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Reputed local sources point out that Mantequería Ravell (C/ Aragó 313) is the place. They also have a couple of tables to lunch some fried eggs with foie.

Saboroso, I don't think I'm wrong if I say that Petras it's one of the prominent figures in the gastronomy scene of the country. If a mushroom broker exists, that's him. Buying and selling all kind of mushrooms all over the world, he's appreciated by every chef who's passionate about mushrooms. And certainly among aficionados alike, category which I belong to. Thanks for your interesting set of addresses. I'll see if I can sample their products sooner than later.

Well, neither did I want to make an apology of tasting menus. I just addressed a couple of issues that I don't believe are always true. Elsewhere I've written that I'm against tasting menus being the only option available in a restaurant. And even more against tasting menus which include little or none of the dihes that are provided à la carte: Sorry for quoting myself, but the former ideas were lost amidst one of El Bulli's crowded threads.

I don't necessarily agree with that point of view. I vividly remember the greatest dishes I've had, whether they've been part of a tasting menu or not. Perhaps having a tasting menu raises the bar of what you're able to remember, meaning that the dish has to create a deeper impression to find a place in your memory. But I don't see that as inherently wrong. There's another drawback that's been mentioned here. The quantities. I guess my method is not very sophisticated, but it works. If you feel like having some more of a dish during a tasting menu, just ask for it. I've never been turned down for doing that in a restaurant. Plus, and perhaps equally important, the answer that you get from the waiters and maîtres along with the time it takes them to accommodate your request, tells you a lot from the restaurant.

While dining at one of the finest Japanese restaurants in Madrid, Kabuki, we were served some dishes where mushrooms played a role, more or less significant. Kabuki's chef, Ricardo Sanz, is known for his personal take on traditional cooking, and how he adds his particular twist to it. So, I left the restaurant wondering whether mushrooms were commonly used in Japan or not. Is there any particular season to have them, or are edible species available throughout the whole year?

That sounds quite interesting, asola! Are there any other products that are worth getting on that Sunday markets? Are they similar to the farmers market in the States? I'd say that kind of markets, where the number of steps between the producer and the consumer is as low as possible is becoming rarer and rarer in Spain, even in the rural areas. But it's something that sooner or later will explode, if the interest that eco/bio produces attract is taken into account (IMHO).

Maybe vserna / Rogelio could add more information, but from what I understand, gallegos are not particularly fond of caracoles (snails). In fact, they would eat almost anything, i.e. oysters, before eating such strange creatures. Last week, while having lunch at Sacha, in front of a remarkable dish consisting of a fried egg with clams in a green sauce, Sacha himself told us that he cooked that green sauce in the hypertraditional way. That is, adding some meat stock to the sauce. Since seafood was literally at hand to anyone who would take the burden of going to the coast and grab some, meat was consider a luxury product not that many years ago. So, just by adding some meat stock to the green sauce and the clams, the dish would get a higher status than without it. I think so, Bux. I've read some Abraham Garcia's recipes where he suggests the use of microwave ("punishing the ham in the microwave") to achieve that texture. That wouldn't be a surprise to someone who's tried to prepare some habas (broad beans) sauted with ham. Or peas, for that matter. The ham gets easily dry, crunchy and salty if you don't properly control the process. According to Abraham, it looks like the microwave works perfectly to get the texture used by Manolo in the garlic soups, either cold or hot.

Rare tuna with ajoblanco (cold soup made with almonds, bread, water and some garlic, oil, salt and vinegar as basic ingredients) has been around in spanish restaurants for some years now. Juan Pablo Felipe (El Chaflán), Abraham García (Viridiana) are examples of chefs whom have being serving dishes around that theme. The description of Manolo's dish sounds to me as another variation on this. PS: Looking to your soup picture, it occurs to me that the liquid you thought was poured over the cheese was actually poured over the garlic soup. The picture certainly seems without the liquid itself.

In Spain, we have a fair number of delicious cold soups. The best known is gazpacho, but there's also ajoblanco, salmorejo (we could argue whether this one is a soup or a cream), garlic soup (see Las Rejas' thread)... So, with the temperature in the high eighties for the first time in the year, the natural thing to do was to have fabada at lunch. Located in Hortaleza, specifically in what's left of Hortaleza's town, Mesón Sidrería Arturo has been serving for twenty two years the same dishes. Very good fabada, the traditional fabes (white beans) stew from Asturias; cabrales cheese; natural or sweet cider. Picadillo, seasoned pork meat in a way that resembles chorizo, served with fries and green peppers is also a signature dish (as is chorizo a la sidra, BTW). Like the red pepper and ventresca (tuna belly) salad with good olive oil and rock salt. In fact, our meal consisted of those three dishes, shared by two: red pepper and ventresca salad, picadillo with fries and green peppers, and last but not least, the fabada. If you don't want to upset the owner, you better have your fabada eaten from the bottom to the top without shaking it in the pot where it's served. Of course, natural cider was chosen as our drink. The owner, Arturo Santos, is also proud of their grilled pork ribs, which indeed looked terrific uncooked. We chat a little with him, since the restaurant was unusually quiet. The reason, of course, was the hot temperatures, he told us. They're fully packed in the fall/winter months, but now they enter a period of relative calm. They tried to remove the most powerful dishes from the menu during these months, but they couldn't. There are always crazy people whom fancy to have fabada even with the temperatures in the hundreds, he said. He was proud of the dishes they serve, in a simple and honest way. He said that if all their dishes were this good now, it's because before they haven't been so good. It's not a trivial task to select good picadillo providers (achieve a balance between fat, spices, meat used, ...), fabes, and so, and so. They had twenty two years to perfect that area. It was good to return to this no frills casa de comidas. So, with a smile and some sweat in our faces, we happily returned to work.

