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Thanks for bringin El Cisne Azul up. It looks like I must give it a try. Arce, Viridiana, Dantxari, Errota Zar are places where mushrooms are available almost the whole year round. Given proper conditions, fall can be simply terrific. We aficionados still remember the magnificent season we enjoyed a couple of years ago. A symphony of mushrooms which began by the end of August, if my memory doesn't fail. My favorite dishes? Too many: from the simply sauted mushrooms with olive and salt to the rovellons amb butifarra (lactarius deliciosus with the cataloniana white sausage), amanita cesárea salad, boletus edulis sauted with ham, ... Certainly not low-key, but with more than reasonable prices, Ametz in El Escorial usually serves a tasting menu built around mushrooms. You can find mushrooms during the better part of the year, with their peak seasons in fall and spring. Yes. And to perretxicos and to rebozuelos and to the return of boletus edulis and ... ← Yes, they are. Do you expect us to tell you about them?

Thinking of it, I believe I've never had sweetbreads with brown sauce in Spain. Sauted with some onions, piquillo pepper, grilled, yes, but never with brown sauce.

I would include Can Roca as another top self destination which is accessible by train. And worth the trip.

See Subijana's Akelarre site and MB's site.

Hmm. I don't think they add up so quickly. You had your tapa with a caña for 2.80€, which probably reflects that the tapa was one of the most expensive ones. Even so, 10 of those would give us a bill of 28€. I can almost guarantee that well before the 10th tapa you'd be quite stuffed. And 28€ is quite reasonable for a meal.

Moby, I'm afraid you're one of those he was alluding too. I did not feel rushed at all while we were at The Fat Duck and I believe we were the last persons to leave (but probably the last to arrive also). Nevertheless, we Spaniards are known for being fast eating our meals, something that often puzzles people from abroad when eating in Spain. This, I'm sure of it, account for many of the issues regarding service in Spain that have often came up in the Spain & Portugal forum.

