Sergi Arola Gastro

First of all, sorry about the delay in getting this post done, I had to gather all my notes and photos from 2 computers and get it all together.

Some of you may remember the name Sergi Arola from a previous post on this blog, he was once the chef of La Broche and left to start his own venture - Gastro - which went from 0 to 2 stars in one review, one of the first restaurants in Europe to achieve this.

The menu at Gastro changes almost completely each month and with several different tasting menus, this represents a huge amount of work, but something that Sergi and his wife Sara are very passionate about. With Sergi running the kitchen and Sara running the front of house, they make a great team and my meal there was a pleasure from start to finish. The staff all spoke very good English and were friendly, informative and knowledgeable about the menu. Another thing worth noting is that Gastro does not have an A La Carte menu, only tasting menus.


The interior is modern and sleek, but at the same time warm and inviting.


After being seated, I was presented with a selection of snacks.

From left to right are: Kalamata Olives, Eggplant pate with small toasts, Cherries marinated in salt and vinegar, mini croquettes, a light aioli and Potato crisps. The potato crisps were completely flat and so thin they were almost transparent and their shattering crunch when I bit them was a great auditory accompaniment to the taste and texture of the perfect potato chip. Dipping them in the smooth and gentle garlic aioli added a new dimension of flavour and my taste buds were starting to wake up and look forward to what was to come. The croquettes were still warm and delicious little nuggets of goodness with a crisp batter and a dense, smooth filling. The cherries were a revelation, soaked in vinegar and salt they were sour, salty and tender, a totally unexpected combination of tastes hat I really enjoyed. The eggplant pate was smooth and well balanced and the kalamata olives were some of the best I have ever had. This was a great way to start the meal and I hadn't even ordered yet.

I decided to go for the full "gastro" menu since who knew when I would ever get another chance to eat here again.

To begin with, I was given an amuse bouche of Mushroom Yogurt.

The white powder on the top was like a freeze-dried yogurt, which disappeared almost as soon as it touched my tongue, leaving nothing in my mouth except the flavour of yogurt, a bizarre and surprising effect which put a smile on my face. The mushroom yogurt underneath was full of mushroom flavour and was smooth and creamy.

The first official dish on the menu was the Cornet: "Gazpacho" with tomato water ice-cream.


A single bite of crisp pastry and frozen gazpacho shaped like a little ice-cream cone, the taste of the tomato developed as it melted and warmed in my mouth.

Next was Cod: Smoked sausage, fennel, horseradish and apple.

Crunchy, crisp, smooth, sweet, smoky with a bite of heat from the horseradish. I wanted more than two bites of this to try to break down all the flavours, but together it was a great combination.

After this came Potatoes: "Bravas" Arola-style.

Arola's take on the common tapas dish is a line of spicy potato cylinders with a creamy garlic mayo.

The dish that followed was one that seemed to combine many of the flavours of Andalusia, Sardines: In olive oil with almond ice-cream, "ecologic" caviar and tomato soup.

Cold almond soup and cold tomato soup (Gazpacho) are traditional dishes from the Andalusian region of Spain and this combination of the two, sandwiching two fillets of fresh sardine with the salty bite of caviar was a great interpretation of these established dishes.

Beetroot: Like a tartar, with mango yolk and goat cheese yogurt.
Made to resemble the french bistro classic of steak tartar, the beetroot was cut into tiny cubes and topped with spherified mango puree. When the "yolk" was broken the puree coated the beetroot like a sauce. A union of the tender root vegetable with the smooth fruity sauce.

After this was another familiar ingredient in Spain, Razor Clams: Sauteed with a veloute and sliced of Iberian ham.
This was my last chance to eat these shellfish and it didn't disappoint. The plate was like a work of art, with the ham sliced extremely thin and shaped almost like a flower, the warm colours added to the inviting appearance of this dish which was enhanced by the aroma of the sauce. The veloute was smooth and buttery, a backdrop for the salty ham and tender shellfish.

Lorito Rao: Semi-pickled, tender garlic terrine, radish and seaweed cream was the next dish.

Parrot fish (sauced after this photo was taken) with vegetables, this was well cooked and while not the most memorable dish of the meal, was still quite good.

The second fish course was one of the absolute highlights of this meal. Black Grouper: With sauteed potatoes and tender onions, coconut soup and vindaloo curry.

A perfectly cooked square of black grouper fillet, sitting on a stack of potatoes and circled by a ring of thick vindaloo curry sauce and the coconut soup poured around it. This was something I could have eaten over and over again, the flaky fish with crispy skin, the sweet coconut soup and the hot sweetness of the curry were sensational and I cleaned the plate dry.

One of the dishes that is a specialty of Arola's is Duck Liver: In our classic "Coca" with roasted vegetables in olive oil.

