Asador Etxebarri

Asador Etxebarri was high on our list of places to eat on our recent trip to Spain. Even months prior, we had tried reserving a lunch spot - we sent e-mails, and tried the online reservation system with not much luck ... We were determined to get there nonetheless. Upon arriving in San Sebastian, we kindly asked the owner of the little guesthouse we were staying, if he would mind calling and booking us a lunch in just a few days time. Success !! We were super excited, and made our travel plans to Bilbao around our lunch reservation.

Upon arriving in Bilbao, we set out to find a rental car. We book online, and just have to go into the office to pick it up/settle payment. Seems easy enough, but the map given online was terrible ... We wandered around for a while, asking anyone and everyone for help. Finally a young girl points us to the 2nd floor of the main train station (why of course!). We take the car just for the day, and are very happy to pay the extra for the GPS. We are ready, pack into the car, iPhone maps and an internet printout as backup. Punching the address into the GPS is harder than we thought, as the address is in Basque, while the GPS input in Castelana. That proved to be the least of our worries, though, as when Kim starts the car we realise it's a manual. We are both confident driving manuals, but in an unfamilar city, on the wrong side of the road, not having to worry about changing gears is always a bonus. We set off, me of course doing a fine job of back-seat directing, even with all the maps & GPS ... We have allowed nearly 2 hours to arrive Atxondo, but find ourselves there within 45 minutes. Words can't describe the serenity that surrounds us, but this picture below will give you an idea of the mountains encasing this quaint little village that were looking upon us as we step out of the car ....



We hesitantly push our way through the closed doors, we're a few minutes early. Behind those doors is not what we expected at all, it's a rustic little bar top with wooden stools, some small tables and a set of stairs leading up in the back corner. We find one body behind the bar, who speaks very little English, but directs us upstairs. We announce our reservation and ushered over to a beautiful table right in the window, the afternoon sun bursting in behind us ... Beautiful wooden menu's are placed in front of us as so another 4.5 hour Spanish lunch begins.



Of course we choose the seasons tasting menu, which offers a vast selection of fine local produce. After we order, a small glass plate is placed in front of us with 2 pickled white anchovy fillets. They are so plump & full of life, with a young grassy olive oil lightly coating them.



The home made chorizo sits like a piece of fine art on the table in front of us ... 3 perfect rounds of the house made sausage, that shows so many different colors & textures. I bite each slice in half, savoring each mouthful of smokey, fatty sausage. It is so good ...



Smoked butter may seem like an odd 2nd course to some, but we were both very excited for this particular offering. A slab of the smoked butter sat on a thin slice of lightly toasted bread. Paper thin slices of a local mushroom are melting in to the butter, and a smokey ash salt finishes it off. I don't even have words to describe how happy this singular plate made me ... We sat on this one for a while, allowing every little bite to fill our mouths with the smokiness, as the ash salt dissolved on our tongues the flavor intensifies.



Our next course was an addition we made to the tasting menu, I mean who can resist foie gras? This one simplicity in all it's beauty, a fat slice of foie terrine with poached rhubarb & fruit toast.



Palamos prawns are a deep sea prawn caught of the Costa Brava. The color is vibrant, the taste intense. Salt & smoke coating the fingers with each bite ... a finger bowl & fresh towel allows these gems to be enjoyed by hand.



Grilled cockles with fresh pink grapefruit segments & a light foam excite the palate. I am captured by the gorgeous plated they are resting on, with 3 little cockle shell imprints in the ceramic perfectly holding the shells ....



Now, I have eaten some baby octopus in my time, but the little buggers that were served at this lunch were something else. Their bodies were size of my pinky nail ... they were plump & tasty, a black ink sauce, spinach & pickled shallots gave the dish a real earthiness ...



The angulas, or baby eels, is something I remember so vividly from Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. We knew these were seasonal, but were super excited to see them on the menu - we were in luck, they were coming into their last week of the season. The bowl of baby eels served with a mother-of-pearl spoon was aesthetically pleasing. My first mouthful was somewhat overwhelming though .... It was a scent that permeated all of my senses, and I wasn't quite sure if I liked it or not .... it mellowed out as I was trying to decide, and then I did quite enjoy the flavor. We later found out the eels are infused with tobacco. Once it had a chance to mellow out, the rich butter taste combined with the tobacco was divine. The little angulas were another favorite of the day.