We arrived to The Fat Duck’s door half an hour earlier than reserved. The prospect wasn’t too encouraging: a van in the front door was unloading its cargo of liquid nitrogen or whatever they actually use. That immediately rang an alarm bell in my head, soon to be dismissed. After crossing the door, we were instantly welcomed by Didier Fertilati, the maître who guided and helped us throughout the meal. A couple of glasses of light and fresh Champagne were served on the house. Since the beginning, a sense of joy and fun could be sensed. It was clear that we were going to order the tasting menu, the only question remaining was whether to have the selection of wines by the glass or ordering a couple of bottles from the wine list. Following nimzo’s advice, a conversation with the sommelier quickly made us to decide in favour of the selection by the glass, which rendered a glorious and unanticipated peak in the salmon poached with liquorice and the Allegrini La Grola 2000. So, after the salted butter made with non-pasteurized milk arrived to our table, the symphony started: Snacks: Nitro-green tea and lime mousse Fresh oyster, passion fruit jelly, horseradish cream, lavender and lindi pepper tuile Pommery grain mustard ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho, brunoise of cucumber Pea puree, jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras Black truffle and oak toast Fino Puerto Lustau, Sherry Spain [*]Snail Porridge Jabugo Ham, shaved fennel 2001 Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Brundlmayer (Austria) [*]Roast Foie Gras Chamomile, almond, cherry and amaretto jelly 2002 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Domaine de La Janasse (Rhone Valley) [*]Sardine on toast sorbet Ballotine of mackerel « invertebrate », marinated dycon and salmon eggs. 2002 Riesling Gold-Quadra, S. Kuntz, Mosel (Germany) [*]Salmon poached with liquorice Asparagus, pink grape fruit, “Manni” olive oil 2000 La Grola Allegrini I.G.T. Veronese (Italy) [*]Poached Breast of Anjou pigeo, pancetta Pastilla of its legs, pistachio, cocoa and quatre épices 2000 Domaine de la Suffrene Cuvée des Lauves [*]Pre-desserts : White chocolate and caviar Mrs. Marshall’s Margaret cornet Pine sherbet dib dab [*]Mango and douglas fir puree Bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant and green peppercorn jelly, blackcurrant sorbet 1989 Riesling Beerenauslese, Piesporter Goldtropchen Von Kesselstatt, Mosel (Germany) [*]Orange and carrot tuile, bavarois of basil, beetroot jelly [*]Macerated Mara des Bois Black olive puree, pistachio scrambled egg, parmesan 2000 Opitz One, W. Opitz, Neusiedlersee (Austria) [*]Mignardis: Delice of chocolate Leather, oak, tobacco and mint chocolate Praline rose tartlet Having being served a nitro caipirinha cocktail at El Bulli a couple of weeks before, we couldn’t avoid to smile while Didier started the preparations for the nitro-green tea. We felt obliged to explain this to him, which led us to a brief conversation about how Albert Adrià spent some time at The Fat Duck and incorporated this technique into El Bulli’s repertoire. However, this dish had techniques both from Ferrán Adrià and Heston Blumenthal. Yes, the substance which was about to be immersed in the liquid nitrogen was nothing but a foam. After the process, the result was far more interesting than El Bulli’s caipirinha: whereas at El Bulli once the fog lifted what remained was simply an iced caipirinha which makes you question if the dish’s main point was the show of making it, at The Fat Duck the final result was a thin and delicate crust containing the now liquefied foam. Taken in a single bite, it acted as a natural palate cleanser, as Didier explained. Since it looks like the menu has been described by others before me, I won’t go through a full blown dish by dish description. I’d rather focus on what I enjoyed the least (just a couple of dishes, one of them a snack) and what I consider the best dishes of the meal. The least successful proposals presented to us, were the “Pommery grain mustard ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho, brunoise of cucumber” and the “Snail porridge”. Perhaps being a Spaniard limits the variation range you’re able to admit in a gazpacho, which certainly excludes the mustard ice cream. Though gazpacho usually is a theme which cooks in Spain tend to interpret in many ways (adding strawberries, kippers, playing with temperature contrasts and pushing the envelope of what gazpacho is), I found the combination of flavours too odd to me. Regarding the “Snail porridge”, several factors contributed to my questioning of this dish. One of them and not the smallest one was that I had just finished my trip to the Empordà where I had plenty of snails dishes cooked in traditional ways where the snails is the main and noticeable ingredient (see On snails for more info). So when I almost couldn’t see the snails or notice them in the mouth, so finely chopped and scarce they were, and their taste was so subtle according to my parameters of how a snail taste, my expectations weren’t met. I talked about this specific point with the maître, who being French understood it perfectly well. He explained to me that local clients are not especially familiar with or fond of snails and having more snails or to chop them in a coarser way would result in a rejection of this dish by many people. The other barrier that prevented me from fully enjoying the dish was the porridge part of it. I realize that the chef was playing here with familiar themes for Britons but since the base of the variation was almost unknown to me I couldn’t fully get it. Neither from a perspective based purely on taste was a dish I would qualify as great. Nonetheless, these two dishes did not prevent us from having one of our best meals ever. Genial ideas like the “Black truffle and oak toast”, one of the most well thought and conceived dishes I’ve ever found. A film made with oak essence (no, it wasn’t a reduction of one of these international wines) which prepares your tongue for the earthy and forest’s tastes to come: a paste of the summer truffle, tuber aestivium, generously spread over a thin toast. Or the “Salmon poached with liquorice” with Allegrini’s La Grola, a harmony of wine and food made in heaven with liquorice’s notes from the wine and the jelly which covered the salmon getting reinforced as you sip and bite. The service was attentive and cordial, ready to anticipate every need we had. A special mention shall be made of the young sommelier who handled the wine service: he displayed an enthusiasm and passion about what he was doing that was unavoidably contagious. All the staff contributed to make a most enjoyable meal which I rank among the best I’ve ever had. When we left, Didier handed us his business card just in case we needed some more information. The nitro man and his van had vanished.

