DiverXO composes a edible study in contrasts around Maresme peas
Madrid, Spain
A new dish from the Madrid kitchen plays sweetness against umami, inviting diners to crack, combine and compose their own experience.
AI-assisted voice playback. Starts only when you choose Play.
Sweetness arrives first, carried on a plate of white ceramic so pristine it seems to disappear beneath what it holds. At DiverXO’s kitchen in Madrid, a silky pea ice cream sits crowned with a glossy sphere of frozen tomato, pale green against pale cream, with the gentlest scatter of crisp pea shoots and a whisper of yuzu kosho beurre blanc pooled beneath.
The dish articulates a conversation between contrasts. Maresme peas, their natural sugar concentrated and pure, meet the fermented bite of ssamjang infused into that frozen tomato sphere. The yuzu kosho and Riesling beurre blanc introduces citrus and wine’s mineral edge, each element distinct yet designed to speak together. The silky pea ice cream bridges them all, its delicate texture catching the light.
What distinguishes this creation is its deliberate refusal of prescription. DiverXO invites you to crack the sphere first, rupturing its frozen exterior to release the tomato within, then to layer and recombine the elements as you choose. The beurre blanc may come before the ice cream, or after. The pea shoots might anchor each spoonful or arrive as a final textural note. There is no correct path, only your own journey through temperature, sweetness and savour.
This approach reflects DiverXO’s philosophy: rigorous technique in service of playful autonomy. The precision required to compose such a dish, to balance the freezing point of the tomato sphere, to emulsify beurre blanc with yuzu kosho’s fermented intensity, to achieve that particular silkiness in pea ice cream, remains invisible to the diner, who experiences only freedom.
DiverXO operates in Madrid.
Imagery courtesy of DiverXO (@diverxo).
