Not much excitement after Xerta, and I mentioned that I was disappointed.
Stopped off at Sergei de Meia the next day for lunch - this was one of the best meals I had in 2017, and during my last visit there in June, I was disappointed in dinner. The wine pairings - the chef was/is on a “Natural Wine” kick, and of the nine different wines, 3 were good, 3 were adequate and 3, I wouldn’t give anyone to cook with. Lesson learned, this time, thought I’d risk less and do lunch. I was more disappointed - an amuse, four courses and dessert. Dessert was the best part, and I stuck with a couple of glasses of Cava and did not do pairings. The food was all savory without very much acid and lacked balance. Seems to be taking backward steps, if you ask me.
The chef also mentioned to me that he has been cooking in Costa Rica for a bit on a visit and is looking at being an executive chef at a new venture there. Maybe that has him off the game, I don’t know. I just know I most probably won’t be going back.
On Friday 10th Jan, I had a reservation at Angle, 2 Star - was feeling a bit under the weather and was irritated at Xerta, and almost cancelled the reservation and took the €25 charge. I did not, and it was a good thing.
It did not start off auspiciously - the entrance looks like a high-end dentist’s office with the two chefs standing just inside the entrance, and three or four hostesses/servers making sure everything is good. “Well”, I thought to myself, “what the hell…lets see what happens”. One of the hostesses takes my coat, directs me to a table and says “would you like a drink? it is part of the dinner” - anyone who knows me will tell you that I agreed with alacrity for a nice glass of Cava.
A few minutes later, she directs me to the two chefs at the counter where they would start off the dinner with three snacks: one each for Air, Water and Land.
Didn’t take any notes or pictures, but the first snack blew me away - white cotton candy with a frozen rum/lime juice surprise inside! Wow! Second snack: all I recall is mint (frozen a-la minute with liquid nitrogen) sprinkled on something crunchy with Uni (I hate that stuff, but what the hell). Even with the Uni, the different textures and tastes made it super delicious. If you are a Uni fan, you would have been in heaven. The final snack was the most savory one and all I recall is there was some mind-blowingly delicious mushroom consomme that went with it.
As an aside, I had the same sort of experience at Ricard Camarena - another two star - but their snack area was much more in keeping with the elegant vibe. On aesthetics, Angle fails big time here.
Snacks done - I was guided to the dining room upstairs which was in keeping with what I was expecting. I did their smaller tasting menu - six courses (some of which they substituted for me from the bigger menu to accommodate the pescatarian restrictions), couple of desserts and petit fours. I was going to do the pairings until I saw a Rafael Palacios As Sortes Val de Biba white on the list. I have been reliably informed that he is a great winemaker and thought I’d give it a try. Cellartracker has pretty good notes on it: https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3108294&searchId=A6B411E9%23selected%253DW3108294_2_K78edbfdff424fcdd9beaa8c656ec0934
forceberry has good notes on this - and I agree this would be a wine to come back to in a few years.
Dinner was exquisite as was the presentation and service was mostly spot on - when the restaurant got busy, they were a touch tardy with the wine pours, but that is me picking nits.
Had a great time - spent some time chatting with an American couple from Austin, TX towards the end of my meal.
Walked home with a full belly and a spring in my step.
–fini part 2–