stereoboard

Im In Auckland City Centre..

For sure Oriol Balaguer and Paco Torreblanco are on my to do list, cant wait to see there shops,

Im sort of looking at recreating the restaurant feel with desserts, slightly casual, but not like a cafe, and looking to do quite up scale desserts. possibly using the premise as a relaxed coffee shop style early mornings for a second income

Hi ive been searching for Est Est Est by Donovan Cooke, its gone out of print but does anyone know where I can get a hold of a copy, same goes for Noma's first book in English, also just out of print. Would love your assistance

Hello. Just out of curiosity, would anyone here come to a restaurant just for a dessert tasting menu, I am planning on putting a 5 or 6 course menu on the menu and would love to hear what people think, also dessert restaurants. would you come to a dessert restaurant after your meal in another establishment? just in the early business planning stages of dessert restaurant, just want to hear a broad view on it. thanks guys:)

I was thinking of Hacienda Benazuza, would you consider it worth going to Seville for 1 day to visit? It may be the only way to get to an El bulli esque restaurant, We traversed Spain from SS in the North East down to Seville in the South West. The highlights: Tapas in SS - IMO the best in Spain (although I have not been to Madrid). The great Mathew Grant (not Gary Marshall) review has a link to Todos Pintxos that has suggestions for different Tapas crawls - it is very useful. We loved Mugaritz on both our visits - although desserts are not his strong point Roast baby pig (21 days old) and lambs at an Asador (a restaurant that does simple grilled meats) in Segovia, a tradition across the central plains. Seafood on the atlantic coast was really good - a couple of towns have large open air restaurants where you choose the food at a fresh fish counter and then it is bought to the table. Very casual, quite quick, but excellent - Romerijo. The Carabineros which are like huge very red prawns are amazing if you can get them. Expanding my knowledge of Spanish wine, especially sherry in Jerez and some of the less common ones in other regions. Breakfast, lunch and dinner at Hacienda Benazuza was really great, probably the only place you can try a Ferran Adria breakfast. And to sum it up: the broad range of tastes as you moved for area to area underpinned by easy access to high quality food in every town, at many price points. Spain isn't perfect and there are as many (if not more) bad places to eat than good ones. But compared to many countries good food is easy to find and accessible. IMO the way to spot a good place in Spain is no different to spotting a good place in NZ, UK or anywhere. ←

Thanks Phil, How was you trip? what were the highlights for you? Thanks for the links , its my weekend tasks to sift through the accommodation and find what i want or can afford, Cheers Brian

Im planning on opening a dessert restaurant in NZ so thats the reason for Espai Sucre, more for checking out other dessert restaurants than anything, any suggestions on other places to see?

Thanks David, Yeah Im certainly spending a heap of cash on eating out, its the accommodations to sort out that is left, If you hear of anything it would be great to know, quite hard to keep up with whats on offer when you in New Zealand. but for sure it will be an education. Brian, it looks to me that you have a very good food budget. I'm extremely jealous of course, not having been to any of the places you mention. Although I'm currently looking at a few short visits to Spain myself. Perhaps your best savings can be accommodation wise, because all of the places you mention are very expensive. Wish I could help, but can't think of anything at present Clearly your very talented to get stages at these places, like to wish you all the very best. ←

I agree with what has been said, also dont be to shy, eat dinner with the guys and makeconversation outside the kitchen , go for a drink after work if you can with the guys, you'll be more accepted, but dont get drunk, you got to perform the next day . Like the others said, head down, ears open, observe as much as you can, take a small notebook cause sure you will forget stuff, ask if you can write a recipe down if they give you one out of respect. I am going to spain to stage at El Poblet and el Celler can Roca in September/October so my main issue is the language barrier, I speak hardly any useful spanish, but I am trying to learn as much as possible, Good luck with yours.

Im glad i asked you guys, thanks for the info so far,

hello guys, Im a pastry chef living and working in New Zealand, Im travelling from NZ to spain at the end of september, starting in San Sabastian with Arzak, Mugaritz and Bertasgui, be there for 4 or 5 days, then to Girona, for El Celler can roca, barcelona for 1 day, Angle at Mon St Benet for a day, then down to Denia to stage at El poblet for 7 or 8 days, hopefully a meal at El poblet before i go back to El Celler for a stage. I have a two meals booked at Espai Sucre, and then La Broche before getting on a plane back home, I have 24 days in total and would love to hear what you have to say in the way of food and Accommodation, I would appreciate any help at all. Im on a budget too, thanks Brian http://sweetcuisine.blogspot.com/