Our fish course was Salt cod with roasted red peppers & butter sauce. The fish portion was massive for a tasting menu, and a little underwhelming. I would have been happy with a plate of roasted peppers, the flesh sweet with a robust smokey flavor. Yum!



The savory courses finish with a perfectly grilled piece of beef. Pink in the middle, a crusty salty exterior, each bite so full of flavor, leaving an intense charcoal taste in the mouth that is pleasant and not at all overpowering. A bowl of dressed butter lettuce leaves add a nice bit of acidity.



Nothing like cleansing the palate from a flavor intense meal full of differnt smokey flavors and charcoals then with a smoked ice-cream with fruit infusion. The smoked ice-cream coats the tongue and is velvet smooth, the fruit infusion refreshing & tart.



Milk cream is a bar of set custard cream, with a French toast-like coating and cinnamon ice-cream.



Coffee to finish with little financiers. The cafe con leche is is a fine cup of coffee, strong but not bitter coffee & creamy milk at just the right temperature ...



We sit pondering life & it's simple pleasures ... looking out the window behind us and feeling as though we are part of that picture. Nothing else matters .... I'm not sure how long we sat there, but all of a sudden I am hungry again.



We make an odd request, another portion of smoked butter. Think of it as a cheese course ....



Followed by a white & dark chocolate souffle. Bizarrely, the souffle comes to the table still with the metal ring around it ... as we crack into it the centre is still extremely wobbly, so may have been there to hold it all in?



As we are leaving we are lucky enough to get a tour of the kitchen ... Lennox, an Australian chef who came to Asador for a 6 month stage and still hasn't left, showed us around. He shows us the different ovens where the coal is being made, they types of wood, and the different sections of the grill .... and passionately talks about the local produce, and early morning drives across the border to France to pick up ingredients. As we talk we run into Morgy & Trish, who were having lunch this day as well and also getting a tour of the kitchen. Morgan McGlone is the Chef/Proprietor at Flinder's Inn in Sydney.





One of those lunches that inspired, enlightened & gave us a whole new appreciation for an ancient cooking technique.

Tapac 24, part 2; the lost hours

You can't visit Barcelona without running into some of Gaudi's prolific works somewhere. The most famous being the still epic Sangria Familia church, but having skipped that (epic church = epic ques) and kinda feeling like we should see something more of Barcelona than it's restaurants .. well that and after yet another fine Boqueria breakfast we had hours to fill before we could admire another eatery. We headed up into the hills that border the city to the fantasy garden Park Guell. Originally built by Gaudi as a playground for the rich we wandered round the winding paths all morning, listing to buskers and taking in the views back over Barcelona, it was amazing! To think that he had envisioned all of this in his head is astounding, I guess that's where the genius part comes into it.



After all this walking and artistic appreciation we were soon feeling the need for a little snack or two. Tapac 24 was close (well nothings really close to the garden so it was a cab ride) and we had only had a wee breakfast there before, so a sample of there lunch menu seemed to be in order.

We arrived grabbed a table and looked for the menu, hmmmm seems to be the same as the breakfast menu we had the other day .. we look around, a quick question, ahhh lunch menus come out at 12 - seems we had arrived a tad early, oh well we'll just grab a few things off the breakfast menu to tide us over. I'm just going to interrupt myself at this point to say y'know what I like about Spain? It was becoming apparent to me that you could eat whatever you like at whatever time you like and no one would say boo. You can put Rabo de toro (braised oxtail) on the breakfast menu and someone (us) will order it and it's all good. Amazingly good actually, fall off the bone in sticky finger lickin braising stock, and served in a tre cute little cast iron pan, icing on the cake people.



Our other tider overers were a can of sardines - Spain's canned seafood is not even playing the same game as the stuff you usually see lining supermarket shelves the product is often hand picked and canned only at the prime of it's season. Once you taste the difference you can understand how some Spanish canned seafood can cost hundreds of euros.



Eggs with potatoes and foie - a plate of hand-cut fries, sauteed foie gras and a fried egg smashed over the top, be still my congealing heart. It's a dish that arrives and you know how horrifically bad for you eating something like this will be yet your fork moves with surprising speed to scoop up mouthful after mouthful of pure deliciousness.



We had now lingered our way in to the lunching time zone. Menus were swapped and special boards were being bought out, so was a jug of some sangria like concoction on the table next to us. We'll have one of those please. One of those turned out to be a jug of agua de Valencia, Spanish sparkling wine (cava) with orange juice vodka and gin. Delicious & super easy to drink, maybe even a little too easy.



