El Borinot is one of the 17 restaurants that you'll find in the small village of Peratallada, a place where in the winter only around 70 people live. That's the equivalent of one restaurant per four residents! The reason lies with the well-preserved medieval architecture of the historic centre and the general charm of the village, which have turned Peratallada into a unique living museum that attracts hundreds of visitors each weekend, in particular during the summer.
El Borinot opened in the '80s, when this tourist boom was just beginning, serving basic Catalan cuisine. That place had little to do with what's there today, although it's still situated in the same rural house that dates from 1594; it takes the spirit of Catalan cooking as its foundation. However, it's now much more sophisticated and romantic, although at the same time, it can quickly transform into a typical village bar when locals get together or Barça are playing.
Without using any special avant-garde techniques, the chefs have created original ideas based on 'sofregits' and 'picades' (two simple mixtures that feature in many Catalan dishes; sofregit is a slow-fried sauce that often includes tomato and onion, while a picada is a dry seasoning often added toward the end of cooking) for creating set lunch and evening menus that change every day of the year. Their creations are largely based on home-made sauces to bind the dishes (of mustard, honey and thyme, yoghurt, liquorice, etc.) and the use of a lot of herbs. This latter feature is no surprise, because in this area it's customary to go to the forest to forage for herbs to cook with; proof of such is that every spring the village hosts the Herb Fair. Another distinctive feature of El Borinot is that its suppliers tend to be producers located no more than 20km from the restaurant. The final result of all these elements are local, fragrant dishes, such as roasted lamb shoulder with honey and thyme sauce.