Alternating cubes of duck liver and roast vegetable stacks sit on a crisp cracker with a topping of chives, the liver was rich and velvety and the vegetables were tender and sweet.

The first dessert course was Apricot: In pastry "kadaif" cake with a soup of green tea.


A lot of thought goes into this palette cleanser/dessert, crisp shredded pastry with delicious ripe apricots sitting in a soup of green tea which clears the mouth in preparation for the rest of the sweets to come.

Watermelon: Pickled with tomato ice-cream and chamomile and hibiscus tea.

Another cold dessert, refreshing and simple, the tea was the star here, floral and aromatic and sweet from the watermelon. I'd love to put this in a mug and drink it on a hot summer day at home.

The last dish on the menu was the Souffle: Of passion fruit with mint ice-cream and "Ocumare" cocoa cream.


Served by the chef himself, this soft, fluffy cloud of passion fruit souffle was placed in front of me and a small scoop of mint ice cream was placed on top and as it started to melt, the cocoa cream was poured over the top. Every element of this dish was strong and each flavour spoke loud and clear, the sweet/sour passion fruit, the herby, bright mint and the warm, base chocolate flavours of the sauce. I didn't have a souffle in Paris, but with this perfect example, I certainly didn't miss out on it.

The petit fours were a delight for the senses.

The madeleines on the left - usually sweet - were olive flavoured, the olives in the middle are actually chocolates, the rocks and pebbles on the right hand side are hard crunchy candies and the green stuff in the jar is an apple jelly. These all had me smiling and almost laughing as I realised that each element was not what it appeared to be, surprising to the last.

All in all, this was certainly one of the best meals of my life, an I would even say it was THE best. Constant surprises and unexpected combinations had me guessing right to the end of the meal and each part of every dish was perfectly executed and thoughtfully prepared. At the conclusion of the meal, I got an opportunity to speak with Sergi Arola himself and he and his wife were extremely courteous hosts and I would really like to take this opportunity to express my thanks for an amazing meal and a fitting conclusion to my European holiday.

A Day At The Museum

One thing you may not know about me is that I'm not a big fan of museums and art galleries. They're fine in their own way, but I wont go out of my way to visit them and it is with some measure of satisfaction I am able to say that in my travels through Italy, France and Spain I have not spent a single Euro on entry fees/tours to any museum or art gallery. Sure, I did visit a few churches, but not any that had an up front charge.

Having said that, there is one museum which I not only visited, but to which I made repeat visits and happily handed over the ever diminishing notes from my wallet to be a part of what was going on inside.


Followers of this blog have probably very astutely translated the above sign to Museum of Ham, and if you haven't already guessed, I'm a big fan of pork products (I know, some of you may be shocked). So this was certainly not a place to just walk past and ignore. So I'm thinking maybe this is a museum which shows the history of Jamon and the production process that goes along with it. Not a bad idea, but taking a look through the front window reveals a more practical and exciting interpretation of the term "Museum".

Glimpses of hams of all types entice me to take a closer look, the aromas practically wafting me in like a cartoon mouse at the smell of a particularly delicious cheese. In this case, however, there was no large cartoon cat standing just behind the cheese ready to pounce.

Just hundreds and hundreds of legs of jamon. Everywhere I look, more porky goodness and I'm not the only one drawn to this hall of ham on the over 30C degree summer day, far from it. Space is at a premium, with a deli counter on the left selling all kinds of porcine produce and a bar on the left selling cold beer and food, it's easy to see why this place is always packed with people.


Fighting for my place at the bar, I order a cerveca (a glass of beer that costs 1 Euro). When you order a cerveca at Museo Del Jamon, if you don't order any food, you are given a plate with a snack from the selection sitting around the bar. This may include a couple of small empanadas (pasties), olives, small cuts of various hams, etc. I'm not sure if it was deliberate, but without my asking, the server gave me a different snack every time I ordered a beer.

It may not look like the most appetising plate of food in the world, but a few offcuts of ham and other meat products is a great accompaniment to a cold beer. So for lunch, I asked for more of the same.

Served with a generous hunk of bread, or the house tomato bread if you want to order it at an extra charge, this is a satisfying and delicious lunch filled with the smoky goodness of pork.

Other great value meals on offer are Bocadillo del Jamon (a bread roll with jamon as pictured above), paella or many other options you can see on the sign above the bar. There are several of these places scattered around Madrid and I would love to see them scattered around Melbourne some time soon.

Once again, my thanks to all of my readers who have stuck with this blog and for the fantastic feedback you have been giving, there are one or two posts left from this amazing journey (including what was possibly the best meal of my life) and after that, who knows what is next for VoraciousGrazer, stay tuned.

