Wednesday 25 September 2024
Sanxopanza Restaurant was the boy’s dinner venue last night. Close
to home and not too hard a walk on Flashy’s dodgy ankle. At 9.00 pm, we were the
only patrons – of course! Spanish was the only language, unusual. Eventually we
got that ‘carne’ was meat and Flashy let Andrew order. Pointing at the menu
helped too.
We were delivered a 1.15 kg rare steak carved from the bone.
Very delicious and a good match with the Rioja wines. Andrew made it to 10.00
pm before instantly falling asleep. We were home. He didn’t fall asleep in the
street. 10.00 pm was judged as a a good sign, since tonight is the l’Ordre
Mondial des Gourmets Degustateurs welcome dinner and it could be a late one.
Prior to the welcome dinner, we were treated to a Masterclass in Rioja wines.
Not actually visiting Rioja this conference, they brought Rioja to us. Four of
the main winemakers; each with three of their best (mainly red) wines and large
samples. In a room with 200 people this was impressive. It was also informative
and a great opening to the five days to come. Dinner was at Pez Fuega.
The Pez Fuega restaurant is back in Madrid, a 45 minute coach
ride away and our procession of coaches
was pretty impressive as well. The restaurant was large enough for the full
delegation and ‘business dress with ribbons’ meant suit or jacket and tie and
the Chaine regalia; again an impressive site as we gathered on the terrace for
wines and tapas.
At around 9.00 pm we sat down to dinner, occupying most of
the restaurant. At 11.00 pm the dinner was finished and we bussed home. As you
know, the Spanish in particular, eat very late. They are recorded as having the
least amount of sleep of all the Europeans. We are both struggling with this
long, wine and food filled day, then sleeping an a full stomach, only to get up
at 6.30 am to prepare to do it all again. Luckily, we are seasoned (pardon the
pun) gourmet degustateurs, eh?
The dinner menu was very good, but not exceptional. A comment on
Spanish cuisine. It is regional and often reflects the peasant roots and hence
simple fare, of the nation post WW2. As a generalisation, there are some
outliers at the best and worst end of the food scene and the rest is in the middle. In
our experience, it is all well prepared, presented and served with passion and
much of it quite delicious. At the top end, it is pretty exceptional, with many
Michelin stars around the country. But, often under-seasoned. Flashy raised
this with our guide, when sampling the famous and extremely popular calamari
roll. “it could use some salt,” we all said. Our mate from the US added that
some mayonnaise would be good as well. We all agreed. The guide’s response
was “we are simple people and don’t have
spices in the kitchen.” Sounds like bull shit to Flashy.
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