Rogelio

The Week of Agost the 2nd. 2004 Fernando Point writes at Metrópoli about La Gorda the Peruvian restarant placed in the popular Prosperidad Area. Point praises the passion and care of Carmen Delgado for her Tiraditos, cebiches and lomitos. The Metrópoli's tapas section is dedicated to El Jardín de Baco A tapas and wine tavern in the Santa Eugenia area, in the outskirts of Madrid. Top Metrópoli is for restaurants cooking Creative dishes with Ajoblanco being the top creative restaurants the winners of this week using this primitive almond gazpacho 1. Balzac. 2. El Amparo. 3. Soroa. 4. El Bohío. 5. Arce. 6. La Terraza del Casino. 7. No Do. 8. La Broche. La Vanguardia’s 5 a Taula visites Casa Joan an historical fonda in Vilafranca del Penedés where they cook tradicional dishes with respect and happiness. Elena Castells writes about an innovative experience to deal with in the daily work: Cooking with your Boss or with thos mates that you can’t stand is a new invention to learn to work as a team. Rafael García Santos at El Correo visites La Sirena the restaurant owned by Mari Carmen Vélez in Petrer, Alicante. RGS praises in his peculiar style the quality of the seafood and the milimetric cooking points. There is also an article about the new rural setting of Alain Ducasse in the french Vasque Country, and García Santos reveal the rural and magistral touch of Ducasse. Erique Bellver writes at El Sur about Adolfo. The other times resference restaurant of Malaga is still one of the bests. Caius Apicius writes about potatoes and the different vaireties in his hard to translate article From Cachelos to Papas Arrugas. Where the knoeledgeable critc praises such a cheap product. The New York Times includes an article about Adrià on Fast Food with a few mistakes by Elaine Sciolino.

The Week of July the 26th, 2004 Fernando point visites today at Metrópoli about Fast Good and Iboo, the two Fast Food restaurants created by Ferren Adrià (Fast Good) and Mario Sandoval (Iboo) praising the good paninis and natural juices of the former and the salads of the latter. The tapas section is dedicated to La Vaquita Argentina the tapas branch created by the argentinian restaurant chain. Top Metrópoli is for restaurants cooking Octopus being the winners very original restaurants and recipes: 1. La Lonja de Pozuelo 2. Hakkasan. 3. La Taverna siciliana. 4. Viridiana. 5. El Fogón de Zeín. 7. Pedro Larumbe. Abraham García, Viridiana’s chef publishes at ElMundo.es about his 9 favourite Summer creams including his famous gazpacho and an iconoclastic Pinenuts Ajoblanco . La Vanguardia’s 5 a Taula paraises Follia the barcelonian restaurant runned by Jo baixas, an architect who has changed the plans for the kitchen with very good resoults. Elena Castells is surprised with the new Korean Stall opened at La Boquería. Rafael García Santos visites Barcelona’s Drolma this week confirming that Fermí Puig is an advantage disciple of Escoffier and his restaurant is the sublimation of luxury ingredients in a palace ambient. Erique Bellver writes at El Sur about La Alcaria de Ramos La Alcaría de Ramos the new restaurant of José Ramos, former cook at the classic La Fonda, the signature restaurant of the 80’s Marbella. Now runs with his son this restaurant in Estepona cooking ultraconservative dishes like beef strogonoff or game with spätzle. Caius Apicius writes about Malvasía the mediterranian grape that has given originality to the canarian wines.

Hi Robert, I bet that you have enough suggestions for Barcelona, but if you go down South by the coast there are loads of good eats until you get to Valencia. Here's a list if you're traveling from Barcelona to Valencia: - Vilanova i la Geltrú Little fishermen village: El Peixerot Passeig Marìtim, 59 (93 815 06 25) Family runned restaurant with excellent seafood and mariner's dishes like al cremat.They have a branch in Barcelona too. - Deltebre a singular area in the mouth of river Ebro with great products like rice and king prowns, but there isn't a real good restaurant there. A good option is Can Cadell C/ Cervantes, 14 (977 48 25 62) in the village of La cava - Peñíscola, nice little town where the Luna Pope lived: Casa Jaime Avda. Papa Luna, 5 - (964 480 030) for great rices (order in advance) and superb suquets (Fishermen stew) - Castellón de la Plana (not worth the turistic visit): But Rafael C/ Churruca, 28 (964 281 626) placed in El Grao area (Castellón's harbour) is a very good option for fishes and rices. - Valencia: Bux has given you a few tips, Ca Sento is a very good one. Also La Sucursal placed at the IVAM museum is quite interesting for a modern aproach to Valencian dishes.

