Foodle

When it comes to beef Chef Yasushi Yamanaka has a very simple philosophy, Tajima Omi Beef. He sources it from his trusted supplier of 40 years, Maruki Fukunaga Kisaburo Shoten in Higashi Omi City, which only raises pureblood Tajima cattle on its farms. The beef also does not get aged and is served fresh. A remarkable approach when in these times all the hype is on aging up to 100+ days.
All of this makes his restaurant a temple of pilgrimage for beef lovers from all over Japan and beyond.
The beef gets cooked on cooktop at the high heat of 270C with most of the cooking time in one side. He gets it to perfection. Less

We had a chance to visit David Munoz’s flagship restaurant in Madrid December 2019.
The extravagant 40 years old chef develops 35-40 new dishes every year. His very unique cooking style with his extraordinary creativity results a perfect dining experience. He is bravely mixing Mediterranean, Asian and South American ingredients into art on the plate.
The dining room is a reflection of his extravagant style. Fancy decor with pink colour dominations, lot of curtains and theatrical elements like flying pigs all over.
After the welcome drinks ( Grosset Grand Rose champagne with pink label) the meal started with canopes.
The cantonese chicken, the sheep's milk and maturated salmon croquette and the taco was a very impressive warming up, all were delicious with plenty of flavour.
This was followed by some Indian dishes. A very deep flavour vindaloo curry was balanced with greek yoghurt, Dal Makhani & Frog leg prepared like buttered chicken masala, with papadum of lentils. Pan puri filled with New Delhi salmorejo and Joselito's coppa. Very special steamed, light and fluffy naan with truffle and Mumbai flower with pink pepper. The spices were beautifully balanced in all Indian dishes.
Than we went to China. Roman style kokotxa was served together with Necora chilli crab and it was followed by one of the most successful dish of the meal, Xialongbao Xo Iberian soup dumpling with aged beef rib & bone marrow. All the elements were precisely flavoured and cooked.
And many, more and more beautiful dishes. Red mullet and smoked eel, The sea urchin we had to eat from our hand. That was followed by and another great dish, suckling pig skin with squids, matured tomatoes, Habanero puree. Idiazabal cheese, frozen green lemon and coriander root. The suckling pig skin was crispy and light, the light sweetness of the matured tomato was in perfect balance with the savoury of the cheese, the sourness of green lemon with coriander and the creamy Habanero pure. This was a terrific dish.
Red mullet with Moroccan lemon, smoked chorizo juice and Olluco puree. A lovely dish with rich flavour was carefully balanced. Kagoshima wagyu fillet steak. A high quality, A5 grade , perfectly marbled, very high quality Kobe beef cooked to perfection.
His 25 courses menu was a fantastic gastronomic journey around the world.
With this wonderful diner we had a wonderful wine, one of my favourite Spanish white wines, a bottle of As Sortes from Rafael palacios’s winery. The presentation was extraordinary, the service was top level, smooth and friendly all the way through the 3,5 hours dining time.
I am sure this was not our last visit to this fabulous place. Less

La Tasqueria restaurant is in the souther part of Chamberi district, very close to the famous Retiro park. The young owner- head chef Javi Estévez offers a very interesting and innovative mix of street food and old style Spanish dishes with almost forgotten offal elements.
The local tavern style ground floor dining room has minimalist wooden interior and two big windows with natural light.
There were two tasting menus at 50 Euro and 70 Euro as well as an a la carte choice.
The meal has begun with appetisers, beef tongue, olives and sourdough bread with olive oil.
We have ordered few dishes from the a la carte option. We started with a beef tongue and lobster salad, for second course we had tacos with beef tongue and lobster and third course brioche with roasted lamb and wild mushroom.
The salad was very pleasant and refreshing, the tacos were very enjoyable, the beef tong had good flavour and was nicely cooked. The brioche dish had rich flavours, the lamb and the wild mushroom were gently cooked, they went well together.
The place was very busy but the staff was attentive, our waitress was friendly and helpful.
The Tasqueria was a very pleasant experience, with the quality of the food, the well executed dishes and the atmosphere all together. We will be back. Less