Mercado de San Miguel and Restaurant Botin

I'm sure I have said it before, but one of my favourite things to do is visit markets. Not only does it give you a great idea of what is fresh, local and in season, but seeing what locals are buying and cooking is a great way to understand the cuisine of a new place. So that's what I decided to do next in Madrid.

I had heard about an old market that had been closed down and renovated to be almost like a food court, but with a great selection of fresh produce to choose from. The Mercado de San Miguel is based on an idea I haven't seen before.


No row upon row of the same thing over and over again, but a spacious area designed for eating and selecting food from one of the specialty providers that surround it.

Mostly there is one of each type of stall, there is a seafood bar selling fresh and cooked seafood.


Another stand sells oysters, priced by size and shucked to order.


Not far away is a deli that sells small rolls with various jamons and other meats for 1 Euro each.


A cheese stall not far away sells samples on bread for 1 Euro each and there are a couple of wine shops selling wine by the glass. This is a great way to put together a lunch full of variety and try several different things.



You then take your plate and find a seat at a table or bench (or wherever you can) and enjoy your food.


For dessert you have a couple of options, there is a cake shop selling some great looking slices of cake and a selection which makes it very hard to make up your mind.


Also, for all my chocolate loving readers, there is a whole shop full of it.


This market is reasonably expensive as far as markets go, but this is more like a combination of a market and a food court which sells incredibly fresh and high quality food.

The next restaurant on my list is, according to Guinness World Records, the oldest operating restaurant in the world. Casa Botin in Madrid has been operating continuously since 1725, almost 300 years. Their specialty is cochinillo asado -Roast Suckling Pig, something I was very much looking forward to.


Walking into the restaurant is almost like walking back in time, they obviously focus very much on keeping the feel of history and tradition alive.


As delicious as that jamon looks, I wasn't here for that. Walking down the stairs into one of the various dining rooms, I had to watch my head on the low ceilings. Looking at the menu, the house menu of Gazpacho, Suckling Pig and Ice cream seemed like the way to go.

The bread and Sangria arrived first.


The gazpacho came out as a bowl of plain, cold soup and the waiter brought around a tray of garnishes to add to it, including cucumber, peppers, tomato and bread.


Bursting with bright, fresh, summer flavours, this was a great cold soup and a delicious was to start a summer dinner in Madrid.

Next came the star of the show, the suckling pig.


Tender, juicy and full of porky goodness, simply prepared in a way that has stood the test of time. No fancy embellishments or showy techniques, just a fantastic, fresh ingredient allowed to speak for itself....and yes, I did eat the tail.

There was also a live band which found their way down the narrow staircase to play and sing during the meal.


For dessert, the menu says dessert is simply "ice cream" and I wasn't expecting much, but whatever was in the chocolate topping they used on it, it was surprisingly good. Unfortunately the photo came out blurry, so I'm not posting it here. Needless to say, I very much enjoyed this meal and if I had more time in Madrid, I wouldn't mind a return visit to try the Roast Baby Lamb or the Baby Squids In Their Own Ink. Another dish on the menu which is worth a mention is the Baby Eels, a traditional Spanish dish of baby eels quickly fried in a small pot of olive oil with garlic and a small dried chili is one of the most expensive side dishes you will see at around 130 Euros per serve. This is apparently due to the rarity of these eels.

Another great day in Madrid and it's not over yet, look out for more updates coming soon.

Madrid

The last stop on my European journey is Madrid. Looking back over my trip, there were many highlights, no regrets and still one more week in a country that had already been the location for many great experiences. I was hoping that Madrid would continue this trend. Looking at the weather forecast, it looked like my entire stay in this city would be in the 30s. Hot and sunny, a great buffer between me and winter in Melbourne.

I was staying only a few steps from the Plaza Mayor, one of the large plazas in Madrid and a focal point for tourists and street performers alike.


The capital of Spain is well know for its food culture. Even though it is far from any coast, fresh seafood is flown in daily from all over Spain and other produce is available in abundance. While each region of Spain has a unique food identity, Madrid seems to be the place where everything comes together. Even though Valencia is known to have the best paella, I had heard that there was a restaurant in Madrid which was famous for their paella and so I had to give it a try.

The restaurant is La Barroca and is famous for....well, I better let them tell you what they are famous for.


There are several different types of paella on offer here, many with seafood, but I decided on the Valencian, which is with chicken and rabbit.


A very basic, traditional version of the dish, this was not bad, but not fantastic. All the flavours were there, but perhaps I should have had the seafood after all as this just seemed a little too simple.

The next restaurant on my list was one that until recently had two Michelin stars. This last restaurant is La Broche and was started by Sergi Arola and his executive chef at the time was Angel Palacios. They worked together in El Bulli and left to start La Broche. Recently, Sergi has left to start another project and Angel has become head chef here.

