Sergi Arola Gastro

On my first day in Spain, Madrid to be exact I was straight out for lunch after the mammoth journey from NZ, So it was straight from the airport to the hotel, dump my bags and to my of to the first meal of my tour of spains restaurants.

Sergi Arola Gastro is in a beautiful area in Madrid, reminded me so much of South Kensington in London where you would visit Tom Aikens or Gordon Ramsays restaurant. Leafy streets, obviously a wealthy area. The restaurant is situated on the first floor, a door man leads you up the stairs to a hidden doorway that slides open as you approach leaving you with a view of a very modern restaurant, the table settings being stand out of all the restaurants I visited.

The service staff as you would expect at a two star are very attentive, the food is fun, not overly crazy but a few nice touches here and there. The flavours are spot on. As with many of Spains top Chefs, Sergi Arola spent time at El Bulli so you see spherification, thin flavourful jellies, interesting flavour combinations and a fair bit of interaction with the waiting staff who had to finish quite a few of the dishes at the table.





First up were the Snacks, or Tapas as they called it, A small cone of popcorn Ice cream with corn brunoise was first up, sounds like it would be sweet but was quite savoury, then moving on was a 'Waldorf salad' which turned out to be  a sphere of celery jelly, encassing an apple and walnut cream, served with a rich Chicken Consomme, the aroma of the consomme was spell binding. Being my first meal I was so excited, the smells of the food, the interaction of the waitstaff had me thinking how amazing the rest of my trip would be.

Then the classic made modern potatoes 'Brava' arrived, small cylinders of potato with aioli on top finished the tapas, we were on our way to the entrees,

The first entree was a Tartar of beetroot with a sphere of Mango, Goats cheese and yoghurt sauce and tender leaves, Simple presentation but great balance, the tender leaves were to use as a 'bread, to drop the tarter on to and eat, memory tells me that this was stand out, simple yet packing a punch, and its great to eat with your finger isnt it??

Next up was this little morsel, It was swiss chard filled with Oyster brandade, caviar and sour cream, and potatoes. Again as you can see the presentation is immaculate as I was to become accustomed to in spains top restaurants, the flavours clear and direct and luxurious.






Sadly my camera died a death after this photo, and what followed was some amazing dishes, my first taste of many sardines to be eaten while i was in Spain came with Roasted and crispy fried egg, and black trompets, the sardines beautifully cooked, nice and plump.

Then came the Cod Chins with snails from the sea and land, Pearl onions individually stuffed with tapande, Black pudding and a garlic and parsley ice cream which was cleverly stuffed into a snail shell, how very cool, loved the presentation of this dish, the garlic not to over powering in the Ice cream.
another winner.

Pigeon from the region of Navarra followed with marinated foie gras, lovely sliced ceps and a rich jus, the pigeon cooked to perfection, I would have liked a bit more foie gras, although there was good balance to the dish, I probably just craved it having been denied the pleasure of having Foie available in NZ as it is not allowed to be imported apart from the poor quality tinned rubbish.

Green tea microwave sponge came next,  with orange concentrate, rose caramel wafers and a lemon verbena ice cream, not much to say about this, maybe expected a little more from a two star,

The second dessert was a  frozen souffle of candied fruits and kirsch, set in a little metal coup, with Blackberry spherification, and hazelnut cream, again very simple and a bit of a let down,

Then came the last dessert which for me was stand out flavour pairing, It was a Dark Chocolate Cream with freshly diced apple, Strudel crumble mix and Coconut sauce poured at the table, a really great dish. Simple, but delivers a great end to the meal.

I was given a tour of the restaurant behind the scenes by the restaurant manager after my meal, and the place is immaculate, spread over two floors with a seperate prep kitchen. Its a fantastic set up. I can only thank them for the sheer hospitality shown to me by everyone. A superb meal by any standards.

Comments

[benito camelo]

La señora de exuberante palidez que atiende a los comensales, quien dice ser la dueña, es extremadamente maleducada, sin cordura, paciencia, engreída y descortés cuando alguien hiere su ego de propietaria , sobre todo sin la minima noción fundamental sobre la esencia de un lugar que presta un servicio.
Confunde la propiedad comercial con la propiedad personal, ese servicio que presta, que alquila a través de un punto de atencion, privado y sagrado durante la estancia del cliente = (la mesa) , además ,que se paga bien caro ..
Su restaurant no es su hogar, no es su morada, es un sitio de acceso publico, evidentemente, sobre la base de las buenas costumbres, en donde, ella con su esposo, el chef, proponen una cocina de supuesta relevancia, que no les permite ni por Michelin o su cercanía a la castellana, agredir a la clientela.

Pronto les diré como lograr que la Sra. pierda rápido y fácilmente sus cabales…

Y quiero recordarle, si algún día lee esta reseña, que lea en su constitución española, lo siguiente:

Artículo 10.

1. La dignidad de la persona, los derechos inviolables que le son inherentes, el libre desarrollo de la personalidad, el respeto a la Ley y a los derechos de los demás son fundamento del orden político y de la paz social.

Artículo 20.

1. Se reconocen y protegen los derechos:
a. A expresar y difundir libremente los pensamientos, ideas y opiniones mediante la palabra, el escrito o cualquier otro medio de reproducción.

2. El ejercicio de estos derechos no puede restringirse mediante ningún tipo de censura previa.

La historia continua…