They are almost the same, dry red peppers but from a different variety: -Pimientos Choriceros -Ñoras

Pedro, I think that there is a difference between Pimiento choricero and Ñora, the former, typical from Vasque is longer and more bitter while the latter, typical from the Mediterraneum, is smaller and sweeter. I use the Choriceros in Marmitakos and Vizcainas and the Ñoras in suquets and seafood calderetas.

Bux, we call it Salsa Española and it is done with poached carrots, onions, leeks and tomatoes in pig's fat and then beef and beef stoke...and used in meat dishes. I'm not sure if is the same as Sauce Spagnole

Let me bring back this thread, though kindly pushed by Pedro, to relate one of the best meals that I have had lately. Last monday our wine tasting group went to Aldaba to celebrate the last tasting of the season, which it's always dedicated to white wines aported by each meber of the group, some of the highlights were Bollinger RD 90, Clos de la Coulée de Serrant 87, Huet Clos de Bourg Vouvray 92... But the great part of the dinner, apart from the company and the wines, was the enchanting atention bringed by Luis, the awarded somelier, and specially the simple but excellent dishes made with pristine products and milimetric cooking points by the anonymous Aldaba chefs ( I gess that is a woman) We had a kind of tasting menu sugested by Pereira, the maitre, acording to the white wines that we were going to taste (we taste and drink while we eat, nothing too brainy). So we started with a dish of string beans simply boiled and fried with natural tomato and iberico ham chunks acompained by flambed tiger prowns and a roasted red peppers and black olives vinagrette. This is the best vegetables dish I ever had, the quality of the beans and the cooking point is something that I will hardly forget. Then we had a tuna tartare simply acompained by shallots, white crushed pepper and a vizcaina souce (this is hardest to explain as it is done with rehidrated dry red peppers choriceros typicals from the Vasque Country). Following was the meat balls with lamb kidneys and spanish sauce, one of Aldaba´s signature dishes. Excellent comfort food with the meat balls with an almost raw inside. The main course was a stuffed beef toungue with poached egg, potato puree and (again) spanish sauce. Simply irresistible to take the bread and dip and dip and dip... Last course was a Torta de Córdoba, a cheese in the style of the Extremadura's tortas a bit more salty, recomended by Luis due to the lack of quality that the extremeñian ones are suffering because of the high demand that pushes the producers to accelerate the maturing proces. The dessert was a simple but delicious black tea icecream acopained by a fig. If you have reached this point it may seem that this was a good but simple dinner, but belive me if I tell you that the quality and the respect for the products and the treatment of them is something that I haven't seen in a long time. Please don't envy me too much, it's a hard life

Jordi, don't be enigmatic and share this recomendation with us please.

You're absolutely right Bux, but the main problem was the misunderstanding with the waiter, when we asked him for sugestions he didn't knew what to answer so we opted for the trial/error and we fail. But don't know if I'll give it another chance

China Crown is in Infanta Mercedes, between Metro stations Tetuan and Cuzco. In Northern Madrid.

Butterfly, I was on the Calle Silva's chinese about three weeks ago and my experience was far away from yours. My friend's ex-boss is chinese and used to eat there daily so we went to try the real thing. The friends who took us said that they have changed the owner, so maybe it used to be better. The place looks interesting always plenty of chinese people eating noodle soups. But after trying to be understood by the waiter we opted for duck toungues, they were canned and very cartilaginous like pigs ears and then chicken with prawns and cashews, and an icecream for dessert, with two Sin Tao beers it was about six euros. IMHO very bad QPR. It's been on of the worst meals I've had lately. Just my luck. I rather go to China Crown, maybe less authentic but more ejoyable.

