Sergi Arola Gastro @ Madrid

In 2005, just by a chance in I had chance to sample Sergi Arola cooking in La Broche, Madrid which since Sergi's departure in 2008, has lost its two Michelin stars...

Since then Sergi Arola Gastro is the restaurant where he has given all his passion, expression, knowledge and I guess his professional ambitions as he gains two Michelin stars in just less than 3 years.

Unfortunately I don’t have all the pictures; and one that I have are low quality... this means it is time to change my mobile phone :-)

In any case I have very strong impression, so I've remembered almost every detail.

We had an aesthetic "Gastro" menu of: three tapas, four starters, a fish dish, a meat dish, three desserts, all this combined with snacks and petit-fours.. and of course, a wine menu.

Tapas:
Starting with shrimp in a crispy cornet with seasonal mushrooms in a sphere form, tender garlic with foam with cherries caviar, and sandwich with fried baby squids and mayonnaise and lemon jam...

Starters:

Sardines stuffed with smoked herring roe, bread and tomato...


"Coll Vert" duck prepared al a tartar with garnish and mustard leaf...


langoustine in ravioli with Foie Gras and Parmentier...


sea cucumber with a stew of Tagliollinis and morels...

Fish dish(s):

red mullet cooked on a low heat, cucumber, slices of mushrooms, seaweed coulisse and cream of Jerusalem artichoke...


turbot, again slow cooked, with Perrechicos (mushrooms) and Thai onion gratin...

Meat dish(s):

(eaten) Lidia's cow roasted in its juice, brandy and Xexuan pepper with stew vegetables...


pigeon from Navarra, basmati rice stewed with candied fruits and truffle emulsion...

Desserts:
Wild berries with Brillat Savarin cheese soup and flowers...


apple served in a Kadaif cake with soup of green tea...

Everything that has a beginning has an end... all finished with a chocolate in a truffle with crispy rice and vanilla soup.

A briliant expresion, an eye opener to the possibilities of the ingredients, a chef who use his "Gastro" tasting menu as a vehicle to explain and express his complex believes about food and sensory world; and yes, I do feel enlighten.

What’s is the best possible way to end this post... if not with a minor trivia. Sergi drop by to our table to ask how the things are going. In the middle of all superlatives used by me and my friends to describe our experience, my friend Emil mentioned that the other day he had a dinner at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, London and believes that Sergi Arola Gastro gives better experience. Sergi immediately begun to excuse and state this is not possible because Alain is a god in the kitchen. For the record, in my opinion Emil is right :-)

Highly Recommended.

Rating: 9.4 (out of 10.0)

Sergi Arola Gastro
Calle Zurbano 31
Madrid 28010

Le Restaurant Albert 1er, Chamonix

Hameau Albert 1er hotel is located in green gardens, with chalets, farmhouse and of course, gastronomic restaurant the Restaurant Albert 1er Michelin twin-starred and run by chef de cuisine Pierre Carrier and Pierre Maillet.

Famous for its highly inventive cuisine and seasonal white truffles, have a 3 cozy if not bit rustic decorated dining room and piano bar. Signature dishes includes wild mushrooms garnished with ravioli stuffed with foie gras, bison steak, pan-fried scallops with risotto and lobster sauce, foie gras with truffles…

What we had tasted simply delicious:


Melting Brittany lobster aside with a homemade fresh pasta generously covered with black tartufo shavings, and fantastically balanced foamy lobster sauce....


silky roasted John Dory, puréed leeks, smokey onion, shellfishes and herb juice...

Washed down with:


2004 Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion, Bordeaux, Pessac-Léognan
Smooth, silky and rich. Fantastic balance. The fact that this is only an entry level white Bordeaux... well it makes this wine simply amazing. (91 pts)

For desert we had picks from the trolley; a choice of fresh and aged French and Italian cheeses washed down with:


1998 Château Haut Marbuzet, Saint-Estèphe
Structured, silky, affectionate... (92 pts)

Absolutely unique experience!

Rating: 9.1 (out of 10.0)

Le Hameau Albert 1er
119 Impasse du Montenvers
74400 Chamonix Mont Blanc, France

Weinbach Winemaker`s dinner at Noma

At Weinbach Winemaker`s Dinner at Noma I have tasted 2 Grand Cru and few prestige cuvées.

Domaine Weinbach is in the heart of Alsace, Kaysersberg and run by 2 sisters Catherine and Laurence Faller and their mother Colette.


Welcome to the polar bear capital...

What we had:

1st course
* 2008 Muscat Reserve
* Lobster and cucumber

2nd course
* 2008 Gewürtztraminer Réserve
* 2008 Gewürtztraminer Cuvée Théo
* Strong cheese with with celery, simply amazing...



3th course
* 2008 Riesling Reserve
* 2007 Riesling Cuvée Sainte Catherine
* Poached artichokes
* Warm mayonnaise and sea-buckthorn


4th course
* 2008 Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg St. Catherine
* 2007 Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg St. Catherine
* Quail, nuts and sea-buckthorn

5th course
* 2008 Pinot Gris Cuvée Sainte Catherine
* 2007 Pinot Gris Cuvée Laurence Altenbourg
* Selection of hard Nordic cheeses

The wines are intense but in the same time elegant, dry and very mineral... a perfect food friendly wines. Completely opposite of some Alsace wine houses where fruit sweetness is everything...

The wine star of the day:

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg St. Catherine
Very complex nose. Rich and concentrated. In my opinion, this is one of the richest and finest of the Weinbach Domaine’s wines. (90 pts.)

As for Noma's food; it was not exact same experience as one I had in the restaurants, but it was still Noma quality and invention. You can read more about Noma here A total hedonistic experience and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Midsummer House, a guest blog post

This is contribution from my friend Ruse; he has provided me with excellent commentary and pictures from his last gourmet adventure. It looks and reads delicious; enjoy!

