June Top Bites

And the must-try combination of the year

It’s called foie gras 2.0.

The casual insouciance of the whole place, and their foie gras, is what kills me. There is an air of elegant hurriedness, an excited will to enjoy, by folk from near and far. Fine-quality pintxos like the ones you can find here, unlike Spanish tapas, has stayed local to the Basque region and usually are not fused with Asian or other international flavours. It’s no sit-down matter, it’s a get-in-there-if-you-can affair, at least iced with warm smiles and eye contact, reminding you that you’re no simpleton swayed by croquetas at Barrafina. No, you’ve sat on a plane and now out of your way, your depth, in a small alley for gavage-fattened goose liver and they love you for it. And you love them. Read on for a gem in the list below.

So a short round-up of the top 5 things I have consumed during my Spain trip with Charlie. A live laugh love moment grounded in culinary truth.

Cow heart at Mugaritz

Fermented apple skin at Mugaritz left little to be desired

1. The cow heart at Mugaritz– look, I’ll pass on their sodden fermented apple skin, mouldy taco jammed with crab and frozen thyme (perhaps an allusion to being frozen in time? Blending the past, present and future in the transcendental truth that is nature? Unfortunately failing to bind humanity in its sodden woody stringiness?) but all the beef-themed dishes here leapt off the page, sometimes almost literally. The whole Mugaritz experience is off the beaten path and but this… this heart that stares at you as you tear off a bite, reminds you that this was a flickering muscle not too long ago, and I relished tasting the fine line between life and death, cured on the outside and deliciously white and pulpy on the inside. Think: a harder sort of liver with more bounce.

2. The korean fried chicken eggs benedict at Egg Lab in Barcelona, specifically their special touch of a brûléed yolk, on pull-apart chicken under crisp batter painted with not-too-sickly-sweet sauce. Came for the french toast, stayed for the beautifully bastardised brunch staple.