While getting a reservation for El Bulli is almost impossible, the influence of what is being done there is possible to see all over Spain. Therefore at La Broche I expected to see modern techniques used to present traditional flavours and maybe a few surprises thrown in for good measure.


The cool, modern exterior leads into a cool, modern, white interior which I found a little sterile, but that may have been due to that fact that I had booked a mid week early dinner (9:30pm) and was the first customer there. Some other customers did arrive later, but only 3 or 4 tables were occupied.


To begin, a snack was placed on the table.


On the far left is a bowl of spherified olives. They look like olives but when you bite them you realise that they are liquid made from olives and then formed into a spherical shape by a chemical process. You get the flavour and shape of the olive, but the texture is purely liquid. The third from the left is Chicken Crackling, the crispy deep fried chicken skin is delicious and crunchy.

The first appetiser course came out in a covered bowl and as the bowl was placed in front of me, the lid was removed and a billow of smoke wafted out. This was Smoked Mussel.


Served on a vegetable "charcoal", this was an interesting dish to watch unfold in front me, but unfortunately the smokiness was so strong that it overcame the whole dish and that was all I could taste.

The second appetiser is called Pizza Margherita.


A playful take on the traditional combination of dough, cheese, tomato and oregano, the base is a cracker with a slice of cheese on top. The red ball on the left is tomato flavoured and tastes a lot like the red sprinkles on Barbeque Shapes (YUM). On the right is a ball of what I assume is oregano foam, because once you break the surface, a green foam comes pouring out. This was fun and tasted great, giving me high hopes for the rest of the meal.

After this came Truffles, Ham and Corn.


A beautifully presented dish reapeating the theme ingredients in several ways, a corn puree, single piece of popped corn, served on a polenta base with paper thin crackling and a small cube of grilled ham. While this was great to look at and try to work out all the different elements, unfortunately it was lacking in depth of flavour and seemed a little bland.

Following this was a cold Strawberry Gazpacho.


A strawberry soup with a prawn in the middle, you'd expect it to be sweet and served at the end of the meal, but instead it was savoury and really brought out another side of the flavour of the strawberry.

The first of the main courses is Ox Crab.


Wrapped in a crepe made from soy milk curd is a gentle, smooth crab filling. Not strongly flavoured with crab, but the texture is silken and decadent.

The fish course is Salmon with Aniseed Flavours.

This is a great way to explore the different ways two tastes can work together, the salmon is perfectly cooked and combined with ingredients which each have a different type of aniseed flavour, including fennel and aniseed flowers.

Sirloin and Garlic is the meat course.


The meat is cooked medium-rare and falls apart at the slightest touch of the knife, tender and juicy. Once again, as with the previous dish, this is an exploration of different ways of preparing garlic to go with the beef. Half a blub of oven-roasted garlic, grilled garlic shoots, a garlic puree and a garlic custard are all on the plate. This was my favourite dish of the meal by far and the taste of the garlic was not overpowering at all, in fact I was trying to get all the different garlic elements into one bite with the meat and when I did it was still not too much garlic.

Dessert time already? The first dessert is a combination of Lemon and Green Tea.


The stick on top is made of green tea and it has a very strong, refreshing taste, the sorbet and gel disc are lemon flavoured and all served on biscuit crumbs. As a palette cleanser this works well and leaves me ready for the sweeter desserts to come.

The second dessert is called Tribute to Principe Biscuit.


Now I've never had or seen a Principe Biscuit and I can't even name all the flavours here, but it was sticky, sweet and delicious with lots of chocolate.

Lastly is a Lemon Jaconde Cake.


A jaconde is a type of sponge and with almond cream and ice cream, this was a delicate, airy and while not bad, not anything amazing as far as taste goes.

Another thing worth mentioning is the coffee selection.


With so many different types of coffee to choose from, coffee connoisseurs would be happy with this list. For me it was too much choice and a random selection, so I chose the Arabic.

As petit fours after the meal, the waiter comes around with a cars filled with six different containers with chocolate inside and asks which I would like to try. You can probably guess my answer already, so here are all six.


Some are filled with lemon sherbet, some with almonds, but the two that stand out are the popping candy inside dark chocolate and the cocoa covered corn. One of my brothers favourite snacks is something called corn nuts, large deep fried kernels of corn coated in a dusting of salty flavouring. The cocoa covered corn is basically the same thing and reminded me of corn nuts in a big way.

At the end of the day, I had a good meal at La Broche and the techniques on display were modern and skillful, but something seemed to be missing. Perhaps an over concentration on the techniques themselves and not enough attention to flavour balance is to blame, but dishes like Sirloin and Garlic are standouts for me.