Almadraba bluefin tuna: Cádiz in Madrid.
Pepón Grandson He says that in his house he is “the black sheep”. “My whole family works in the hospitality industry. My parents no longer because they are retired, but all their lives they did it. And my three brothers are in the hospitality industry, the only one who is dedicated to something else is me, ”he says.
But he grew up between stoves and between tables. As he well demonstrated in his passage through MasterChef Celebrity. “My parents had a restaurant all their lives, The Grandchildren in Marbella. My father was a maitre and he has taught us everything. He taught me how to clean fish and I told him: 'Dad, I want to be an actor.' And he: 'Learn to clean the sea bream'. As they were family businesses, we have always worked on them together”, explains the actor.
Artworks by friends and acquaintances decorate the walls.
And, now, with his career consolidated in what he wanted, as he told his father, he has ended up going back to the roots. "In the end, the goat shoots into the bush," he jokes. ** And he has embarked on the adventure of opening, together with her sister, Virginia Nieto, Marengo, ** the Madrid branch of the restaurant with the same name that she has in Vejer de la Frontera, Cádiz.
“My sister, after working in many restaurants and with many kitchen professionals, five years ago she set up a restaurant in Vejer de la Frontera called Marengo”, she explains. Although for the regulars of Cádiz it is already a great acquaintance, one of the top restaurants in the province. “She likes it a lot, she has a fixed clientele and I really like that type of cooking that she does, starting with almadraba tuna, retinta veal, pulling on the basic things from Cádiz with a very Malaga touch too, but giving it a little twist”.
That's Marengo. A "recognizable" kitchen, which does not deceive, who bets on the first-class product offered by Cádiz or Málaga and puts it on the table without “hiding its flavour”, Virginia Nieto tells us at Marengo Madrid.
“We have managed to get the same providers to serve us here: Almadraba tuna, the same retinta veal that we buy there... we have managed to maintain exactly the same menu”, continues Pepón Nieto. "It's like bringing a little piece from there to here, the same philosophy, what we like, market cuisine, fresh cuisine, giving it a little spin”. She has brought a little of his house to the very heart of Chueca.
“It is a small restaurant, with 12 tables, because we want to do it with a lot of love, with a lot of love, to keep the clients that we have in Cádiz and they are from Madrid, because that is how the idea of bringing it came about,” continues the actor who in the free time that the theater leaves him (he is with The Comedy of Lies), and between television shoots and a new movie, is by Marengo, acting as host, putting into practice what his father taught him and passionately explaining the letter that his sister has completely elaborated.
A letter, modeled on that of Vejer, with the same star dishes: “Salad, cuttlefish croquettes, almadraba tuna in sashimi or tartare, sea bass with cocada”, start enumerating. And we must also highlight the retinta or tuna hamburgers. Or some novelties, "such as Mozarabic artichokes or avocado cannelloni." Not forgetting a few homemade desserts, such as the rich cheesecake or the deconstruction of the tres leches that the two brothers created after a trip together to Mexico.
"The idea of getting into this is for people to eat very well," she says. "My actor friends are surprised that you eat very well, of course." And he says goodbye with a claim. "I think l Andalusian cuisine, because it is so immediate, so market-oriented, is the great unknown; but there is excellent raw material and there are very few Cadiz restaurants in Madrid. In Madrid there is room for all kinds of restaurants, and this little thing between Cádiz and Málaga with a fresh and even fun menu had not been seen in Madrid”.
Lima and Cadiz cause.
WHY GO
Because you spend the summers in Cádiz or Málaga and the rest of the year missing what you enjoy there, among other things: the authentic tuna from Almadraba, like the one brought to Marengo from Barbate.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
In the decoration they could not copy the old house in which the Marengo de Vejer sits, but it is present in details: as the white walls, the esparto, even a large photo of the Cadiz restaurant. The rest of the walls are decorated with works by his actor, such as Okuda. And they will change.
Address: Calle Colmenares, 5 See map
Telephone: 91 819 23 98 / 626 42 03 70
Schedule: From Wednesday to Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Additional schedule information: Closed Monday. Tuesday dinner hours.
Half price: €40