Salmorejo with pepper ice cream
in Madrid metal district, Brothers Mario and Sergio Tofe They have managed to fill their reservation book every day until July thanks to a proposal that could not be more convincing: Ether , a tasting menu with a more than adjusted price/pleasure ratio.
This small restaurant has four tables in a place that, due to its decoration and lighting, transmits a tranquility that invites you to enjoy. They work with letter and two tasting menus of seven and twelve passes in a room directed in great detail by Mario, who carefully explains the dishes while Sergio does the same in the kitchen. Both form a duo that works in perfect synchrony and results in a fluid journey through all the passes that make up the menus.
Cauliflower in tempura
Aether's kitchen could be defined as balanced as a whole, the passes are built from a seasonal staple to which techniques and ingredients are added to form a dish that seeks to all nuances have prominence.
The wine list has small winery references in which you can find some curiosity that accompanies the experience.
The seven course menu starts with a steamed white asparagus from Navarra, at its point and keeping the bite. It is served accompanied by wild asparagus and Idiazábal cheese foam that gives it a creamy and smoky touch.
Continue the feast with the tomato salmorejo with vine shoots with smoked eel and roasted red pepper ice cream, This last element seems excessively powerful but when integrated it gives rise to a balanced dish with clear and intense flavours.
But if there's a dish you have to go to Ether is by its cauliflower in tempura with a base of roasted sweet potato and mole poblano. The vegetables keep a tender interior and a crunchy exterior due to their light frying and the mole gives it an extra taste with the nuances of this sauce. To repeat.
also highlights the beef cooked in three stages with its reduced juice and satay sauce. The texture of the meat shows Sergio's optimal management of the technique and the accompaniments are a success to highlight its flavor.
White asparagus with Idiazábal foam
The menu ends with an extraordinary panna cotta of Ethiopian pepper and coconut and a Sichuan pepper ice cream. The creaminess and smoothness have no limits in this dessert.
Traveling kitchen? Yes. Proximity product? Also. Is it lost in moles, tacos and techniques with which in the end you don't know what you're eating? No, and here's what makes Èther stand out: a kitchen with a recognizable background and with a lot of restlessness where the margin for its growth encourages to return.
Address: Calle Granito 20, 28045 Madrid Spain See map
Telephone: 918 780 787
Schedule: From Wednesday to Sunday, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 8:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, closed.
Half price: €50 - €60