From Cocina Hermanos Torres*** (Barcelona), Javier comes to Encuentro de los Mares on behalf of the brilliant duo to present the restaurant's current menu, based on the products of the warmest season of the year. The chef believes that the use of seasonal products is fundamental to the preservation of the land, its flora and fauna, "so we must consume products when they are at their most economical, sustainable and best". He also argued that "in Spain we have the best products in the world. This, together with enormous talent, explains why we are number one in world gastronomy. We have cuisine for a long time".

And with that, he gave way to the presentation of his summer proposals, highlighting creations such as the welcome cocktail, based on cold vegetable consommé with a touch of sherry, or appetisers such as crunchy carrot bread with mackerel; a piparra and anchovy bonbon; Sea and Mountain', based on a Galician blonde cake with a veil of anchovies, or his interpretation of the Catalan pantumaca, in the form of a mini Iberian ham sandwich between crusty bread made with the fat from the ham and a slice of tomato jelly. He also highlighted some of his most symbolic dishes, such as the niguiri, made with cuttlefish in chicken broth, "clean and transparent, like the ones our grandmother used to make", he described. A memory like that of the bread and oil that started their childhood meals, which the Torres brothers recreate with 100% natural, stone-ground rye, malt and wheat flour, bathed in Picual oil from Lleida. Seafood and vegetables at their best.

The Torres brothers' restaurant is a dream born at their grandmother Catalina's table. That is why their cuisine is based on memory, nourished by the many places where both chefs have experimented, and consecrated by the environment that makes you feel at home. A region, the Catalan Maresme, from which they source most of the seafood they serve, such as the spider crab, "always tastier the male than the female", which they accompany with crusty bread painted in colours, sour apple, vanilla and citrus herbs. They also serve blue lobster, cut into large cubes and accompanied by vegetables of different textures.

Other fish they are working with this season are ray, presented with piquillo peppers, snow peas and pickled peppers, or Acuanarias sea bass, "an exceptional product of extraordinary regularity and sustainability", which they lightly marinate and dice to serve with a tomato consommé from a Catalan coastal farmer, "sweeter and more intense in colour". When it comes to meat, Javier highlights the lamb supplied by some farmers near Badajoz, "whom my brother Sergio and I helped when they were about to close down, 12 years ago". To enhance the flavour of the lamb, the meat is cured in a neutral fat with aromatic herbs. Finally, from his paternal family's Aragon come the star vegetables of these months, such as peppers, aubergines and onions, with which they make ravioli stuffed with Fisan raw pork chops, or perilla leaves, cocoa, oranges or strawberries, with which they make their delicate face of sweets. Javier showed us how the Hermanos Torres kitchen "whets the appetite and warms the heart".