With the lunch menu in our hands we quickly browsed and in no time at all we had two of the most delectable anchovy fillets I had ever had the pleasure to meet sitting in front of us as well as a plate of grated tomato with sherry vinegar, sea salt and olive oil and some generous chunks of crusty bread for mopping it all up. A long time ago I used to think anchovies were horrible salty fishy things that had no reason for existing. Foolish me. To some extent a lot are that way, but to eat one of the anchovies at Tapac is to treat yourself to a just the right amount salty, just the right amount fishy, whole lot of umami experience.





The McFoie is something we had read about so of course one of those had to be ordered. Start with a small burger bun, fill with beef and foie gras patty, grill in a flat sandwich press till toasty, serve with truffle aoli. Need I say more?







At this point having just ordered another jug of agua de Valencia and feeling like we could still have a smackeral more we eyed up the specials board, proudly written in Catalan. Having even less of a grasp of Catalan than Spanish we randomly picked a few things.



We knew what chimichurri was so whatever's with that we'll have. Grilled beef it turned out to be. Smokey and doused with a herbacious chilli salsa. Heaven.



A plate of crumbed fried thingys were rabbit ribs. Moreish morsels of rabbit meat with a rich aoli for dipping. Once you popped you just couldn't stop.



Calcots are a traditional springtime treat. Grown from an onion bulb, the shoots have soil piled around them as they grow similar to white asparagus. the result is a leek like mild onion that is then charred grilled and usually served with romesco sauce. There is no tidy way to eat them just scoop a little romesco and slurp it down, you may even get a few appreciative glance for embracing the tradition wholeheartedly.



We both knew we were done but we couldn't leave with out one more Tapac specialty. Chocolate with olive oil and salt is not just a Tapac specialty but a Catalan one. In this case the chocolate is quenelles of rich ganache drizzled with olive oil speckled with great Spanish flake salt and topped with a wafer of toasted bread. Chocolaty, salty, crunchy, just delicious.



Sated we made our way out onto the street surprised to find we had lost quite a few hours and that it was now time for siesta. Oh well when in Rome, or Spain in this case.

Tapac 24
Diputacio 269
Barcelona
8am - midinght

Firenze; A tale of four breakfasts: part 3

After a pleasant encounter with Max and the crew at the little bar we stumbled across for our not-planned second breakfast, we make our way to the Mercado Centrale (Central Market). We find the butchery section over to one side of the market. Their are cases filled with all types of fresh meat including chickens and calves head & feet.



We know the infamous sandwich must be close .... We turn a corner and see the Nerbone counter deep with people. Old Italian men ordering their lampradotto, the tripe version, but just as many in the que for the bollito, the boiled beef version. We jump on in and place our order at the counter.



We are then handed our tickets and proceed to the opposite end of the stall, where the heavenly morsels are being made.



Firstly, the lamprodotto. The crusty bun is cut in half, with the cut side being dipped into the delicious cooking juices. Chunks of tripe are then removed and roughly chopped before being stacked on the bun. A precise ladel of fire-red chilli sauce and then another of vibrant green salsa verde are draped over the top.



The bollito version see's the bun cut and dipped in the same way. It is then piled high with sliced of the boiled beef, which are sitting in the juice, and come apart with pull of a fork. The same bright green & red sauces are ladeled over.



There is a reasonable sized seated area off to one side, which we noticed was home to many tourists, who also knew about the wonders of Norbone ...



but what had our interest, was the counter at the end. All the locals perched here enjoying their breakfast, most of them with a glass of wine in hand. We jump right in and join them. 1Euro each sees a small tumbler placed in front of us, with bottles of house wine, mineral water and some soft drink there for enjoying. It's customary to do a "Salute" with whoever is close by, so there is "ching ching" all around.



While sitting there savouring our delightful breakfast, we even see an Italian gentlemen a little ways from us, look to Salute with someone, but no one was in reach, so he just "ching ching's" the wine bottle.

Nerbone
Piazza Mercato Centrale
47/R, 50123 Firenze, Italy
Phone:055 219949

Beef by the master.

