Bringing some of this innovation to the heart of London was the event Innovation & Creativity – Great Spanish Chefs at Hispania, which has taken place over the last years and saw another legendary chef make an appearance last week. In November 2013 it was of El Cellar de Can Roca and in March 2014 it was who presented this avant-garde cuisine in a “four-hands” menu with Marcos Morán of restaurant Hispania. Last week it was time for Paco Roncero. He is one of the leading representatives of Spanish avant-garde cuisine, not just within Spain but also abroad. It is a technical and creative signature cuisine which goes beyond a personal cooking style and instead represents a way of offering and understanding gastronomy as a unique sensorial experience.
Two-Michelin-starred Roncero is currently the executive chef and director of the NH Collection Casino de Madrid and its restaurant La Terraza del Casino; of gastro-bars Estado Puro in Madrid, Ibiza and Shanghai; of Versión Original by Paco Roncero in Bogota; of the gastronomic multi-space Sinergias in Platea Madrid and of Sublimotion, one of the most advanced and innovative restaurants ever imagined which is located at the Hard Rock Hotel in Ibiza, the brand’s first hotel in Europe.
Roncero presented a menu together with Marcos Morán of restaurant Hispania, located at the heart of the City of London. The evening started out with a special snack, Hispania’s fish & chips, made with sea bass and a batter made of Spanish Mahou beer. Other snacks included Crunchy cheese bites (Morán), Shrimp omelette (Roncero), Cucumber & Eel (Morán) and Fried corn with avocado (Roncero).
Among the guestswere the Spanish ambassador in London, Federico Trillo and the director of the Spanish Tourist Office in London, Enrique Ruiz de Lera.
The menu kicked off with Salmon marinated in miso with pickles by Roncero, a delicate composition of sweet and sour aromas, and was followed by Sea urchin, olives and curd by Morán, packing a true punch on the taste buds. Roncero then presented his Pesto gnocchi with squids like a painting of modern art, successfully marrying textures, colours and flavours. Morán’s fish dish consisted of Hake with leeks, béarnaise and cocoa nibs, followed by another Morán creation, Shrimp, artichoke and boletus mushroom, a fantastic combination of sea and earth flavours. For the meat dish, the kitchen team gathered in the restaurant among their guests and served up Veal shank with potato cream and mushroom stew by Roncero, with the tender meat falling clean off the bone.
For dessert, the two chefs both presented their own dish. Morán’s Apple textures was a fresh, fruit-laden palate cleanser, preparing guests for Roncero’s Coffee and milk, which turned out to be rather more elaborate than the title promised, consisting of variations on coffee and milk in the forms of ice cream, mousse, foam, gel, crunch and fudge.
All courses were accompanied by sommelier Bruno Murciano’s choices of Spanish wine from Rioja to Moscatel.