catalan cuisine with Milk Street and…read moreCulinary Backstreet. Our trip started in Barcelona and quickly headed outside the city to the Catalan region. Our tour culminates with a tour and a 22 course lunch at Les Cols, a 2 Michelin Star restaurant in Olot. The previous day to our lunch, we toured the family restaurant's private farm where many of the vegetables are grown and harvested without pesticides or industrial fertilizers. The farm itself is very impressive and a tribute to freshly produced vegetables that are sustainable. An impressive aspect of Les Cols is the heavy incorporation of local purveyors in the area to assist Les Cols with seasonal foods. A community that shares in the restaurant's success also supports neighborhood farms and families that in turn are also a success story. We arrived and were given a tour of the incredible grounds that use to be the family farmhouse. The evolution of the grounds and restaurant into a modern zen garden is breathtaking. An exterior glass room for large events, national celebrations or weddings is impressive. They have provided a total package for a truly memorable event you may want to host. The old farmhouse is in direct contrast to the modern, sleek and rather cold interior of the restaurant. I have never seen a more upbeat kitchen to work in that feels as you are in the outdoors. The tour of the grounds was mind-blowing and worth exploring. After touring the ground, we were escorted to the yard where seat cushions were placed on a low wall so we could be served hors d'oeuvres and drinks. The food presentation was beautiful artwork with unique food combinations and profiles. The attention to detail and symbolism was second to none. We then toured the kitchen and were seated in a long gold dining hall for the remainder of our courses, each of which had region ties to the Catalan culture. The entire list of food we were served and eat are to long to write about, so I'll include it in the photo section. Many of the dishes were good and quite tasty. I did not enjoy the rabbit and the filet and cod guts. Overall, this was an amazing setting, ambiance, food and experience at Les Cols. From the facility, staff, food presentation, taste profiles and unique dining experience, Les Cols provided me with a remarkable day and opportunity. Thank you for your vision, care and tireless work to make dining at Les Cols a cherished moment. If the opportunity presents itself, cherish it.

Les Cols has a very different feel from any other restaurant I've been to in the area. Ultra…read moremodern decor (you have to see it, it is indescribable) and a slightly strange layout immediately let you know that you're in for something different here. The restaurant is arranged in an "L" shape. The small side of the L has a few tables arranged as one might expect in a restaurant. The long side contains one giant long table down the middle which, on the night we went, was set for a number of couples with about 3 chair widths between each setting...awkward! Not to mention not very private...this part of the room was virtually silent throughout the evening. Off of the long section of the restaurant are a number of small rooms containing a single table each, and it was in one of these rooms that our table for 5 had been laid. The idea here is clearly to give you an experience centred around a meal (as opposed to just a meal). To that end, dinner actually starts outside behind the restaurant in a garden area. Here, you will be brought a glass of cava as well as an array of hors d'oeuvres common to both menus on offer (either their "normal" tasting menu or their vegetarian tasting menu, which bizarrely even shares the meat based hors d'oeuvres with the non-veggi menu). This was a nice touch, except that there was quite a long time left between the different food items, so we didn't actually sit down at our table until 45-50 minutes after our reservation time. Also, they did not have enough chairs for everyone who had booked at the same time as us, which meant that some people had to sit either on the grass or on the low stone wall ringing the garden (not great for the poor guy who decided to wear white trousers to dinner). A lot of the food on the menu sounded clever and interesting and there seemed to be a nice balance of flavours and ingredients on offer. The execution of the dishes though was very hit and miss, with some dishes being nicely cooked, well flavoured and well balanced, whilst others were bland to the point where you would not have had a clue what you were eating were it not for the fact that it had been written down for you first. Unfortunately, whoever was on salt duty in the kitchen that night was far too enthusiastic in their role and pretty much every dish came with what can only be described as a heap of sea salt sitting on top of it. The salt was in large flakes and easy to pick off but alas the damage had already been done and in many cases one would have been forgiven for thinking they had just been served a spoonful of salt. For wine, we accepted the sommelier's offer to bring us a selection of wines to compliment the various courses. The wines that we were served were, without fail, extremely good, but most of them were far too powerful for the food on offer. There were about 7 different wines served with the meal and the glasses poured were HUGE. I know I know, I shouldn't complain, but it meant that by the time we were done 1) we were very drunk (luckily one of us had not partaken and was able to drive home), 2) there was the equivalent of about a bottle of wine per person unfinished across the set of glasses on the table (huge waste!) and 3) our taste buds were thoroughly confused by the rapid delivery of so many over-powering wines. A good effort but the matching of wine to food was far from a win. On our way out, we were met by the chef/owner who insisted on giving us a tour of her kitchens. Again, this was a nice touch, and I couldn't help but think that her staff could take a page or two out of her book. If they had had even half of the enthusiasm and passion evident in her character our meal experience would have been greatly enhanced. Instead, they filled the role of hyper-mechanical silent drones which made the whole evening a little...weird. So where does this leave us? I'm honestly not sure. I think that with more personable service, a less awkward atmosphere, a new salt boy and a bit more care over flavour balance this could be quite the experience. As it stands though, I think the meal just wasn't quite what it should have been. Having said that, I have visited on one previous occasion when the food was much better, but the service was just plain rude. So I'm unsure what to make of the whole thing except to say that I'm not sure I'll be going back any time soon. It's just too much of an enigma! If you do go, you may wish to consider spending the night in their pretty cool glass hotel. This is as weird as it sounds (but has far more privacy than you could ever imagine a hotel made entirely of glass could have) and is definitely something to experience. It will also save you incurring hefty legal fees and fines (not to mention the possibility of death) on the way home if no one in your party opts out of the wine service.

