La Salita restaurant in Ruzafa, Valencia is an excellent backyard of artistic, enchanting pleasure. The identify Ruzafa means ‘backyard’ in Arabic. It dates again to the ninth century when Valencia was generally known as Balansiya and the reign of Abd Allah al-Balansi who ordered that a big inexperienced leisure space must be constructed exterior the town.
One in all its excellent landmarks is Begoña Rodrigo’s beautiful temple of epicurean delight, the Michelin-starred La Salita, Spanish for “salon.” La Salita is an excellent slap within the face to those that declare that paella is the one present on the town.
About Begoña Rodrigo
Begoña Rodrigo, like her merchandise, is regionally grown – she was born in Valencia in 1975. As a result of her seek for journey, she moved to Amsterdam on the age of 20, the place she labored as a kitchen assistant in that metropolis’s Marriott resort.
After a 12 months, Begoña went to London for an additional section of coaching on the French-style Aquarium, a personal members’ membership with two Michelin stars.
Begoña returned to Spain, first to Reus after which dwelling to Valencia. She joined the staff at La Sucursal, a wonderful eating imaginative and prescient atop Veles E Vents, a former marina constructed for the World Cup in America. She spent eight years there, perfecting her artwork and ability earlier than deciding to begin La Salita along with her associate on the time, Jorne Buurmeijer.
She turned a family identify when she received the Spanish TV present High Chef.
Surroundings
La Salita is positioned in a nineteenth century sq. constructing in colonial type, two tales with a dome on high. A stable wood door in a brick wall offers method to an enthralling courtyard with tall palm bushes swaying within the breeze. We arrive at 8 p.m. Sergio leads us to our desk on the bottom flooring subsequent to a protracted cocktail bar that brings a contact of Cuba by the seashore.
Meals drink
First, the intense enterprise of arranging our cocktails. I opted for the Maghreb Bitter, a pisco bitter infused with Ras El Hanout that offers flavors of Morocco, white tea and yuzu. That is an Asian lemon plant that tastes like lemon, however on steroids. It’s completed with Parmesan bitters.
We get the primary spherical of dishes from the Sangoneret menu (€175.70 per individual, wine is charged individually). They’re fantastically offered on selfmade wood stands that appear like bonsai trunks. It’s the first introduction to the unimaginable and explosive riot of flavors which might be the hallmark of the night.
A collection of small plates consists of croquettes with beans and turnips brudet – a reductive play on the everyday Valencian goulash, which is the last word autumn dish.
Brudet is constructed from turnip greens, thistle and white beans which might be cooked lengthy sufficient for the brudet to permeate all of the flavors, completely infused. Delivered in a small iron pot, two croquettes are balanced on high, offering an amazing crunchy and punchy counterpoint to the heady soup. The croquettes are constructed from selfmade beef and pork in a creamy bechamel sauce. Splendidly.
Adopted by a scrumptious crispy dish of mackerel, cauliflower and squid with picante mojo sauce. That is normally related to the Canaries and consists of peppers, garlic and chili peppers. Triumph.
Tony’s spicy nigiri is an interpretation of tuna nigiri or sashimi that’s recent with a little bit of contrasting spices. And as a distinction, a fish sardine that has been handed by means of a slimer, making it a crispy clear fossil of blue fish with roasted leeks and potatoes, which makes it a luxurious style.
My favourite was the oyster salad, offered as a small open tart stuffed with mollusk foam that was merely divine. Lastly, we had deer tartar wrapped in shiso leaf (assume Valencian dolmades) with tofu mayonnaise. Every part excellently offered, every thing completely designed.
After that, they took us upstairs to the primary eating room. It is a massive room divided into niches and eating rooms. The ceiling consists of dwelling lemon vegetation that verify Begoña’s love for seasonal, native greens. She was named the very best Spanish vegetable prepare dinner and second on the planet.
We had been waited available and foot by Alex, a younger Canadian waiter, and Ana and Lucia impeccably wearing black trousers and collarless tunics.
The opening salvo was a chilly tiger nut and razor clam soup. Absurdly scrumptious. The mix of seafood and tiger nuts is a Valencian contact. Seafood for apparent causes and tiger nuts are particular to this area. It’s grown in La Huerta, the huge plots of land surrounding the town, properly generally known as the idea for horchata, a sort of vegetarian batido or milkshake favored by locals.
It’s served with selfmade focaccia bread and lagrim olive oil from the Sierra Caldona west of Castellón within the north of Comunidad Valenciana. That the bread was good was no shock, however the olive oil was superb. Robust and punchy, it was fruity and spicy, if that is not a contradiction in phrases. This dish was paired with Las Travinas white wine from the Merseguera grape typical of the Utiel-Requena area west of the town of Valencia. Good acids and a touch of bitter almonds and herbs.
This was adopted by a dish they name ‘Kraljica’. It’s a shrimp head soup with ginger and a refreshing cucumber inventory. It got here with complete shrimp from Denia.
Alex defined that the shrimp are dipped in sizzling water “for simply 30 seconds” to retain that candy, recent taste. This got here along with Casa Julia, flint and mineral Albariño, making an ideal duet.
Subsequent up was the Eel Sausage Stew which had a powerful, meaty flavour. This was much like the creamy torch risotto, La Salita’s tribute to Valencia’s native eel stew, normally made with eel and potatoes. It had a wonderful crispy base generally known as soccorat, the burnt rice on the backside of any paella dish price its salt. Its power was emphasised by the wine accompaniment of Cambio de Tercio, a fruity bobal, once more from Utiel-Requen. It had an intense cherry taste with a touch of lavender.
Since Begoña is praised within the vegetarian world, in addition to in Michelin and Repsol, the following dish was with out meat, though it was known as “Charcuterie”. Anticipate marinated turnips, smoked radish watermelon pastrami with pumpkin sobrasada and a beautiful autumn mushroom and chestnut pâté.
This was adopted by one other distinctive “Tot de poble”, Valencian cheese, a specialty with parsnips and fermented cabbage cream, served with Sinto Centella Cabernet Franc and Marselan. Unbelievably extra.
This wine went properly with our ultimate savory course, quail breast in inventory with quail drumstick on the aspect that was marinated in a candy and sticky sauce.
Our dessert was a Mexican taco, a enjoyable taco-looking dish whose cantilevered sides had been fabricated from a form of biscuit stuffed with a bubble-like sauce of Hoya de la Iglesia, a by-product of goat cheese, right here with fig cream, sauteed figs and Tintoralba garnacha wine. For me it was a style of childhood, it was a contented and enjoyable dish.
All that was left was to style one in every of their wonderful home-made sweets which got here in a wood field with particular person drawers and a complimentary cognac to go together with it.
JUDGMENT: We spent 4 hours on this temple of epicureanism and left with the wood door clicking behind us, joyful, fulfilled and decided to return.
La Sangonereta menu, €75.70 per individual, reservation required; La Salita, Carrer de Pere III el Gran, 11, Ruzafa, 46005 Valencia; +34 609 33 07 60