Pumpkin mochi at the Kamín restaurant in León.
Mario Gómez is not new to the Leon gastronomic scene. He turned us all to stone, or should we say gold, when six years ago he surprised us by opening an urban and rogue restaurant in which the black pudding was served looking like ingot. Becook was his first project and then Brulé would arrive, again with a groundbreaking concept in a city little accustomed to culinary innovations. But, as they say, third time's the charm, which is why the cook, now involved only in Kamin, has decided to go all out with this gastronomic restaurant with fusion cuisine.
Located at number 4 of Calle Regidores, very close to the main artery of León, Calle Ancha, Kamín arrives with two tasting menus of 11 and 14 dishes (in addition to letter) with which Mario intends value time as one more ingredient in the kitchen: “There are certain elaborations that would not be possible without time, for example, a wine, a fermented one, a cured one, a salted one. If you are going to make cecina, you need a cow, salt and two years of curing”, explains the chef, who presents the dishes of his menu printed as if they were the hours of a clock in which 12 o'clock is a salted bonito and six o'clock is a meunière line.
Chef Mario Gómez in Kamín, when it was still in the pipeline.
Trained in the Leonese school of gastronomy, Mario went through the kitchens of the Guggenheim before being the current Nerua and Villa Magna when Eneko Atxa was in charge, so training and inspiration are not lacking, thus in Kamín we find extremely attractive elaborations on the plate summarized in a few words on the paper: tongue and yolk; foie and marinade, takoreja.
A parade of ingredients that require time and technique, but also the tenacity of a chef who has long dreamed of having a restaurant of these characteristics. I don't know if calling it 'more formal' would be the most appropriate, because his philosophy is very current, but yes "a restaurant forever, for a life project", as defined by the man from Leon.
Room in the Kamín restaurant, in León.
Mario had things so clear that he himself has been in charge of the interior design of the restaurant, with capacity for 50 people: “I wanted to do something current and modern, but that with the passage of time he did not have to change it”. So he bet everything on wood and white.
The name of the restaurant also has a lot to do with the cook, since it is a nod to his mother, who is called Camino, Caminín for his father, who applies a very Leonese diminutive to it. Which led to Kamin, whose visual impact is more versatile being able to play with the K both vertically and horizontally.
Those who want a more relaxed version of Kamin, and no less gastronomic for that, can occupy the tables at the entrance or its new bar, where you can try everything from a croquette and a ceviche to the classic egg bomb with piquillo pepper ketchup. Why piquillo and not Bierzo, I ask him. Well, because for Mario proximity is very relative: “You don't have to go crazy or be too strict with the issue of proximity. I ask myself, 'what is León's closeness?' If you go to Peru, local products are 500 km away. Even so I work a lot with products from the land, such as the tongue or the ear”, the cook concludes.
Corvina in ceviche at the Kamín restaurant in León.
Address: Calle Regidores, 4, León See map
Telephone: 987 096 238
Half price: Kamin Menu (11 dishes): €55 / Gran Kamin Menu (14 dishes): €70