I'm not familiar with Colibri, but if you let know in advance l'Abac, Ca l'Isidre and Drolma of your wife's allergies, they should be able to prepare excellent meals accommodating your requirements. Please do make sure that they understand you to avoid undesired surprises. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to send them a fax stating clearly what food she can't eat, preferably in Spanish (garlic translates as ajo (all in Catalonian) and tomato as tomate (tomaquet in Catalonian)). Let me know if you need further assistance.

Thanks Edward. It seems that yogurt was also mentioned by Arzak as playing an important role in the process.

Heated debate at lunch. At my dad's birthday, a discussion on tandoori developed. My sister said that he saw Juan Mari Arzak, father of the spanish new wave of cooking, respected by everyone in the profession and three starred chef, describing tandoori as mixture of spices. I stated that I've always heard the term tandoor referring to the oven itself where the food is cooked, not to the spices used. I don't exactly know why, but she preferred to believe the most respected person in the culinary scene of the country rather than me . Could someone bring some light to the issue, please?

Asturianos has appeared before in the forum as an excellent wine bar with very good food. Coming from the sidra region in Spain by definition, Asturias, they also serve what looks like good and natural sidra.

That's a different argument, Vedat. What you're saying now is that El Bulli is serving inferior quality ingredients, and the results of their processes are dishes were the whole is worse than its parts. If that's the case, then they'll be in trouble quite soon. Let's see if in my next visit I'm able to detach myself from all the hype surrounding El Bulli and have a more or less objective view of what's going on there.

The words xarcuteries and Barcelona (Catalonia, in general) rang a bell in my mind. Spain is indeed great for sausages no matter where you go, but Catalonia truly has some local specialties that I'm very fond of. Butifarra blanca, butifarra negra, fuet, sacallona, ... Perhaps not 100% objective, since I was born in BCN . Asola and the other locals, any special places to get good sausages? There's a difference between a good butifarra and a great butifarra.

Miguel, if that's the case, let's pray they choose a goose barnacle as the star for their next movie. PS: Rogelio, much to my surprise, I found that Saint Peter's fish seems to be an acceptable way to refer to San Pedro in English. At least, according to my source.

Today was a good day to put some miles between you and downtown Madrid. Heavy rain, many streets closed to traffic, thousands of people in the streets. Well, I suppose that royal weddings are like this. So, we had two excuses to bridge a major gap by going to Las Rejas: Mar’s birthday and “The” wedding. Only after lunch we realized how major the gap was. After slightly more than a hundred miles of smooth driving, we reach Las Pedroñeras, a small town southeast Madrid, in the province of Cuenca. This is the odd place chosen by Manuel de la Osa to establish his restaurant, Las Rejas. Perhaps he did so because he was born there. The appearance of Las Rejas’ façade couldn’t be less promising. But once you cross the door, everything changes. A nice setup, with more than well spaced tables, a quite and warm atmosphere. Good. Bring on the tasting menu!: A very good Iberic lomo was presented to us to begin with. A shadow of doubt passes by your mind. Hmm, we didn’t travel this far to have lomo, no matter how good is. But soon enough, a cold soup of tomato, basil and garlic with a tasty raw clam is offered, and now you start the real travel. The dish was a display of total balance. The acidity and sweetness of the tomato, the saltiness and iodized flavours of the clam, the basil and garlic in the background, without interfering with the rest of the ingredients, but enhancing them. An oyster over a cream of pumpkin and citrus fruits with saffron, took me back to January and NY, where I found odd the combination of seafood and citrus fruits that I had in places like Blue Hill. Nothing wrong about reviewing you own ideas. Manuel de la Osa seems to be present directing everything, and displaying quite a character on his way to the kitchen. Now, a set of three snacks is presented to us. A cockle and trout eggs in a cauliflower cream with green tomatoes foam. Smoked salmon over a light bread stick with yoghourt and curry. Caramelized foie with spiced bread. All of them very good, but not moving. A friend of mine who’s recently been there complained about the number of seafood offered in a Cuenca village. Well, he could have a point, but why a chef should restrain himself of using what considers the best to display his style? Also, I believe that there are enough links between Manuel de la Osa’s cooking and his region. Las Rejas is not an impersonal restaurant that could be found in a major city. Not without Manolo, at least. We were about to being served the best three dishes of the meal. Three great dishes. No matter what you compared them to. A cream of cheese, with summer truffle (tuber aestivium), dried fruits and compoted tomato. Cold soup of purple Las Pedroñeras’ garlic. Ravioli of partridge on its juice with perretxicos. What can be said about them? The cream of cheese is a reviewed version of a traditional way of having cheese. Some dried fruits, and some compote (usually quince jelly). The truffle expanded all the flavours. The cold soup was something else. It had small crumbs of breads (migas), an egg’s yolk, and a couple of thin slices of iberic fried ham (I suspect that it was “punished” in the microwave). Great combination of textures and long and deep flavours (egg’s yolk and garlic). Two more dishes were the prelude to the desserts. A Saint Peter’s fish over pisto manchego and saffron cream, and a roasted pidgeon with spring onion. The two of them were very good, but not as great as the three previous ones. And now the desserts. Well, to tell the truth and much to the embarrassment of Mar, I ask the young waiter if I could have another cold soup. He checked this with Manuel, who just replied “Order it” and came to our table. I stated that it was sheer gluttony, while Mar made a point stating that it was just me who was ordering. I was just mumbling how great the cheese cream and the cold soup were, when Manuel smiles and says “Ok, why don’t you have the two dishes?” And so he brought them. He was kind enough of not including them in the bill. The desserts were very refreshing, specially the first one with fruits (including sweetened zucchini) and coconut ice cream. The second one was a coffee gelée with some foamed cream. Back to Madrid, with the certainty of having visited one of the greatest restaurants in Spain.

