In Spain, food aficionados are familiar with the twins Javier and Sergio Torres, the creators of Torres en la Cocina, a popular cooking show on Spanish television. The twin chefs, born in Barcelona, trained with culinary greats such as Alain Ducasse and Santi Santamaria, and like their mentors, prefer local and seasonal ingredients and minimal handling. Lucky locals and travelers — including my granddaughter Sage and me — have experienced their Michelin-starred restaurant Dos Cielos in Barcelona at the Meliá Barcelona Sky Hotel. We arrived there in February, a month after the hotel reopened following an extensive renovation by architect Fernando Mur.

The elevator took us from our room up to the 24^th floor where the host greeted us and asked us if we’d be willing to dine at the chef’s table.

We were seated at the far end of a long stainless-steel table, where the place settings featured our silverware resting perpendicular on a small wooden log. There was a choice of an à la carte or tasting menu and we both chose the tasting; mine with a wine pairing from the brothers’ wine cellar, filled with a wide selection from both small producers and large wineries.

From our vantage point, we could watch the in-house chef, Daniel Molero, as well as the entire équipe (team) as they prepared dishes. The far end of our table was used as the point of departure for finished plates. Sage noticed how fluid it all was. Unfortunately, we couldn’t meet the twins, because they were in Madrid where they had just opened their newest outpost, Dos Cielos Madrid, within the 5-star Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques Hotel.

Our dinner was impeccably served, beginning with the first of two amuse-bouches — a puff pastry with a creamy crab and sea urchin filling. Next, a consommé was poured from individual pots into each bowl and we were advised to use small brass tweezers provided to take out the miniscule vegetables that remained in the pot with the rest of the broth. A carpaccio followed. The thinly sliced, aged Rubia Gallega beef, from the northwest corner of Spain, is considered one of the best in the world. I later learned they marinate the top sirloin cap in a vinaigrette of meat juices and pickles for 90 days.

The three ravioli served next had a melted Boca foie gras interior, and fresh-from-the-garden spring peas in the sweetest sauce accompanied the jamón Ibérico course. The entrée was a simple, light and delicious grilled Saint Pierre fish meunière from the Mediterranean.

The dessert creations included combinations of sweet and savory and were equally impressive. Our first pre-dessert was a basil sorbet atop an olive oil cake, which preceded what they call a banana cloud, because it looked like a work of art, and it tasted ethereal. The finale? Chocolate.

The dinner atop a contemporary Meliá high-rise hotel was as noteworthy as the view of the Barcelona skyline and Mount Tibidabo.

Read the full story at Global Traveler

Dos Cielos

Meliá Barcelona Sky Hotel
Carrer de Pere IV, 286
08005 Barcelona, Spain
tel 34 933 67 20 50