Restaurant of the week: La Tasquita de Enfrente
These days great chefs inflate their chests –and their wallets at the same time– with that somewhat absurd idea of democratizing haute cuisine. As if cooking needed political regimes. As if the depth, subtlety and elegance of a great dish could be replicated in a chain production. As if the assembly and the shortcuts could replace the hours of mise en place, the cat in the hare of current gastronomy.
Fortunately, there remains a group of irreducible, Numantine defenders of exclusivity. And I mean exclusive not as exclusive or snobbish, but as the only possible way to achieve excellence in the reality that we have had to live.
Juanjo López Bedmar extracts excellence from any product
Extraordinary raw material is, by its very definition, very scarce, and that seems to bother some who seem to forget that in a few years we will all be equal for the mediocre.
**Juanjo López Bedmar and his band from La Tasquita de Enfrente ** they are able to extract that excellence from any product –be it luxurious or absolutely humble– and sublimate it until it becomes an extraordinary bite. Dishes that manage to cross the threshold of emotions and combinations whose brilliance lies in their nakedness and apparent lack of complexity.
fancy like that Lobster salad with poached onion and vinaigrette which is a monument to balance or those delicate salmon necks with cauliflower puree. and humble as Gaona tripe, the meatballs or that onion soup with stew broth, garnished with black truffle, which is a 'Proustian' dish.
Good taste was always present in the kitchen of this redeemed economist as an illustrious tavern keeper, but now in addition accompany the execution and precision of cooking.
Essential and very deep cuisine, simple only in appearance, respectful and committed to the product. The service and the wines only round off a superlative agape.
***** _This report was published in **number 131 of Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (September)**. Subscribe to the printed edition (11 printed issues and a digital version for €24.75, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website). The September issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available in its digital version to enjoy on your preferred device. _
Good taste was always present in his kitchen