The Week of July the 19th, 2004 Fernando Point writes ths week about two madrileñian restaurants at Metropoli. Asia Gallery is the new luxury chinese restaurants at the Palace Hotel. Ran by the same people of the Zen restaurant chain, this is the sublimation of their virtues. On the other hand El Pimiento Verde is a good and modest Basque style sidrería that has acquired a good reputation between regulars that come for good food at reasonable prices. Tha tapas section is dedicated to the crowded Bistrot Saconia placed in this remote area. And the Top Metropoli is dedicates to desserts including Mango being obviously oriental restaurants the kings of this selection where apart from Yataki, Hakassan, Tao or Café Saigon we find La Broche and El Chaflan in the top. Rafael García Santos travels this week to Haro in La Rioja and visits Las Duelas the new restaurant owned by five reputed bodegas of the city. They serve both traditional riojan and innovative dishes. RGS prefers the latter while valuating the former. In his article of the week RGS writes about the permanent revolution of the Alta Cocina that seems to describe circles being nowadays the last trend the raw products or the BBQ roasted meats and fishes. Back to the roots! La Vanguardia’s gastronomic group 5 a Taula visites this week Hostal Bertrán in Salàs de Pallars (Lérida) an ultratraditional restaurant and hotel at bargain prices. They praise the classic cooking of Maria Dolores Bertrán, things like pig trotters, meatballs soup, butifarra and beans are not usual in today restaurants, and for 11€ this is an absolute bargain. And Elena Castells complains about the lack of taste of the new Tomatoes Acording to El Sur's Enrique Bellver Mar de Alborán is one of the best restaurants in the eastern andalusian coast, in the entry of Puerto Marina. The food has strong Basque influence but incorpores also japanese and andalusian touches. Always magistral, Caius Apicius diserts about the two spanish signature dishes Paella and Gazpacho Paella and gazpacho and how devaluated thay are thanks, but not only, to the bad cooks of the turistic areas. If you want to discuss this article do it Here

For those of you who haven't read it on the FT, here's an article about eating out in and around Athens by Nicolas Lander

The Week of July the 12th, 2004 Metrópoli, El Mundo’s supplement for Madrid comes this week with a review of the renewed classic Club 31 by Fernando Point. The critic remarks the high business ambient more than the classic and non spectacular food according to the prices. A restaurant to see and be seen more than a gastronomic destination. The Tapas section is dedicated to El Cucurucho del Mar a cheap seafood restaurant in the very centre of Madrid. This week’s Top Metropoli is for the best (Fritura de pescado) Deep fried fish in Madrid. Naturally, the winners were Andalusian inspired restaurants: La Taberna del Puerto. For the fresh red Mullets from Santa Pola (Alicante) Alborán. For the Sea Bass or Turbot eggs with vinaigrette and deepfried onion La Dorada. Monkfish Liver and deep fried Cocochas La Giralda. Sea nettles (Sea anemones) Qüenco. Red Mullets and cod or hake eggs El Espigón. Sea nettles and hake eggs from huelva. The gastronomy channel of El Correo Digital includes a review of Arbelaitz by Rafael García Santos. The restaurant is owned by Jose María Arbelaitz, brother of Zuberoa’s Hilario Arbelaitz. RGS notes that the restaurant has reached its cruising speed and the dishes are more thought than before, searching for the balance rather than the impact. Also interesting is the discussion about Tuna and Albacore RGS writes about both of them without a clear winner. 5 a Taula, the gastronomic group that writes at La Vanguardia revisits the historic El Racó d'en Binu the classic restaurant that introduced, back in the seventies, the author cuisine in Argentona, the little village placed in El Maresme. The restaurant has turned itself into a living classic. Elena Castells writes about the great idea that has apeared in little Barcelona markets (Horta, Carmel y Vall d'Hebron) where they have created aHome delivery service run by disabled people, so it’s both a convenience for the consumer and a source of employment for those who might otherwise have a problem finding a job. El Comercio Digital from Asturias reviews the little great restaurant El Rompeolas in Tazones. The owners seem to have a secret pact with the sea to obtain the best and freshest fishes and seafood for this little typical and charming bar. Also on the same paper Casa de Comidas Fromestano is a new addition in the Asturian scene, they cook Asturian based food with modern touches. Andalusian paper El Sur includes a review by Enrique Bellver of La Dorada de Málaga a new traditional restaurant based on seafood and deep fried fish. Caius Apicius writes this week about Cod saying than now is surprisingly better than ever. He has been part of the jury who has decided which has been the best cod dish of the year. Surprisingly, the winner has been Marcos Moran from Casa Gerardo in Prendes (Asturias) winning over Basques and Catalans (Portugueses are out of the league. Shall we say the play in other league, instead?) If you want to discuss this thread, do it Here