Thanks very much for your thoughtful answer, Andrea. Indeed I agree with you that terroir is the way to go with these wines. There's also a great difference of Barbaresco wines (and as you say, Barolo, Burgundy) that set them apart from their competitors: they're terrific meal partners. Their tannins invite you to continue eating instead of letting your mouth tired with overriped fruit. Maybe in a wine tasting can be overlooked in favor of wines with more evident characteristics but it's difficult to think of better companions for a meal.

Barbaresco wines (and I'd say Nebbiolo in general) have a very different profile from what many consumers are used to drink: starting with their colour and finishing with their tannic load. This could be especially painful and unfair in blindfold tasting. How do you think these wines should be promoted to compete with other wines which in appearance are easier to drink?

A cab is not a bad option to go to MB. It doesn't cost much more than what I tipically pay to go from home to one of Madrid's restaurants (I live near the airport): around 10€ from what I recall. Though you could eat pretty well at the Guggenheim restaurant, IMHO MB at Lasarte plays in another league.

Ted, are you talking specifically about Ducasse having held back in the past a thing or two or is just a general remark?

Simon, I'll try to collect some info later on covering hunting seasons. Regarding the dátil, its scientific name explains it all: lithophaga lithophaga, which literally could be translated as "rock eater". That is, once the larval phase of the creature reaches an end, it starts digging into the rock where it laids on and its growing takes place from the outside in. So I guess it's really complicated to extract them without causing major damage to their environment.

What I've interpreted before writing my previous post from the sources I've checked, is that dátil de mar is suffering from one of those contradictions that sometimes are created by regulations: while it seems that indeed its fishing is forbidden its consume is allowed/tolerated under the laws of some regions. Take a look to these links (in Spanish) if you wish and let's see if we infer the same conclusion: http://www.fotosub.org/datil1.htm http://www.icm.csic.es/rec/abello/buceo2103datil.htm Search for "Nomativa protectora de Lithophaga lithophaga en España" in the page

Thanks for bringing up ortolans, Víctor, I totally forgot about them. Coming back to the sea, dátiles de mar (lithophaga lithophaga) have also been mentioned here and there as a protected species which randomly appears in some restaurant. I must say that I've never seen them in any menu or being offered to me.

Yes, so good it doesn't look mine. To properly answer that question I would have to know a lot more about how tripes are typically served in France, but I'm sure you guys will take me up to speed in no time. Regarding the wine, and assuming it's a heavy and spiced dish, you have a wide range of options, going from a powerful Rhone syrah to the subtleness of a Burgundy, or perhaps covering unexplored ground with some white Sancerre.

So long, Miguel, nice reading back from you! Though I recall I read something similar to what you described in the States, I don't know of any equivalent movement here in Spain. The only cases I know of "civil disobedience" is using actual egg to make mayonnaise, presenting chuletón with its bone during the madness about cow madness and nothing more. Regarding chanquetes (aphia minuta), the tiny fishes usually served fried in Málaga (Andalusia) my understanding is that catching and serving them is forbidden not because they're at risk but because the net holes to catch them have to be so small that they put in danger other species. Hopefully others will add more information, because I wouldn't qualify mine as 100% reliable. I'd swear I've seen chanquetes offered as recently as a couple of weeks ago.

They will certainly appreciate a good tortilla de patatas. Seriously, Mrs. B loves tripes and so does Bux. A dish that takes a lot time to cook but with the great advantage that can be cooked well in advance (over the weekend).

Rogelio, perhaps those goose barnacles didn't have Galizian as their native tongue...

When I asked chef Abraham García about this, he also pointed without hesitation to Arabic heritage. Venturing that vinegar could have been replaced on those latitudes with some juice of citrus.