Midsummer House - a Michelin 2-star restaurant in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.
Proprietors: Daniel Clifford and Russell Morgan.

Head Chef: Daniel Clifford - He has worked in some of Europe’s finest Michelin restaurants, working under the finest chefs including Marco Pierre White and Jean Bardet. Dream was to put Cambridge onto the culinary map. Achieved the first Michelin Star in 2001, an accolade which Cambridge has never had. In 2005 was awarded a second Star, not just putting Cambridge on the map, but also East Anglia as the first Two Star restaurant this side of England.

Age: 33
Awards: Two Michelin stars, four AA rosettes, Harpers and Queen Best restaurant outside London 2005, Tatler Best restaurant outside London 2006.

(Not really) fun fact - Since the restaurant is right on the river Cam, due to excessive rain it was flooded in 1999 and then again in 2000.

The location is story-like - an actual old, beautiful house in Cambridge, slightly and rightly hidden from the crowds.

Our choice was an 8-course tasting menu with extras.


Appetizer


Bloody Mary dish


Paris Mushrooms, Coffee, Ceps and Pumpkin 'soup'


Celery, Goats Cheese and Horseradish - crystallized beet/celery tube stuffed with goat cheese and horseradish ice cream


Hand Picked Sautéed Scallop, Celeriac, Grannysmith Apples and Truffle


Sweetbreads, Ox Tongue, Pistachio, Maple Syrup, Foam and Mouli - Sweetbreads is a specialty - it is the thymus gland and/or the pancreas of either a young cow or a lamb - you are in the UK after all


Salt Cod Brandade, Pineapple, Pork Belly, Crab and Langoustine - one of the stars of the night - excellent presentation, full of local origin and English tradition


Pousse Café with foam and egg


8. Pigeon, Sweet Potato, Cocoa Nibs - another dish that plays an important part and puts the whole tasting menu within context


Jerusalem Artichoke, Lychee and Rose - a great surprise, quite on the molecular side, strong flowery taste, cleansing effect


Chocolate and Praline...


an explosion - 7 ways to eat chocolate at the same time - a hedonistic spectacle...


homemade doughnuts - coarse sugar, warm, apple dipping sauce.

Overall a wonderful experience. Food, wine list, service and ambiance is top notch. A nice combination of strong English fare with a dose of molecular gastronomy (although I hate the term, the stuff is actually delicious) and an underlying French cuisine tone. The food has all the traits common to the world's truly greatest restaurants. Simple and elegant interior, friendly and knowledgeable staff, plenty of natural light.
We paired our food with a vintage bottle of Austrian Riesling and 2 vintage bottles of Red Bordeaux wines (1997 and 98).

To sum up - a first class dining experience, experimental yet traditional. A tasting menu dinner for 4 with French wine pairings will set you back approximately 800 pounds (200 per person), which is by no means modest but in most cases worth the trip, time and cost (especially these days with the sterling at its all time low).

Dinner at Noma: A total hedonistic experience

For long, Copenhagen has been considered leading in terms of design and somewhat fashion. However, that has dramatically changed last couple of year as Copenhagen restaurant scene grows and right now, it is arguable one of the best scene in Nord Europe. One can find any type of restaurants around here… from topnotch… to inferior…

One thing is certain, at least for me. In this particular moment; the Nordic cuisine begins and ends with Noma. The name is a concentration of the two Nordic words "nordisk" (Nordic) and "mad" (food).

This is a restaurant specialized in Nordic cuisine, has two Michelin star rating, just a few months ago named as a 3rd best restaurant in the world and Chef René Redzepi, who previously worked for example at El Bulli, received the honorary prize as "Chefs' Choice" based on votes from the head chefs of the fifty restaurants on the list (The World’s 50 Best Restaurants).

What we had (including appetizers):


We started with warm smoked and pickled quail eggs...


The wavy crackers with sprinkled fresh herbs and horseradish dust...


Another crackers variation, this time with crystallized chicken skin and flavored with fish roe...


Macedonian l'equipe and radishes in the soil and yogurt in flowerpot. The waiters said everything in the pot is eatable... even the "earth".


and me....


Langoustines... this is still appetizer


Razor clam dipped in jellied parsley and chilled horseradish dust


Grilled cucumber & leek and crystallized chicken skin


Asparagus, egg, wood-sorrel and fresh herbs...


Fresh herbs, seaweed, red beet, stock from marrow bone and actual tender marrow bone (small scallops look-a-like)


Tender pork belly, onion sauce and grilled cucumber. We also needed a special knives...


Sorbet made from sweetened weeping birch and flavored with... well... something that astonishingly reminds me of guarana...


Dessert with a perfect balance of sweetness, berries and red beet flavor which are released in our mouth.

The wine star of the day:

2006 Mâconnais Pouilly-Fuissé Denis Jeandeau
Eye: Rich and golden
Nose: Complex, cigar box, toasty, citrus...
Palate: Beautifully balanced, with opulent aromas and flavors intense and same as on the nose, plus some minerals.
Finish: Very long and nice feel with a crisp finish.
(90 pts.)

This was incredible dining experience and I couldn't help but smile at the brilliance of the rich colors, subtle aromas and complex flavors.

Noma is in serious gastronomic league, so, dinner here doesn't come any cheap. But, at about 300€ per person, including glass of delicious Champagne, 7 course menu, matching with 7 different wines, followed by coffee and avec... I believe the price tag is justified. Don't miss the restaurant and Redzepi's cookbook: Noma - Nordic Cuisine.

Rating: 9.7 (out of 10.0)

Noma,
Strandgade 93,
Copenhagen