The Week of July the 5th, 2004 Fernado Point revisits this week Julián de Tolosa the madrileñian branch of the famous Casa Julian in Tolosa, here they have a larger menu where apart from the great rumpsteaks and the superb roasted piquillo peppers they now roast monkfish and hake. For the starters the powerful alubias de Tolosa and in the summer a proper gazpacho, all completed with a good wine list. The tapas section visits the two branches of bullfighting Lalanda Taberna And the Top Metrópoli goes for Zucchini flowers the group that encompases the ranking includes Casa Ormaza. Viridiana. El Imperio. Come Prima. Più di Prima. Kabuki. Balzac and El Estragón Vegetariano. This week's best article prize is found on El Mundo's Sunday Magazine and is about five brilliant chefs talking about their mothers cooking influence and both of them cook a traditional dish by the mothers and the haute cuisine adaptation by the sons, so we find Martin Berasategui, Santi Santamaría (Can Fabes), Abraham García (Viridiana), Francis Paniego (Echaurren) and Mario Sandoval(Coque) talking and cooking with flattery with their mothers. Barcelona’s La Vanguardia visites this week La Boquería with the group 5 a Taula, visiting Pinocho, Quimet and Universal, the three bars at the market, a gastronomic hiden treasure very well reported here at eGullet. The product of the week in Elena Castells’ friday’s market section is the watermelon and discovers that the sweetest part is the closest to the stem. Rafael García Santos , at El Correo Digital writes this week about Zaldiarán the Vitorian restaurant where Gonzalo Antón practises a sociologically modern and convincing cooking for a sofisticated public. Very interesting is the review of Alicante and surroundigs in the article What's cooking in Alicante. Where apart from the excellent rice with snails at Casa Paco in Pinoso there are two classic bars in the capital worth the visit: Piripi and Nou Manolín and new additions like Max in the San Juan area. According to RGS the best restaurant in the city is Maestral, and two excursions worth the trip are Casa Alfonso in Dehesa de Campoamor for excelent rices and if you want to continue you can go as far as Ondara where in Casa Pepa you can have a fish and vegetables superb rice. The other excursion is to Petrer where La Sirena is found, the best marisquería in the area where apart from seafood you can have the best suquet of your life . The highlights of the trip to Alicante acording to RGS would be: · Denia: El Poblet, Where the experimental food of Quique Dacosta lives together with the best red prawns preparations · Petrer: La Sirena is the restaurant that has gone further in the searching of all i oli · Elda: The chocolates of Totel, and their panettone de chocolate y frutas and their financieros are famous worldwide · Pinoso: The rice with rabbit and snails of Casa Paco is the top of traditional gastronomy. Caius Apicius writes about the now very popular Red Tuna and talks about the misunderstandings with the Spanish name (Ventresca) and the Japanese name (Toro, which also means bull in Spanish). Both delicious anyway, the tuna and the article. New addition to this digest, andalusian Diario Sur includes a critic by Enrique Bellver of restaurant Tikitano in Estepona. With an international staff, chef Jaxon Keedwel makes fussion food in two ambients, lighter during lunch time and more sofisticated at nights. Enrique Bellver writes also about La Coquina a tapas bar on La Carihuela beach, good products, fried fish and seafood and a fast service are the highlights. If you want to discuss this thread, do it Here

I don't understand you when you say "Without making Jerez" Do you mean without making fino? because they do. Indeed they do very good Pedro Ximenez (PX) sherry wines, I haven't tasted the amontillados. The GR72 is a bit over the 75, but it's been discontinued now (maybe you can find any spare bottle somewhere). And yes, all the sherry wines are fortified, if you want an introduction to sherrys, here is a very comprehensive thread by a friend.

