El Gastromolino: the four-table restaurant inside a La Mancha windmill
Updated on the day : 09/09/2020. your kitchen has 9 square meters and its interior dining room alone 4 tables , but Louis and Ed show daily to 16 diners that everything is possible here.
His mill, the "Knight of the Green Coat" , was in operation until last decade of the 19th century , according to records of the Consuegra City Council . In 2017, when it was a store of typical products, a storm destroyed it and made its blades change course to turn it into a restaurant. Now it's one of those gastronomic experiences that deserve a getaway to La Mancha in Toledo.
In the gastromill , on top of Cerro Calderico , with views of the La Mancha plain, plagued by and fields of vines and olive trees , exhibit their gastronomy from La Mancha of product and season in the form of a tasting menu, made with raw materials from the area: its golden rule is that almost all of them can be obtained less than 50 kilometers from Consuegra.
Inside the Gastromill
That's why they buy the sheep's milk to Cipri , the village shepherd, with which they make the saffron custard or curd ; to July, from dairy farm Lopez del Pliego, veal, and local fishmongers, trout, from Cuenca and Guadalajara.
They also work with two mills from La Mancha : Palomino Ulla, which produces extra virgin olive oil of the cornicabra variety and The Tallaos Picual variety. They make few (and justified) exceptions: all hunting (deer, venison, wild boar) It's from El Gordo , a town in Cáceres that is just 200 kilometers away.
With all this pantry, they prepare dishes that change every month, like their Quail with chocolate and cardamom , its Trout with saffron sauce, capers and sauteed vegetables or your Saffron soup, sardines and bread.
Atascaburras (crunchy beetroot and pickles) from the Gastromolino
Yes, the red gold of La Mancha is omnipresent (and kilometer zero): the one from Consuegra is one of the best in the world. Beyond its traditional but reinvented dishes, there is also room for creative cuisine here: his chocolate of crumbs to the Ferrero Rocher, coated in almonds and sprinkled with pure cocoa and gold powder is one of their snacks and a good example of it.
The artificers are Luis Palomino and Edu Montoro , two young people from La Mancha (from Consuegra and Camuñas) who decided to change course and become modern millers.
Luis was director of the **Makkila (Madrid) ** restaurants. Previously, sommelier at **La Alacena (Toledo) ** and photographer. “In March 2017, storm Emma destroyed ten of the twelve mills. The one that is now our Gastromolino, which at that time was a store of typical products of some friends of mine , he was homeless. In this reconstruction process the idea arose, which seemed beautiful and strange to me: open a restaurant inside the mill , taking advantage of misfortune. At that time I was already tired of Madrid and wanted to return home," he tells Traveler.es.
Only two months later, in May, the new journey of the "Knight of the Green Coat" , thanks to Producing Events and Cultural Leisure , the company that has (also) placed Consuegra on the map, through dramatized visits and other initiatives to value the whole of the Celerico Hill.
Exterior of the Gastromill
And in 2018 Edu appeared, now chef : He is 37 years old but has spent almost half his life in the world of hospitality. Or, what is the same, 19 without having a weekend off. He has only traced some parentheses, in the form of flirtations, in the world of removals or as a tractor driver, picking olives. “Now I spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, doing what I like the most inside a mill , a few kilometers from my town. I can not ask for more".
On autumn or winter days, the gastronomic experience takes place inside, in its quirky dining room , which may seem meager but is so welcoming.
But in summer (or on those increasingly frequent sunny mornings out of season) they change register and unfold your terrace : they take out several tables, their stew of the day , their cheese or sausage boards and their tapas from La Mancha (venison meatballs, migas or porridge) at the foot of the mill and they wash everything down with Calatrava craft beer or local wines.
Table of the interior room of the Table of the interior room of the Gastromolino
Here the hours fly by, until sunset comes and the show begins. And on summer Fridays, moreover, not only figuratively: their live sunsets are a series of free concerts to watch the sunset between the windmills of Consabur, declared Well of Cultural Interest. And for dinner? More of the same, but under the stars.
They say that we all have one (or several) pivotal moments throughout our lives. For him gastromill It was that storm of 2017: its winds, of 160 kilometers per hour, razed its roof but brought it a new life.
***** To consider: it is not accessible for people with disabilities, since the only way to go up to its dining room is through the spiral staircase; and it does not have its own bathroom: you must go before or walk 5 minutes to go to the Castillo de la Muela.
Gastromill terrace
Address: Cerro Calderico (Consuegra, Toledo) See map
Schedule: Open from Thursday to Monday, from 12pm. at 6:30 p.m. From June to September, also at night.
Half price: Tasting menu: €25. With wine pairing from Consaburenses: €29. With Manchego wine pairing: €40.