SAVOURING SPAIN
Madrid resto wows senses
On a recent trip to Spain, I explored Madrid (thank you, Prado Museum!) and Granada (headliner, the Alhambra palace fortress) and Seville ( blown away by flamenco!) before moving on to Morocco.
I planned, and succeeded, to overdose on jamon Iberico de bellota, the beautiful cured ham from Iberico pigs flavoured up on acorns in the wild. It’s very expensive here, but to the Spanish, it’s like the air they breathe.
We cruised a lot of tapas bars and more serious restaurants. When in Europe I can’t help but notice that although tips aren’t expected, the service does not suck. At all. Servers aren’t there to chat and make nice, but they’re efficient and professional. We did tip generously at higherend restaurants where service is so elevated you’re pretty much Meghan and Harry.
The haute-est restaurant we visited, representing cutting edge Spanish cuisine, was La Terraza del Casino at Casino de Madrid. The two-Michelin star restaurant has close ties to El Bulli, the revolutionary Spanish restaurant that astonished the world, now closed.
El Bulli’s Ferran Adria was a consulting chef and the restaurant chef Paco Roncero was an Adria disciple, working closely with him. Since I hadn’t experienced El Bulli, this was like
drafting in its wake. The room had an Alice in Wonderland esthetic, with some whimsy amid opulence and formality. At times, food presentation took a dive into the silly zone.
A cured ox meat cake on a fluff of Parmegiano Reggiano was delivered in a small hot air balloon by a solemn, bow-tied waiter. Mollusk with ceviche cream came inside a gigantic ceramic clam shell, drama that subtracted from the seafood stars. Both dishes chimed with deliciousness, so we only slightly rolled our eyes.
An olive oil tasting came on a metal olive tree sculpture, and a pleasant surprise it was. Green and black olives hung on the tree, but wait, they were moulded cocoa butter “olives” with olive oil varieties inside the hollow interior, a salute to the mindblowingly massive Spanish olive industry with more than 260 varieties. Spain is the No. 1 producer and consumer of olives.
We took a day trip to some of the famed “white towns” outside Seville and stopped at an olive oil mill that’s been operating since 1755, continuing ancient traditional techniques. (Ernest Hemingway was a friend of the family and the faded photos were proof.)
On the table, more olive oil drama; our waiter did a tableside sleight of hand with olive oil and liquid nitrogen and soon we had powdered olive oil, served atop orange segments. Like the avant-garde Metropole Parasol in Seville, the largest wooden building in the world mimicking surreal mushrooms, a case of form over function.
Red mullet tartare came sandwiched in chicharron-like crackers showcasing beautiful seafood. Ditto, the scampi with seafood stock. Dover sole with a black butter (squid ink) sauce was another seafood standout, simple with caramelized pieces of sole on a white plate with restrained dots and splashes of sauces. It honoured the seafood.
Spaniards eat roosters, and a dish of it with mole sauce ( borrowed from a former colony) and corn was a standout. Lacquered in a delicious mole with a backup layer of a corn sauce, I loved this dish.
I was grateful to see dessert was a light and airy composition of refreshing mint gelato, passion fruit sauce, and a cloud of coconut fluff. But then the mignardise wheeled up, a confection store on wheels, loaded with chocolates and cookies and sweets. A child would go berserk.
We picked a respectable amount, but could not make it to the finish line.
While La Terraza del Casino was an elevated and impressive food experience, I loved Contenedor in Seville (Calle San Luis, 50, 41003 Sevilla, Spain), a heartier, hipper deliciousness with seductive flavours. Service was so thoughtful. We’d reserved the last table the evening before, but return from a day trip was running an hour late. They cheerfully said they’d hold the table for us when we called. Their chalkboard menu was in Spanish and a server translated it, line by line, with much cheer and patience.
I had a memorable salad of poached pear, smoked cheese, radicchio, red onion and delicately shredded cabbage on a thick smear of tangy yogurt cheese; so good that I’m going to try to replicate it. My crispy rice with duck confit and mushroom sauce was loaded with flavour.
A dessert of figs with honey, cinnamon, syrup and herb ice cream was a lesson in ingredients. The figs in sauce were heaven in the mouth.
And of course, wine is mindbogglingly inexpensive yet so delicious.