The excitement had been building for a month, how could it not? As soon as we knew our destination in Italy we were researching what and where we would be eating. Then joy of joys we discover we will be staying ten minutes drive from arguably the worlds most famous butcher. Dario Cechini. A butcher from a long family line of butchers, Dario was thrust on to the world stage when he was featured in Bill Bufords fantastic kitchen book Heat. That's not to say he wasn't always a great butcher and champion of traditional Tuscan cooking, just that the world never never knew about it. Since Heat Dario has gone on to open not one but three restaurants all providing Tuscan fare in Tuscany and all within 10 meters of each other.

We had agonised and decided it would be unfair of all the other potentially great restaurants in Greve if we booked three nights at three Dario restaurants so had made a booking for just one, Oficina della Bistecca. This is the restaurant that showcases the Tuscan butchers cut of cuts, the Bistecca alla Florentina. We arrive after yet another mindblowinly scenic drive just as the sun is setting over the Tuscan hills, it's all just too beautiful.

We wonder how we will find the place only for a second as operatic arias fill the air and draw us up a side street to a glowing door.

On the wall beside the doorway a plaque that read "in memory of the Florentine steak prematurely passing March 31 2001" This is about the time Mad cow hit Europe. A glance through the door reveals Dario himself working behind the counter, sweet! We wander into the shop and it's just glorious, there's the man in his trademark red pants and leather vest, the showcase full of deliciousness, half broken down beef carcasses hanging behind a wood paneled cool room door, hanging salami's and a table full of tasty treats just waiting for someone like us.

Dario is quick to hand us a glass of his house wine and fill our free hand with morsels of salami and whipped lardo. With operatic music filling the air, delicious aromas wafting through the air and our taste buds being assaulted with passionate flavours, it's a real head spinning moment, all one could really do is stand there and smile uncontrollably. We sat back and watch as others arrive and are given the same treatment, it's fantastic to watch. After about ten minutes just hanging out in heaven we were lead back through the shop and up a flight of stairs, past the slightly modified Mona Lisa and in to the Osteria, it's one big shared table, we grabs the seats closest to the grill, as we walk past our eyes pop at the piles of meat sitting on the table. A traditional Bistecca alla Florentina is four fingers thick.

Sitting we see bowls of fresh baked bread and piles of fresh seasonal vegetables on the table. One of our hosts Dante fills our dipping bowls with fragrant salt, volpain red wine vinegar and local olive oil. Appetiser sorted.

Now with all all that fiddly veg stuff out of the way it was time to bring on the meat. First up Chianti sushi, tender beef tartar marinated with herbs and lemon, very more -ish.

Whilst we we enjoying the sushi, the first cuts of beef we placed onto the char grill behind us.

Dante had now put on his flying goggles so we were all set to go.

We started off with a cut from just above the knee called the noce. Cooked juicy pink and scented with smoke. Accompanied with Tuscan white beans simply heated with herb infused oil. Tasty tasty tasty.

Now the moment had arrived the first of the Bistecca had be pulled from the grill and was resting on the chopping block. Dario took one in each hand and raising them above his head gave an impassioned speech on this cut, the heart of the Tuscans life, ending, with "to beef or not to beef that is the question". After his booming voice had died down he proceeded to slice the bistecca's with much practiced speed and skill and it was mere moments after that the beef lay glistening on our plates.

It seemed that Dante had taken a shine to us as I ended up with not only a decent chunk of beef but the whole massive bone as well.

It was from there that the meat madness really began, if you finished your portion then another was quickly dropped into the empty space. Following the bistecca came a beautifully grilled round of beef accompanied by roast potatoes and bowls of whipped lardo, could there be any better accompaniment to roast potatoes? I think not.

We were slowly starting to fill, and thinking we were getting close the end we had not slowed eating, not realising the final slabs of bistecca were also for us. We took a small break from the table and when we returned there was the bistecca being cut up to be served. Madness I tells ya madness.

There was nothing to do but give it the old college try. The beef was handed out and this time Kat ended up with the bone to deal with as well the slices of beef and roast onions that were still appearing.

After we could finally eat no more plates were whisked away and Italian military liqueurs and plates of olive oil cake cut from a huge pan, were brought to the table.

By now forty strangers had become forty friends, we were invited to go picking grapes in the annual harvest just down the road the next day. We were beginning to get the feeling we could really like it here.....

Officina della Bistecca

Via XX Luglio, 11

Panzano in Chianti Firenze

tel. +39 055 852020

fax +39 055 852700

lunedi / giovedi : su prenotazione

mercoledi : chiuso

martedi / venerdi / sabato : 20.00

domenica 13.00

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