Ricard Camarena: the best table in Valencia
Its track is easy to follow: the gastronomic restaurant Ricard Camarena , the contemporary bistro Scoundrel Bistro , the kitchens of ** Ramsés in Madrid ** and the bar of the Mercat Central de València: Center Bar . Four stages, one director. But if they want to know (really) what he has to say, they have to stand (with open eyes and a spirit of adventure) at his door. In Ricard Camarena. Let's go through the door.
Imagine a jazz concert. The chords, bars, rhythms and bebops. Imagine the shadows, the excess and the creaking of the wood. Jazz, as you know, is chaos and freedom. A meaningless puzzle, a kaleidoscope, an amalgamation of elements (sax, piano, drums, bass) that interact under the baton of -apparent- improvisation in a magical test tube. Something similar happens in Ricard Camarena, dozens of elements (flavors, smells, textures and nuances) are drawn on the table without -apparently- sense . Only questions. And yet hours later, already at home and with the lights off, a sensation rises up and grows in your memory: essence. That's Camarena.
We get there and Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet plays slowly. How curious, when Paul Desmond was asked how he got the unmistakable sound of his baritone sax, the genius replied: “Look, I just wanted it to sound like a Dry-Martini”. Curious influence. And “I don't want influences” Ricard tells us, sitting at the edge of the oak table that starts from the kitchen and reaches the sky.
KITCHEN OF EMOTION AND MEMORIES
The tasting menu costs 85 bucks and plays on the board with eleven resounding and sincere dishes (He served us thirteen, and he will do exactly that with you if you ask him). There is no place for preambles, appetizers or half-truths. Eleven plates that are eleven reasons that orbit around the planet Camarena: it is called terroir.
Hare loin, smoked purple carrot and yogurt
Start the party with Peanut coca, turnip ceviche, sweet potato pastisset, liquor and creamy tuna with dried bonito . From the first bite, I scribble a word in my notebook: flavor (an objective without concessions, a prey that Ricard does not let go of in all of his work: flavor, flavor and more flavor). They talk to me at the table (we discuss the dishes) about technical difficulty, risk, execution. And honestly, I don't know and I don't care. I have come here to feel, not to reason.
In the room Ricard's other rib governs, Mari Carmen Bañuls , impeccable head of the room who advises us on the menu paired by the glass and we do it (yes, we do) putting ourselves in the hands of David Rabasa, brand new best sommelier of the Valencian Community (award granted by the Academy of Gastronomy) in an unforgettable symphony of sherries, champagnes, burgundies, rieslings and douros.
Let's keep going. Tomato with anchovy, egg, smoked sardine and green pepper, cococha with onions in pilpil sauce . And one of the dishes of the meal, of the year and of my life arrives: Maresme peas with pickled chervil . Less is more. The biggest (the hardest) through the smallest. I've already said it here: I can't imagine -today- a more tasty, elegant and perfect delicacy than seasonal tear peas.
Do not stop the party. More flavor (and more flavor) with almadraba tuna tartare with broccoli "al dente" and cold roasted tomato soup, warm autumn vegetable stew with pickled beetroot veloutte with raspberry and stilton.
The end of the trip is drawn with the aroma of the truffle that accompanies the slightly spicy radish soup and that gives way to the memorable whiting with fried cauliflower, lemon and capers . Plus? Almadraba tuna parpatana, broad beans, infusion of different peppers and sticky rice with free-range chicken and mushrooms. Plus? Hare loin, smoked purple carrot and yogurt. Masterly. We arrive at the desserts happy, excited, with that feeling that floods us (unfortunately) so rarely: “Something has happened here”, “Today, something has happened here”.
Ricard Camarena is someone you are looking for. And how difficult it is to find someone like that in this today of so many answers and no questions. Ricard, sheltered in the box that is his kitchen, simply searches. And to me, who only scratches reasons, I only have one piece of advice: Go with him, you will not forget the trip.
Maresme peas with pickles