Lunch Date at Sala De Despiece

We had seen this restaurant on Somebody Feed Phil and decided it looked pretty good, so made a reservation several months ago. We were really looking forward to this experience and were not disappointed. From the moment you walk through the door you are greeted by happy smiling faces. The restaurant is quite small, it probably only seats between 22 and 26 patrons.

We sat up at the bar and were looked after by Raphael and Dominica. Raphael took us through the menu and, once he got a feel for what we liked, suggested dishes. Most of the dishes were quite small, but so much thought and work goes into every one. Most are like works of art, and many are prepared right in front of you with a blow torch and tweezers.

Dominica has been working at the restaurant for a number of years and she made some wonderful suggestions regarding the wine we should have to accompany the food.

We started off the meal with some tasty fried bits of dough that were bloody delicious. Next was a fried artichoke with avocado cream and caviar. It was one of my favourite dishes, just absolutely delicious. Next was the ‘Rolex’ which is a strip of Parma ham with a piece of foie gras in the middle and topped with a semi set egg yolk. The ham is cooked with a blow torch and then cut in half, rolled up and torched some more. The end result is a mouthful of deliciousness. This was followed by beef carpaccio which, again, is deftly prepared in front of you with such artistry and flare. The meat is smeared with tomato and eggplant, then rolled up into a wonderfully tasty morsel.

We then had the tomato and tuna - yum. This was followed by zucchini flowers dipped in this artistic smear of deliciousness that was cream, roasted tomato and beetroot. It was pleasing to the eye and the palate. We then had grilled octopus, which was the largest dish, served with romesco and squid ink sauce. As Ian isn’t a big fan of octopus, he had deep fried crystal prawns. They serve the prawns with their shell and include their fried heads. I love prawn heads that have been deep fried, but Ian hadn’t tried them. I am proud to say that he tried the heads and I believe he quite liked them.

We are getting close to the finish line with two savoury dishes remaining. The first was smoked eel first cooked with a blow torch, then topped with foie gras that has been torched and finally crowned with some grated apple. It is all covered in a divine sauce. This dish was very rich but so so good. Our final dish was beef tacos. The tray arrived with an egg yolk and various strips of chilli peppers in the shape of the sun. In a bowl was a white ball, which looked like ice cream but we are told is wagyu beef covered in a layer of fat. Raphael began torching the white sphere which slowly melted, revealing a ball of chopped wagyu beef strips that were slowly cooked. As the meat cooks and the fat melts Raphael gets out the soft tacos which are in themselves a work of art and very colourful. He divides the yolk into four and smears a bit on each taco, then has a discussion with us regarding how much chilli heat we can take. We decided to stick with medium and so our tacos were assembled. They too are delicious. Finally we had a dessert to share which was a custard type thing with berries, and was a nice way to finish what had been an exceptional meal.

In relation to what we drank, I started with a rosé from Provence and Ian had a Spanish beer. We then had a glass of white wine, Lapola Ribeira Sacra, a beautifully balanced but dry white that was a blend of Albariño and Godello. We then had a cider made from 20 types of apples. It was called Valverán, 20 Manzanas and was the perfect accompaniment to the eel. Lastly we had a glass of red, San Cobate La Finca, from Ribera Del Duero, which was the perfect pairing with the wagyu.Read more