From the sea to the bar.
The first day that Jaime Monzón set foot in his cooking classes, he knew that this was his place. He had studied advertising and gone from one place to another, but the day he stood in front of the stove, he saw it clearly: there was his future and, curiously, his past came to mind. Welcome to La cebichería de Trafalgar.
It would all make sense to him then. He remembered, as he still remembers now, the hours in the kitchen that he spent with his grandmother Gloria, from whom he would learn the most traditional recipes of Peruvian cuisine. “While she was washing vegetables, she was opening peas”, he remembers and she recounts while he prepares the tiraditos or cebiches in front of the diner. Dishes that he learned from his grandfather, who prepared cebiches on weekends for the family. Of the two he got the most important ingredient: "You have to do it with love," he says.
The classic ceviche.
After training in Peru, Jaime Monzón jumped to Spain to work in kitchens of different levels, Dos Cielos, El Corral de la Morería, Alcocer 42 and La Gloria, and he says that where he learned the most about how a restaurant works was in “those of today's menu".
He learned everything about Spanish cuisine and, when he hadn't practiced Peruvian recipes for years, one day at Alcocer 42 they decided to try adding ceviche to the menu. "How sad," he recalls, because he had forgotten, but it was also a challenge to recover the gastronomic memory of his childhood, the flavors of his identity. “I started to try and try, I am very obsessive with recipes and I did not stop until I found the perfect ceviche”.
Now that ceviche is the king of the new restaurant in Chamberí, La cebichería de Trafalgar. Monzón prepares the classic with fish of the day marinated in leche de tigre, also a mixed one, salmon and tuna with a Nikkei influence.
Butterfish tiradito.
The Yellow pepper It is the base of many of his dishes, of those that he cooked with his grandmother Gloria. Among the cold ones that cannot be missing in a menu from a Peruvian who looks at the gastronomic, historical and fused tradition of the country are the causes octopus, spider crab and chicken; the tiraditos, butterfish with tiger milk and passion fruit or Nikkei salmon. There's also Cau Cau, a typical stew from the cebicherías and Fish stew with that unmistakable yellow pepper.
Everything in La cebichería de Trafalgar is reminiscent of the sea, and invites the sea. From the white marble counter reminiscent of classic fishmongers to the fish coming out of the wall, from **the dishes designed for them (by Andrea Zarraluqui)** to the bathroom doors like cold rooms. the interior designer Richard of the Tower He was inspired by the name of the place in that king dish and he has thought of the sea.
Jaime Monzón, the cebicheman.
And yet, Monzón has also thought of those who prefer local products, with dishes such as the sirloin tartare taco, the muffin of candied bacon, or lomo saltado, and rice with duck confit.
The neon that breaks the whiteness of the premises.
WHY GO
To eat cebiche with b. Classic ceviche. And new. But also hot and more elaborate stews on a site with a bright, minimalist and instagrammable design. A place to go alone, with friends or as a couple.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
The desserts. An absolute extra to leave room for: creamy rice pudding, a classic recipe, classic, surprises with the combination of passion fruit and mango sorbet. And of course, the pisco: essential in any cebichería.
Rice pudding with mango and passion fruit sorbet.
Address: Calle de Trafalgar, 8 See map
Telephone: 91 919 17 49
Schedule: Tuesday to Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Closed Monday.
Half price: €25. Tasting menu: €27.5