604086 Mon Mar 16 05:15:06 -0700 2009 1 50 Spain/Portugal 0 4508568 Not seeing much discussion on this board of Goizeko Wellington and having just had a nice dinner there, I figured I'd give it a separate thread. The restaurant is in the Hotel Wellington in Madrid's Salamanca neighborhood, and is part of a group of five restuarants run by Chef Jesus Santos. Even though we were headed to Basque country the next day, the restaurant had been recommended by someone whose judgment I trust, and we were in the mood for seafood and something a little more traditional before doing more of the alta cocina thing in San Sebastian. It was a very pleasant meal rooted in Basque traditions but with some contemporary flair. We started with percebes (goose barnacles), something I'd never tried before. Despite the price, I was glad we did. Our server didn't even smirk when we stared at them slightly baffled after they were delivered to our table, instead he quickly deduced that we'd never had them before and (1) fetched bibs; and (2) showed us how to eat them. Bending the tube part from both sides like you're trying to break a pencil ("abajo!" our waiter cautioned me before spraying myself with its juices) yielded a little nubbin of meat that was just slightly springy and resilient (less than a clam, more like a cooked mushroom) and tasted just like the essence of the sea. These were a real revelation and the highlight of the meal for us. I followed the percebes with an app that was a variation on an ensaladilla rusa, turned into croquetas and spiked with some herring roe which added a light seafood note and interesting texture. I have an unexplainable fondness for salad rusa, so this hit the spot for me. Mrs. F had a lobster salad which brought a whole claw, extracted from the shell, over a bed of nice greens, with the dressing in part in the form of a lightly gelled sherry vinaigrette on the bottom of the plate. For a main I had pochas y almejas, a classic combination of clams and white beans, which was absolutely delicious. The seafood brine of the clams had completely permeated the beans and their thick stew. This was simple, hearty and satisfying, my only gripe being the dearth of clams (less than a half-dozen to a big bowl of beans). Mrs. F had grilled calamares that were wonderfully fresh and perfectly grilled. We had a Txakoli with dinner that was recommended by the sommelier when I told him my fondness for these Basque whites, and unfortunately I can't recall the producer. The wine, which had a few years bottle age on it (I had never even considered Txakoli as remotely age-worthy) traded the spritzy freshness of a new Txakoli for an intruiging salinity, while still having that bracingly palate-refreshing acidity. The wine list (the whites, anyway, where I was looking given our seafood-centric ordering) happily was chock full of options in the € 30-40 range. For dessert we split "chocolate y naranja en texturas" which satisfied a long-standing food memory for me of Baskin-Robbins Mandarin Chocolate Sherbert. The gelato in this dish (which was balanced on a sheet of dark chocolate flavored with orange, which itself was balanced over a lighter chocolate mousse ringed with crunchy bits, along with some candied orange peel, etc.) was, flavor-wise, a dead ringer for this childhood favorite. More info on our dinner here -> http://www.foodforthoughtmiami.com/2009/03/goizeko-wellington-madrid.html www.foodforthoughtmiami.com Mon Mar 16 05:15:06 -0700 2009 35525 Frodnesor 1 4939937 Nice review! Sounds like a great place for Basque haute cuisine in Madrid. Has anyone been to Goizeko Wellington this summer? The summer menu looks interesting: http://www.goizekowellington.blogspot.com/ Wed Aug 12 09:56:09 -0700 2009 4508568 10626 phoenikia