Vedat, I'm afraid I don't agree 100% with what you say. In El Bulli's 2004 menu, you can see zamburiñas (Chlamys varia, different from vieiras, pecten maximus and pecten jacobeus), oysters, ham (which I assume to be of the best quality, according to nerdgirl), toro (which can come from an almadraba near the Strait), spider crab, ... Probably there's nearly not as "complete" as it could be, but I don't think El Bulli's mission is to offer the most varied Spanish seafood. Maybe Rafa is (limited to Catalonia, I'd assume). What I wouldn't forgive is that what they offer is not of pristine quality, rather than choosing this or that range of products.

Hi Vedat, it's good to have you back around here! I take note of your recommendation for becada. PS: Though now we're out of the months containing an 'r' in their name, when seafood it's supposed to excel (BTW, the months with 'r' are the same in Spanish and English), Combarro is waiting for you. Perhaps someone in a new thread could explain us the reason why seafood is supposed to be at its best from September to April?

Would garlic, at least partially, explain the issue?

Hmm, it seems like something is moving in Portugal's cooking scene. Did you get the impression that Vitor's offering was the only one in that style, or there's a trend in Portugal to move towards the use of sophisticated techniques? PS1: Thanks for the post and the pictures, chefette. They're great! PS2: Docsconz, I'm sure we'll be able to arrange a good meal in October if you are around.

Perhaps I'm being too optimistic here, but I wouldn't be much worried about the hotel issue in this time of the year (I would from June until September). My advice here would be to go to Barcelona, where I assume you're flying to, and go tomorrow to a travel agency (Viajes Marsans, Viajes El Corte Inglés, Viajes Halcón are travel agencies that come to my mind which should be able to get you hotels in Roses in several price ranges. Viajes El Corte Inglés could be found in almost any El Corte Inglés shop).

Barcelona is far enough from El Bulli to try to stay in Roses at least the night you dine there. It'll be a long dinner (quite long by Spanish standards), and probably you don't want to drive a decent amount of miles from El Bulli to the highway. You shouldn't have any problems booking a night there in this time of the year. Almadraba Park has appeared in other posts as a suitable location for the same purpose as yours. Being a touristic destination, I'm sure you'll be able to find a hotel that suits your specific needs.

Years ago, tasting menus or menús degustación, were used by some restaurants as a way to get new customers, and it was possible that you could get a cheaper meal with one of these menus than ordering a la carta. I don't know if that continues to be the case, but Madrid's El Bodegón, where Hilario Arbelaitz from Zuberoa acted (acts?) as consultant chef, whatever that means, offered a well priced dining menu, considerably cheaper than the bill you'd get for lunch. I suspect they were seen by many as a business restaurant and they wanted to get some dinners as well.

Unfortunately, Bilbao is one of my big gaps. I go much more often to Guipúzcoa (San Sebastian area) than there. However, a recent work trip there makes me wonder if you couldn't have a meal in that price range at the Guggenheim. Not in the main dining room, but in the part which is closer to the bar. I believe they offer a small selection of their full menu. Years ago, I went to Goizeko Kabi, and found it cheaper than its Madrid counterpart. Probably prices would have risen since. In the port, on the right side of the ría, I had last year a very simple and delicious meal consisting of salad and grilled monkfish. There are a handful of restaurants there, and they seemed quite reliable. I'll take a look to my cards and see if I'm able to locate the exact place.