Tips on the Asturian coast could be the little village of Celorio, The seafood of bar El Rompeolas in the village of Tazones, The road restaurant Casa Consuelo in Otur (close to Luarca) also with a nice beach...

I think that this wine is a 25 year old Amontillado, it is the perfect company for fried almods or smoked fishes. Amontillado is a type of sherry whose must come from the finest musts and has suffered biological evolution under flor (yeasts) for the first years of its life. Biological echoes are a plus in this case. This is the ultimately pure sherry style, in the best cases a perfect marriage of biological and oxidative ‘crianza’. Its potential complexity is otherworldly.

It seems like all the starred chefs are opening fast food restaurants in Madrid, last week El Mundo had an article talking about Adrà's Fast Good (also debated here), Juan Pablo de Felipe's La Paninoteca (a sandwich and rolls bar) and now Coque's Mario Sandoval has just opened Iboo, a new place where as they say you can have Alta Cocina in a short time. So we went there yesterday. The place thet is suposed to be the first branch of a chain, is very modern and more confortable than a fast food place but far away from the standard restaurant comodities. The service was inexpert and the restaurant still needs to reach it's cruising speed. But details like ofering four diferents breads and waters, two kinds of vinegar for the salads are promising. The menu was divided in first courses: mainly pasta, salads and vegetables and sadwiches. The second courses are divided in fish: Maki sushi, carpaccios, baked fish, and the meats: Carpaccios again and some poultry dishes. It's said that once you order your meal it takes three minutes to get to your table, but in the end it's a bit more. Then there are a few desserts, mainly fruits fith foams. For 20 euros it is a good option if you are a businesman who doesn't want to eat a sandwich or a burguer every day, but in the end is just another daily menu restaurants but giving modern food instead of traditional dishes. Nice try.

Hi Reesek, As Pedro says it takes 2,5-3 hours to get Burgos, and Landa is a nice option for lunch, and you can even have a fast lunch at the bar instead of seating down eating a lamb a continue traveling with a full stomach. Then you have just 2 hours left to Santander, if you go by Reinosa the trip is faster, but if you have got plenty of time I'd suggest the old road by Puerto del Escudo, the road is worst but the views are amazing. while in Cantabria, between Santander and Santillana there is a lovely wild beach called Liencres worth the visit and you can have a meal near there at Casa Setién in Puente Arce (now that El Molino, the first great cantabrian restaurant is sadly closed). On the other hand, if you are comming back through Valladolid, Milvinos is a must, is the brand new restaurant owned by two winemakers and a wine trader (So is very wine oriented restaurant) and the chef comes from Madrid's Sanceloni and Can fabes, so very Santamaría oriented food. Then if you come back to Madrid by the old road (Instead of the motorway) there are beatiful old villages like Olmedo worth a stop. And i'd bet that you can find donkeys there.

My choice: - Recipes: · El Practicón, Angel Muro · Técnicas de cocina, M.J. Gil de Antuñano · La Cocina Mediterranea, Lourdes March · La joven cocina vasca, Martín Berasategui · Cocinar en 10 minutos, Ferran Adrià - Gastronomy, History, Filosofy... · La Casa de Lúculo, Julio Camba · La cocina cristiana de occidente, Alvaro Cunqueiro · Carnet de ruta, Las Recetas de Picwick, Nestor Luján · Parada y Fonda, Punto y Coma · Las recetas de Carvalho, Vazquez Montalbán I've got more and there are loads that should be in my library, like Abraham Garcia's or Santi Santamaría's, but above are the ones that I kepp using and reading all the time.