This fantastic restaurant was connected to our hotel (also fantastic). Food was delicious and…read moreexpertly presented. Service was wonderful; attentive but not intrusive. They obviously have a lot of passion for what they are doing. The restaurant is within the walls of a peaceful medieval hilltop village, which makes for a perfect after dinner stroll

I think I have found a new joint favorite restaurant in Catalonia! Masnou is set in a beautiful if…read morenot slightly out of the way location just outside the small village of Santa Pau near the town of Olot. It is owned and operated by members of a charming family who share in the cooking and serving of the food. This is not the overly fancy Michelin-style food on offer at some of the other top restaurants in the region but is instead some of the best prepared and heartfelt Catalan mountain food I have had the pleasure of tasting. We were looked after by David, the extremely friendly, caring and helpful son of the boss (who we simply knew as "Mama"). He is of El Cellar de Can Roca stock, having worked there before starting Masnou with his family, and is clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about his restaurant and their food, as well as Catalan cuisine in general. In fact, the restaurant was mentioned by one of the Roca brothers in a recent newspaper interview, which is how we found it in the first place. David suggested that we try mini portions of a selection of starters so that we could taste all the different sides of Catalan cooking reflected in their menu. Taking our dietary restrictions into account without batting an eyelid, we were served the most wonderful selection of nibbles from the simple yet unbelievably tasty (tomato and onion salad, salad of local beans from Santa Pau) to the more intricate and refined (a unique foie gras preparation, the likes of which I've never had before, and some unbelievably light cod fritters, which were not at all oily and did not overpower the sweet cod meat with batter flavour). The starters were finished off with a palette cleansing spoonful of a frozen mojito sorbet, which set us up beautifully for the main courses. Mains were more hearty, with highlights including two different preparations of duck (with orange or with pear), oven-roasted lamb shoulder, veal with a rich sauce made of local forrest mushrooms, beef cheeks served with a powerful onion reduction and onion confit and, the night we went, a special chicken preparation made with a tasty combinations of local herbs and spices. I'm not normally one for ordering chicken at a restaurant (it is often dull and too dry), but this was superb! There were some very nice sounding fish dishes on offer as well including tuna, cod and sea bass, but no one on our table tried any of them, so I can't comment on their quality, though I'd imagine it to be extremely high based on the standard of the rest of the food. I'm not sure if there was a wine list or not, but we said that we wanted to order wine and were just brought a local bottle. Not that we had any cause for complaint though, as while it may not have been the finest wine I've ever tasted, it was good and complimented the meal extremely well. We were also served some local muscat with desert, which was a nice touch. Overall, this was one of the best meals I've enjoyed in Catalonia with the overall experience (food, setting, service, etc.) being just right and full of charm and authenticity. It is also by far the best value meal I've had, with the full meal, including desert (which was also very tasty) and wine, coming in at just over €30/head. They could probably charge double that and I'd still happily pay it, but somehow I get the impression that they are more interested in producing great food than in squeezing diners for every penny they can. I suspect that the prices are also aimed at their majority clientele, who are either locals from the surrounding towns and villages or regional visitors from as far away as Girona and Barcelona. Few tourists have yet to discover this true gem. A few things to note. The interior of the restaurant is simple and cozy, with checkered table cloths and basic rustic decor. Do not be put off! The menu is available in Catalan or English (no Castellano here!). The descriptions on the English menu are a little basic sounding and one or two dishes have been left off. Again, do not be put off! You will not be disappointed with your food and if anyone in your group is able to read the Catalan menu, definitely get one as it will help a lot. The restaurant is not in Santa Pau itself but just outside it. Take the GI-524 to Santa Pau from Olot and look out for the sign to the restaurant, which is under a much bigger and more colourful sign for "Camping Ecológic Lava" (the turnoff will be on the left a few km outside of Olot).