Fideos with cauliflower and squid (2006)

Fideos with cauliflower and squid (2006)
Ca’ Sento
Cocinero: Raúl Aleixandre
País: Spain
Localidad: 46024 Valencia
Dirección: Méndez Núñez 17
(+34) 963301775


Spelt pasta fideos (noodles) with squid, cauliflower, hazelnuts, fried bread, tomato, paprika, squid ink, parsley oil and garlic are the ingredients in this excellent recipe. In 2005 Raúl Aleixandre took the reins from his father Vicente “Sento” and his mother Mari at this famous Valentian restaurant. His cuisine, fusing tradition and creativity, is based on the incessant search for truly exceptional products.



Saffron and paprika… (2007)

Saffron and paprika… (2007)
Oud Sluis
Cocinero: Sergio Herman
País: Holland
Localidad: 4524 EA Sluis
Dirección: Beestenmark 2
(+31) 0117 461269


This dish has a never-ending name: “Saffron and paprika, bomba rice with chorizo, Escaut lobster, gently cooked calamari, pea mousseline, crustacean juice with cremolata and fresh watermelon cocktail”. Sergio Herman is one of the principal artifices of the renovation in Dutch cuisine. In his restaurant, in a small town a few miles from the Belgian border, he offers a very inventive and flavorful cuisine based on avant-garde techniques.



Zucchini flower soufflé (2007)

Zucchini flower soufflé (2007)
Ô.Bontemps
Cocinero: Olivier Bontemps
País: France
Localidad: 34480 Magalas
Dirección: Place de l'Eglise
(+33) 0 467362082


A disciple of Thierry Marx and the Pourcel brothers, Olivier Bontemps, after creating the Octopus in Béziers alongside Fabien Lefèvre, moved to Magalas in 2007 to open up his own restaurant. Here the frenetic Olivier proposes dishes highly technical in nature to exalt the product to its maximum point. This zucchini flower soufflé is filled with a salmon mousse, served accompanied by agatta chips, cauliflower salad, broad beans, zucchini, peas, mange-touts in homemade vinegar and thyme flowers.



Char-grilled prawn

Char-grilled prawn
Pinotxo
Cocinero: Juan Bayén Pérez
País: Spain
Localidad: 08002 Barcelona
Dirección: La Rambla 91, Mercat de la Boqueria 66-67
(+34) 933171731


At the heart of the Boqueria–the famous covered market in the center of Barcelona–the already legendary Juanito Bayén (born in 1934) continues to delight the clients of his bar with simple, delicious recipes. Esqueixada, pickled vegetables, potato and Jabugo ham croquettes, prawns, Padrón peppers, fried baby squid with beans, cap i pota, marinated mussels, anchovies. Amazingly fresh products, superbly prepared. Juanito has turned a simple bar into a sanctuary for eat



Plum square with pâte sablée (2007)

Plum square with pâte sablée (2007)
Sa.Qua.Na
Cocinero: Alexandre Bourdas
País: France
Localidad: 14600 Honfleur
Dirección: 22 place Hamelin - 14600 Honfleur
(+33) 02 31894080


Sous-chef to Régis Marcon at Saint Bonnet, chef of Château de Sully in Bayeux, executive chef of Michel Bras’ Japanese restaurant in Toya, culinary successor to Jean-Georges Klein in Baerenthal… Alexandre Bourdas’ career has been tremendous. In 2006 he opened his own restaurant in Honfleur with his wife, harvesting an instant success. His cuisine is luminous and illuminated, with aromas, flavors and textures intermingling in perfection. One of the greats.



Char-grilled clams

Char-grilled clams
Rafa’s
Cocinero: Rafael Cantero
País: Spain
Localidad: 17480 Roses
Dirección: carrer Sant Sebastià, 9
(+34) 972 25 40 03


Surely Rafa’s is the most famous restaurant in Roses after El Bulli. Rafael Cantero’s rules are very simple: to buy fish, crustaceans and mollusks directly from the fishermen in the morning and char-grill them all day long in front of his clients. Nothing more. Gingham tablecloths, paper napkins, wood benches and a few paintings on the wall are the only decoration. What counts here is the formidable quality of the food. For what it’s worth, Ferran Adrià and Joan Roca are some of the regular clients…



Octopus (2006)

Octopus (2006)
Txantxa
Cocinero: Concha García Liceaga
País: Spain
Localidad: 20003 San Sebastián
Dirección: Paseo de Salamanca, 12
(+34) 943410857


Concepción García Liceaga’s dishes are based on pure flavors. Her cuisine transcends minimalism, going beyond the most advanced techniques, overcoming all obstacles, pulverizing what has been done to this point in the gastronomic arena. Octopus. Octopus in its most natural form. It is served alone, without sauce or garnishes. An immaculate and inimitable style, a revolutionary philosophy, purity at its absolute, the definitive elimination of all that is superfluous. The future of cuisine begins here.



