Atrium, a song to memory, essence and truth
I've always loved impersonal hotels . Cold hotels, neutral corridors, functional staff, the exact distance. the so mistreated transient hotel , the late check-in and the silence of the elevator to the twenty-third floor. In the same way I never understood that fondness unleashed by the hotels with charm , rural houses and inns that pretend to be your second home and charming ladies (things as they are) behind the reception that pretend to be your second mother. But I already have one.
Come in, make yourself comfortable in Atrium
No, I expect a hotel to be a hotel. And it is that I am one of those who would live on a hall, like my admired Julius Camba at the Palace or Marilyn Monroe at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. no problems with it not home of that half life. No problem with breakfast in front of strangers, drinks and mid-afternoon coffee on the second floor.
The ritual of check-in, the discreet greeting in the elevator, the touch of the maître and the confidences of the barman (so many...) . The newspaper on the table , movies alone and living a life every day. The city with different eyes, the complicity of the service and that temple (our hotel) where the only commandment we have left is worshiped: everything is now.
Atrium: the house of José Polo and Toño Pérez
**I have known few exceptions. One is Atrium**. The house of José Polo and Toño Pérez, located in front of the church of San Mateo inside the walled city of Cáceres and surrounded by Almohad, Gothic, Renaissance and colonial stones (that is, history). Atrio, the indescribable glass and white cement box on an old 18th century house, an exceptional architectural work (BigMat national architecture award) by Luis Moreno Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón Álvarez, also the last joint work of the team, before the death of Manilla two years ago.
"Your home on vacation, where you feel comfortable, special and happy" is how José and Toño sum up what the experience should be like behind the rough stone walls and the patio of the hotel (gorgeous) flanked by strawberry trees , orange trees and aromatic herbs. There where the best hotel breakfast happens (those crumbs...) that this nomad has ever known. Never.
Atrio's personality is also evident in its rooms
History and present. Memory, harmony, reflections, asymmetries and transparencies. The home (I can't help but see it like this) of two unique hosts whose personality is palpable in every stone, in each of the (only) 14 rooms and the original works scattered throughout the hotel: Andy Warhol Antonio Saura, Antoni Tapies , Georg Baselitz, Candida Hoefer , Gerardo Rueda or Thomas Ruf.
Atrio has two Michelin Stars, three Repsol Suns...
Time goes slow in Atrium. And well - it's time - Toño's cuisine... Under the Relais & Chateaux monument that stands between the crypt and the pergola there is a unique restaurant: Two Michelin Stars , three Repsol Suns and an essential in our selection of 101 Restaurants to visit before you die .
Toño Perez's kitchen It is a song to memory, the essence and the truth in each of the ten dishes of the tasting menu whose wicks are spring and terroir: wild mushrooms and vegetables (criadillas), white asparagus from the Valdivia orchard, the trigueros that are born in the dehesa (with free-range eggs and truffles), semi-dried tomatoes from Miajadas (dried in the restaurant itself with "sun, salt and patience") and well, "the classics" such as the Iberian pork mask, the "green Prada" Norway lobster or the Casar cake with truffled quince.
Spring and terroir inspire its 10-course tasting menu
And the warehouse. “The” warehouse. 45,000 bottles of 3,400 references, from 20 different countries. Grand Award from Wine Spectator (the only Spanish winery that has achieved it) for eleven consecutive years. And more important than all that: 33 Burgundy Grand Crus. My burgundy.
I am not a man to give advice (“I will tell you one thing: Never give anyone your best advice again, because they won't follow it. ”, Jack Nicholson) but today I will make an exception. Go to Atrium.
*** You may also be interested in...**
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- All the articles of Jesús Terrés
Atrio hides in his cellar 45,000 bottles of 3,400 references