El Batán: a Michelin star in a town of 68 inhabitants
Surely the fulling is one of the restaurants with michelin star remotest in Spain, if we stick to the distance that separates it from a big city. There is no other way than the secondary roads to get to it. El Batán sports the coveted “macaron” since 2014 in Tramacastilla , Sierra de Albarracin ( Teruel ) which only has 68 registered inhabitants.
A few years ago, the restaurant put this small town on the gastronomic map of the Peninsula . “In addition to recognition for the entire team, the star meant distributing the reservations throughout the week, until then they were concentrated at 90% on weekends ”, his chef tells us, Maria Jose Meda . “It also meant the arrival of many foreign clients who travel around Spain with the Red Guide in the glove compartment of their car ”.
It has merit to maintain a restaurant with the requirement that the Michelin star entails In the call empty spain because sometimes services as basic as the telephone coverage or internet . Supplies are guaranteed, especially since the vast majority come from their closest environment.
Black Pearl of El Batán
How lucky you are to be in the place where **truffles, boletus edulis and saffron are grown ** are born! If we ask Maria Jose Meda for the dish that could define her kitchen, she mentions one of the passes of her Tasting Menu called Forest and Mountain.
We find oyster mushrooms with essence of ham in a liquid state, and also boletus and black truffle in cream, to which dry ice is added, achieving enhance the fragrance of both wild products.
And it is that Meda proposes games in many of its dishes . Surprising textures, serving effects and trompe l'oeil have been part of your recipe book in this years. All this without giving up the raw material that its environment provides, both wild and that which comes from nearby orchards. Nor has he lost sight of the traditional elaborations of the Sierra de Albarracin , which serve as inspiration to execute more sophisticated dishes. The mountain crumbs are an example of pastoral kitchen modernized and revised by the cook.
You will find El Batán in Tramacastilla
The restaurant has dispensed with the menu . The options are divided into two: the Short Menu and Tasting Menu (65 Euros). The latter, by the way, is between the cheapest of all restaurants with a Michelin star and so it usually appears in the rankings. The simple option contains more traditional dishes and generous portions . In the Tasting Menu we know better the philosophy of the chef María José Meda and let ourselves be carried away by the games, flavors and surprises of the 17 passes that make it up.
Numerous will appear Aragonese quality products , many of them protected by a Denomination of Origin: from the Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Bajo Aragón , to the Teruel Ham , the ** Calanda Peach ** or the Jiloca saffron.
And in the chapter wines , we will advise the Pairing of the Tasting Menu to round out the experience. Unless we want to choose, then we will see all the references, most of Aragonese wineries , which make up the wine list.
TRUFFLES
We mentioned it lines ago. Teruel is one of the great truffle producers worldwide and in the restaurants of the province is where you can taste it with the greatest possible freshness.
María José has fresh truffle almost all year round , because in addition to the most famous black truffle ( tuber melanosporum ) available in winter, other species such as tuber aestivium Y tuber uncinatum they are available in other months, even in the height of summer. The truffle is an especially fragrant ingredient, appearing in several dishes on the tasting menu.
El Batan dining room
ENVIRONMENT
El Batán is also a small rural hotel which shares the building and surroundings with the restaurant. They occupy the building of a old fulling either wool factory , in an idyllic wooded setting next to a river.
The windows of the dining room, attended by Sebastian Rosello , partner and companion of María José, give to these gardens that receive and dismiss as a outdoor reception who has ventured to reach this beautiful place a few kilometers from Albarracín.
Teruel insists on continuing to exist.
The Batán environment, everything we need to be happy