Almadraba wild bluefin tuna tataki at La taberna del Campero
Cadiz is not normal. In other words: everyone (but everyone) has spent some time this summer on the beaches of Cádi z: in Bologna, Zahora, Barbate, Conil or Zahara de los Atunes . Perhaps it is the fault of the topic "why go there if we already have it here...", perhaps it is a matter that there is no parné for more or simply that there is no better place to go: art, impossible beaches, white towns and a gastronomy where (still) love for the product and affection for cooking well done can be breathed.
Cadiz is in fashion: the Chef del Mar, its sunsets facing the Atlantic, the jaimas in Caños de Meca and the (for God's sake) wild tuna from Barbate . We begin this gastronomic review on the Costa de la Luz in Zahara de los Atunes.
TRASTEO TAVERN
We really like the proposal Laura Lopez, Jaime Mato and Jose Miguel Fuentes (also responsible for the previous “Will”) in part because, without moving away from the product, it dares with “other cuisines” —Moroccan, Peruvian or Thai— something unusual in the area. We like the decoration (junk…), the casual vibe and that the menu changes so frequently . The best dishes were the tuna satay, the mint ice cream and (especially) the octopus aguachile.
PS: Soon, they land in Madrid.
THE COUNTRYSIDE TAVERN
We follow the route through Maria Luisa street (which you will walk a thousand times) and it is that three of the five essential restaurants are located on this street full of parking lots (that way...) and terraces with blackboards where you will get tired of reading fried fish and shrimp omelette . to the mess: Don Pepe Melero's Tavern in Zahara it occupies the space of the old Ropiti and offers great classics and an offer based on working with tuna: we ate tuna tartar, nettles and grilled tuna with baked potatoes.
The problem? Too many people, too many tables, too much noise, too much of everything. I hope I don't die of success.
RAMON PIPÍ
Isidoro Medina and Eugenio González renovated the place last year (a lot of wood, vegetables and “Nordic” roll but everything is said: In reality, these signs of identity are more Mediterranean than Nordic. ) and continue to maintain their fondness for the product in a proposal farther from the tavern, perhaps closer to the classic restaurant; they say it loud and clear” we like to treat the raw material delicately, so as not to alter its flavor and not mask it ”. Not to be missed is his snapper at low temperature, the grilled amberjack and his work with tuna. We really like Ramón Pipí.
HOTEL RESTAURANT ANTONIO
We start with the “buts”: the space is somewhat stale and there is still a certain aroma of "Hotel for bullfighters and soccer players" that was once ; however, you will not find a better product in Zahara de los Atunes. We ask the curious Aurum 24k (Tuna Route Award 2012) and Latapatún as appetizers; essentials belly sashimi , the spicy tuna taco with wakame seaweed and especially that tuna tartar that probably is (along with the one from El Campero) one of the best in the entire province, also served on crushed ice. Exceptional.
THE SHELTER
A summer without a beach bar is less summer . That is so —as is how difficult it is to find beach bars where the gastronomic proposal is acceptable; one (of many) exceptions in Cadiz is this El Refugio , "Zahareña cuisine" practically on the beach, where they do not accept reservations but what does it matter, if you can wait lying on the sand with a couple of chamomiles. Do not miss their “aliñás potatoes”, tuna with onions and their two classics: “great” and “terrible”.
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