"Factory" sounds disparaging when applied to a restaurant kitchen. We think of McDonald's or at least of Howard Johnson's here, although Jacques Pepin worked for that chain in his earlier days and with some pride in what he accomplished. Robuchon's Atelier is not like Adrià's atelier, but I don't know quite what to make of the difference. Adrià uses his as laboratory for experimentation while Robuchon's seems to the flagship for a chain of counter restaurants. Haute cuisine kichens are all run on an assemply line. There's not going to be all that much difference between one that offers dozens of dishes and one that offers one set menu, except that there will be efficiencies and economies--smaller staff, smaller kitchen and less food waste. These should offer a lower overhead in terms of salary, rent and food cost. Bux, perhaps it does sound disparaging, but I believe it accurately reflects the processes in some restaurants: decoupling R&D and production, working less with raw materials and more with pre-prepared ingredients. To me, there's a difference between having a set menu and an offer to choose from, besides the efficiencies and economies: the latter introduces a fair amount of uncertainty in the processes. You could have an assembly line but you don't know what's to be asssembled until the last minute. I would say that if the traditional driver for having precooked components for some dishes has been time (i.e., you can't cook some technically simple dishes in less than a given amount of time), now this driver is being influenced by complexity and economy of scale. We're demanding more and more complexity which increases effort both in time and human workload. Since the incremental cost of doing a small quantity of a component for a dish and a much larger quantity is not going to take significant more human effort, the restaurant is compelled to produce more and store it to obtain in that way some economies of scale.

Not I. Though there were some restaurants which noticed a sharp downfall in revenues with the change of goverment, up to a 30% cut. It takes a while to get people used to use their new credit cards while some others have seen those go away. On the broader issue discussed in here, there are huge advantages for the restaurant obtained by fixing the menu: it makes demand much more predictable, reducing costs of goods and such. We've talked about this before, and by having a fixed menu, no matter how good it is, from El Bulli to the demi-pension places, it makes the restaurant work more like a factory than an atelier. Kind of agree with you, Robert: this probably will be better placed in Spain/Portugal. Nice reading you. PS: Do tell us about your experience in Spain, please!

You're welcome. Unless you want to dine on the weekend, making reservations with two or three days of anticipation usually works.

dls, it's not possible to dine at the bar in Viridiana since they don't have anything that could be considered as such. However, Viridiana welcomes solo diners. Answering to your second question, Viridiana is within walking distance (five minutes if you're not fast) from the Palace Hotel.

I'm sorry to be late with my report on Can Roca. By all means, I intend to complete it by the weekend. Nevertheless, let me advance you some info: a) As I wrote in this same thread, the tasting menu we had, and was the most expensive and complete one, cost 75€ per person. VAT not included. I'm looking to the bill as I write this, so I guess is quite accurate. There's a charge for bread and the like of 2.4€ per person, still water at 1.80€ and coffee at 1.71€. Again, VAT not included. b) Regarding wine, do not worry if you have a limited budget for that. You'll find quite good bottles in the 30-40€ range and even less. Of course, do not expect to find Yquem or Romanée at those prices. They're also in the wine list, like a bottle of Screaming Eagle which was opened a couple of tables from us when we lunched there. c) I'll post the menu this weekend. It's indeed creative cuisine, but I would have a very hard time if someone is unable to compose a dinner which suits his/her taste from Can Roca's menu. But that well could be my own fault.

Under / around 60€ per person, a good bottle of wine included, I would suggest these places which offer a traditional Basque meal: Rekondo in San Sebastian. Warning: if you're a wine-holic, the bill probably will be higher than 60€ per person, but you won't have the wine you drink any cheaper anywhere. And I'm talking of the best wines of the world. Ask Gerry Dawes. Saltxipi in Usurbil. Casa Nicolas in Tolosa. Casa Julian, in the same village, will do the trick. But since I believe Casa Nicolas is less known and of a similar qualityl, why not giving a try to it? I've seen you already have pintxos in your mind. Do not forget them.