VICTOR DE LA SERNA
@vdelaserna
Madrid
Updated Monday, June 1, 2020 - 1:27 PM
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- The Gastronomic. Read all the deliveries of our expert Víctor de la Serna
Ah, phase 1 in Madrid , and in Barcelona , and in many more places this past week! We said to ourselves: we are going to be able to circulate somewhat more freely, through the province, and they say that they open the terraces, and, gee, surely there is good food in them for the gastronomy with withdrawal syndrome after the closure of the pandemic. We were happily facing the week when we began to see that things were not so clear: few open terraces and, of these, very few restaurants that really appeal. What was happening?
Aside from the obvious -restaurants that lack a terrace and the possibility of space on their street to request one from their Town Hall, or bar terraces without interesting kitchen services-, many houses have chosen not to open because, with the capacity restrictions and the need to hire dining room staff do not pay off : in Madrid, Asturianos would initially have two tables only on the sidewalk, and also unusable at midday in summer because they are in full sun.
On the other hand, from the beginning the excess of tables or diners is being watched and punished: several terraces in Madrid's Plaza Mayor were fined, and in Barcelona the city guards closed the Semproniana restaurant this Wednesday, apparently in full service of the lunch.
It is significant that, even with the phase change, a rapidly growing number of food houses in the two largest cities in the country have continued to launch their home delivery or pick-up menu services, as we explained here three weeks ago: where order good food, from the popular tavern to the big ones. And now the list is much longer, as readers already know and are duly informed since Friday by the exhaustive and interesting guide published by Papel . It can be suspected that, with the reduction of capacity within the restaurants in the following phases and the foreseeable decrease in the staff, all the menus will be simplified and many will simultaneously maintain the service in the establishment and to go. Simpler, more basic and austere times are coming ...
Surprising places
Among the tables at which at first glance we would not think perhaps as very succulent there are several with a terrace already open, and that will surprise more than one: for example, Lavinia is a great wine store in Ortega y Gasset, but it is also notable as 'bistrot', with its beef jerky, its artichokes with butifarra and choco, its magnificent bouillabaisse and its Iberian pork with seasonal vegetables. For its part, Cachivache, at the end of Calle de Serrano, behind its appearance as a casual bar hides a very good cuisine: braised octopus leg, butifarra meatballs with truffle sauce, French toast ...
However, after the slow start -as with home delivery- it is foreseeable that in the next few days the availability of terraces will increase, and remember that culinary interest is not automatically related to luxury or price. Thus, we were pleased to see this week the -reduced in capacity, like all- terrace of that old and modest Chamberí bar, La Mina -such a bar that does not even serve coffee- full of its usual patrons, who are not satisfied with a beer or a vermouth: their grilled prawns are famous, but they also bring out impeccable things like hake cocochas in green sauce, sauteed sweetbreads, not to mention one of the best Russian salads in Madrid.
Not far from there, the great news of the neighborhood has undoubtedly been the reopening of the well-equipped and attractive terrace of the classic and galician Lúa, by Manuel Domínguez. Here we already enter the serious territory of Michelin stars, and we must hope that this encourages more of our great restaurants to do the same without waiting for the phase change that allows them to recover their dining rooms. Manuel, by the way, has reopened soon as it closed soon: on March 11, before the government ordered it, and demonstrating a great sense of responsibility. That already deserves a reward, but even more so, for us, the best Galician cuisine in the capital, with an eye on tradition and another on innovation: octopus with feira and low loin of Galician cow, yes, but also clams with curry yellow or oxtail tacos with carabinero.
It has just reopened its own terrace in front of the Retiro Arzábal, Menéndez Pelayo's small culinary mecca, with its updated classic dishes, born from one of the great genealogical trees of the Madrid school, that of Arce. We remind you of some: free-range chicken wings with pepitoria sauce, bluefin tuna tartare, iberian croquettes with latxa sheep's milk, creamy rice with baby lobsters, house-style tripe ...
At the Puerta de Alcalá
The best cuisine, among the various terraces surrounding the Plaza de la Independencia, is probably that of the restaurant Ramsés with Arzak Instructions: you know, the classic Ramsés now run by Juan Mari Arzak's team of advisers, and that's where you have to go eat ... if a table is found. Expensive, opulent ... but worthy of a self-homage of mistrust: potato with truffle and Pergourdine sauce, cocochas al pil pil, Iberian pork lizard with bigarade sauce and a mandarin butterfly. For survival!
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