The Week of June 28th, 2004 Metrópoli, El Mundo´s leisure supplement comes this week plenty of information, Fernando Point writes this week about two restaurants: Hakkasan is the new Chinese / Peruvian fusion restaurant in La Moraleja (The poshest area of Madrid). Point praises the colouristic food like scallops soup with tofu and coriander or octopus with olive oil and raw sole with ají. The wine list is better than expected even though this cooking is difficult to match with wine. On the other hand El Paraguas as FP writes is a new Asturian restaurant with some innovation in its dishes, apart from the fabes with sea crab you can have interesting artichokes with basil oil. The weak poins are the overcooked fishes and meats. The desserts as one could imagine are apple based. Good wine list and high prices for this new umbrella. The Tapas Bar reviewed this week is Bacchus Tapas y Vinos a wine and tapas bar placed in suburban Moratalaz. Very comprehensive is the 2004 Terrace Restaurant List includes alphabetically all the street and terrace eateries for this summer in hot Madrid. This week’s Top Metropoli goes for the best restaurants preparing Padron Green Peppers Padrón Green Peppers and list some of the top Galician restaurants in Madrid preparing them always deep fried. The list encompasses Orzán, Don Victor, Casa da Troya, Alcalde, Combarro, Rianxo, Carta Marina and Ponteareas. Elmundovino, El Mundo’s wine related site has published this week an article about Eating and Drinking in Portugal to prove that there are more things than soccer worth doing in this wonderful country. More about Portugal, the veteran paper ABC includes an article about the reopening of bicentenarian restaurant Tavares in Lisbon with interviews to both the chef and the owner of the restaurant. Rafael García Santos goes this week down South to eat at Casa Antonio in Jaén (Andalucía) where he found a renewed restaurant where the guest can find from sensational products to innovative cooking. And while RGS was in Jaen he got time for an Olive oil tasting between 9 italian and 17 spanish oils from different regions, being Martín Berasategui, Manolo de la Osa part of the jury . The finalists where: Extra Dauro de L'Empordà (Girona) Planeta (Sicilia) Ecológico Dollium (Jaén) Ecológico Pianogrillo (Sicilia) Bertolli Il Sogno (Corsica) Extra Artajo (Navarra). Hacienda la Laguna Arbequina (Jaén) Les Costes (Lleida). Extra Fuenroble (Jaén) Reserva Familiar Picual (Jaén) Valderrama Arbequina (Toledo) 5 a taula writes this week about seasonal Mussels at La Vanguardia (Please note that this articles are only available for free during the week that were posted) and reviews the innovative restaurant Sala in Bergá (in Berguedá area) where Miquel Márquez has been researching ahead of the mainstream with products from his area. His restaurant ran by his wife and brother in law serves dishes like the marinated for a year partridge or the monkfish tournedos. And Elena Castells on her section friday’s market writes about Mussels again the markets are now plenty of them at very good prices. Asturian paper El Comercio Digital at it's Canal Gastronomia reviews Casa Telva in Siero, near Oviedo. A traditional home cooking restaurant with all the highlights of Asturian food,ie, fabes, pote asturiano, pitu de caleya... And in Colunga Pastisserie La Torre a must for those who love artisan sweet pasties made by the third generation of the Torre family. Caius Apicius, on his weekly column about seasonal products writes this week about Baby squidsand gives two ideas to cook them, in fardos with bacon the way Adrià does or pan fried with a stew of its legs. Ferran Adrià’s article of the week goes for a Chat at El Mundo sponsored by the pharmaceutical GSK and oriented to the healthy eating where Adrià answers vaguely to unspecific questions. If you want to discuss this thread, do it Here

The variety of almond marcona is the autochthonous one of the Mediterranean area, in Spain is found in Southern Catalonia, Catellón, Valencia and Northern Alicante. This variety needs very specifics weather and care conditions. It has been used since the 14th century for elaborating marzipans, turrones (Fudges).. of the highest quality. It is very expensive even in Spain and you can find it blanched, as a whole, raw, fried... I've seen that it's been cultivated lately in Argentina.

My votes goes for: - Ajoblanco: The white almonds soup - Piriñaca: The adalusian salad. Tomatoes, red and green pepers, spring onions, oil and vinegar - Salmorejo: The thick gazpacho from Cordoba - Asadillo: Red roasted pepers and tomatoes salad. - Fish pickles It's almost lunchtime here and I'm mouthwatering

Try it here or here . They are both in spanish but they'll probably deliver overseas.