Perfume (2007)

Perfume (2007)
Antica trattoria Monte Costone
Cocinero: Ilario Vinciguerra
País: Italy
Localidad: 21020 Galliate Lombardo (Varese)
Dirección: via IV Novembre 10
(+39) 0332 947104


It was with this dish that Ilario Vinciguerra won the 5th edition of the International Championship for Olive Oil Recipes in San Sebastian. The Mazara del Vallo red prawn tartare is presented within a sphere, together with small cubes of squid ink jelly and Sorrento lemon, a few flowers and an abundant amount of olive oil. The client must open the sphere, breathe in the aromas, close the sphere again and shake it before eating it. The dish is paired with a small glass of gin and tonic. What a perfume, indeed!



Ecuador Chocolate (2006)

Ecuador Chocolate (2006)
Hof Van Cleve
Cocinero: Peter Goossens
País: Belgium
Localidad: B-9970 Kruishoutem
Dirección: Riemegemstraat, 1
(+32) 093835848


With perseverance and an iron will, Peter Goossens has reached the peak of Belgian cuisine, proving himself to be one of the most important European chefs. His French-inspired cuisine is precise, academic, contemporary and marked by the quest for supreme perfection. This complex dessert is composed of Ecuador chocolate, powdered Hammam tea, blackberry coulis, chocolate ice cream, tonka bean mayonnaise, vanilla and pistachios. Balanced and surprising.



9

Calima

Dani García
Dani García
País: Spain
Localidad: 29602 Marbella (Málaga).
Dirección: Hotel Puente Romano. Bulevar Principe Alfondo von Hohenlone, s/n
mapa
(+34) 952764252
Cierra: Sunday, Monday and from 10th October to the beginning of april
Precio: 100/225 €
Precio menú degustación: 65 y 148 €


  • Palomita nitro
  • Palomita nitro
  • Nenúfares de puchero con huevos de codorniz
  • Nenúfares de puchero con huevos de codorniz
  • Cocido rondeño con aleta de cazón
  • Cocido rondeño con aleta de cazón
  • Tomate raf relleno de pipirrana con percebes
  • Tomate raf relleno de pipirrana con percebes

Dani García is making Andalusian cuisine’s history. He was the forerunner of haute cuisine in the region, its major master and by far the one who raised it to avant-gardism and showed it around the world. This real symbol has brought a new era. He has become a reference for all the young cooks of the planet. Apart from being able to design a galactic version of timeless popular flavours, he reinvented almost all the historic recipes using the most modern concepts and means. He embodies “technoflamenco”, a show he proposes every evening in an utterly luxurious setting, in front of the beach, overhanging the most attractive seafront of the city. The whole Marbella longs to get a table in this world-class restaurant.
Dani gives spectacular forms to all he touches, trying to impact the guests. He is a faithful reflection of the culinary trends that have been prevailing for the last decade. Nobody will forget the liquid nitro popcorn he introduced in Spain: a frozen popcorn with a neat taste of olive oil and tomato; really amazing. His ability to combine proximity and remoteness together with the elegance and harmony that are hidden in each construction, however complex and innovative they are, is also evident in the foie gras and yuzu turrón (kind of nougat). Whether the proposals are innovative, evolutionary or conventional, the use of technique is permanent. The Egg without egg is a personal version of a trendy recipe. The idea is to place some lychee jelly on the bottom of the shell to create floral aromas. The foil ball hides a mojete filled with anchovy stew. And the broken croquette with taste of cuttlefish is a rustic touch of the reviewed philosophy.
The dishes to be eaten with a spoon are raised to an incredible refinement, as proved by two delightful “stews”: water lilies with quail egg, brimming with floral hints; and shark flipper from Ronda, a bit heavier. The cold soups have always been there and always will. They are now proposed in a more complex way, such as the Raf tomato stuffed with pipirrana (tomato, onion and pepper salad), deliciously garnished with barnacles; or like the ajoblanco cream, served with caviar and fresh almonds. And what can we say about some Dani’s fetishes like the young hake, magnified with an original béarnaise, and the young rabbit, transformed into a substantial game dish…