One can drink the same sourish local wines in the taverns on the outskirts of town, consume the same mountains of whipped cream at Sacher's and Demel's, and sample the same infinite varieties of coffee in countless cafés.
Many of the same ingredients are in yum pla muek, a garlicky squid salad, but here the tender squid, attractively crosshatched but saturated in a cloyingly sweet chili sauce, would have benefited from the salty infusion of nam pla prig (based on fish sauce) or a sourish nam pla waan (derived from tamarind).
A large, homey crepe, served flat and embedded with caramelized apple slices, needs nothing more than its generous scoop of thick, sourish Devonshire cream.
The chocolate candy in the spoons needs to go, but in his nonfaddish moments, Mr. Lluma does some brilliant work, especially with his bread pudding, crunchy at the edges with baked sugar, and topped with a wonderfully dense, sourish ice cream made from torta del Casar, a runny sheep's milk cheese from Extremadura.
You can skip the cloyingly sweet stuffed brownie, ordinary tiramisù, fried chocolate ravioli (an innovative failure), sourish poached pear, and fried ice cream encased in dough as tough as plaster.
The dessert menu includes bread pudding, crunchy at the edges with baked sugar, and topped with a wonderfully dense, sourish ice cream made from torta del Casar, a runny sheep's milk cheese from Extremadura; and laminas de chocolate: layers of chocolate, coffee-brandy mousse and walnuts served with chocolate flan and a foam made of parsley.
