Restaurant Montiel

9 courses from start to finis  from our meal at Montiel. June 2018. Barcelona, Spain. 

Sean and I first ate at Restaurant Montiel in 2011, the night we got engaged. We had made the reservation earlier the same day and arrived at 10pm just after deciding to get married. The restaurant had a reasonably priced 9-course tasting menu and was well reviewed. We arrived this evening in June after retracing our steps from that fateful night 7 years prior. Much like our relationship, which has changed a lot in the previous 7 years, restaurant Montiel had undergone its own growth and evolution. The narrow two-story restaurant had recently undergone a renovation that made the primary upstairs dining room more spacious and had replaced the wooden table and chairs with sleek turquoise booths. The walls were adorned with large canvases wrapped in swaths of colored cloth.

While their vision likely had not changed, we were acutely more aware of it during this visit. The restaurant prides itself on being a local seasonal organic farm to table restaurant with a 9 course tasting menu. The price was unchanged (~70 Euro for the tasting menu and ~30 Euro for the wine pairing).

Sean and Krystal at Restaurant Montie.  June 11,2018.  Barcelona, Spain

A Playful Beginning

Course 1: Strawberry-Tomato Gazpacho with Kim Chi

Course 1: Strawberry Gazpacho

After we ordered the tasting menu and wine pairing, a modest glazed clay bowl garnished with kim chi was brought to the table. The spicy fermented cabbage made a small island in the bowl, upon which the server poured a thick coral colored soup made of strawberries and tomato. The sweetness of the strawberries was meant to counteract the spiciness of the kim chi. Spaniards are particularly reticent towards spicy foods. It was a beautiful pairing. The cold soup refreshing, the sweetness from the strawberry a little overpowering until just the right amount of kim chi found its way into your spoon at which point it was the perfect sweet, sour, acidic, and spicy bite. The meal was off to a good start.

Course 2: Prawn Ceviche

Course 2: Prawn Ceviche

Sean and I shared some of the same quiet concerns about the evening, that our memory of the food might have been colored by the excitement of our engagement and our inexperience with fine dining. However whatever concerns we had were immediately erased by this second dish.

Served with a bright crisp Catalan cava, the prawn ceviche showcased locally caught prawns with a creamy melt in your mouth texture. Sweet, plump and ever slightly translucent, these succulent bites were nestled below thin slices of avocado. Served with a spicy sorbet and a passionfruit gastrique (once again to make the slight heat bearable to the tender local palates). The resulting dish was spectacular. Clearly a showstopper. The balance between flavors was impeccable, each component thoughtful and harmonious. The dish colorful on the place. The spicy sorbet ensuring that each bite was crisp and ice cold like you’d want any good ceviche to me. It was spectacular.

A Different Direction

The owner of the restaurant, an Argentine named Marcos, served many of our dishes. I only found out he was the owner late the same night while researching the restaurant online. As he brought out the second wine, an organic white grenache from the Terra Alta region of Catalonia, he informed us that the first two dishes had been a playful expression by the chef but that the menu would move in a more traditional direction following dish three which was intended to clear the palate and reorient the meal.

Course 3: White Asparagus in Blood Orange Broth

Course 3: White Asparagus in Blood Orange Broth

A spear of white Navarre asparagus gently poached. The plate assembled and the blood orange broth carefully poured tableside. The most curious bites of this dish were the pearls of vermouth. Vermouth is a palate opening aperitif; having it served in such a creative way made me smile. The dish was light and crisp feeling almost like the first course of a different meal.

Course 4: Sea Rice

Course 4: Sea Rice

The Sea Rice proved to be another show-stopping course. A deconstructed paella. Rice slow cooked in a vibrant seafood stock was draped with a veil of pancetta, topped with two perfectly cooked shrimp, and served alongside a dollop of saffron sauce. The pancetta was sliced so thinly, it was translucent and melted over the mound of richly flavored rice. The rice was perfectly cooked to the point that each grain maintained its shape but that the stock which it had soaked up had the velvety texture of a risotto. Each bite was packed with flavor and it was a playful twist on a dish that every tourist trap in Barcelona insists on selling (despite paella being from another region). The dish was paired with a white blend of Macabeo and Grenacha from Acustic Cellars with a unique bouquet and color. The wine was a dark blonde like caramelized pears and it made a smooth beeline along your tongue before opening with a burst of flavor and then rounding along the back of your tongue. The wine was very full bodied for a white and made me think about how to express wines. For me I tend to think of them like a spectrogram (the type of graphs used to show frequency of sounds) that depicts how the flavor feels in your mouth. It was this wine that pushed me to take out pen and paper at the table and record the wines and tasting notes each with graphical representation.

Back of a receipt wine tasting notes

The Main Event(s)

Course 5: Ravioli of duck and pear

Course 5: Duck Pear Ravioli

Rich, savory and decadent. I think it was the only time I thought the portion, a single ravioli, was too big. Granted, it was the size of the size of an espresso saucer. The fresh circlet of pasta was stuffed with confit duck and poached pear. The ravioli was swimming in a thick dark sauce made from the reduction of wine (I want to say port) and the duck’s own juices. The pasta was topped with thin shavings of truffle (my first time eating it in an unaltered form). It was heavenly.

The dish was served with the first of two red wines for the night. A bold light bodied blend made from a rare local grape. The wine, Petit Bernat Negra, from a 1,000 year old winery, Oller del Mas, in the small neighboring hilltop village of Monserrat (most famous for its monastery). Marcos noted that this particular blend is made with a very rare local grape. Finding the wine online later revealed this to include 1% Piquepoul. I would describe this blend reading like a spicy pinot noir. It opens with a burst of big bold flavor that narrows but lingers as it runs along your tongue. A complex wine that likely presents itself differently depending on the accompanying dish.

Course 6: Veal Tenderloin with mushrooms and potatoes

Course 6: Veal Steak with Potatoes

Course 6 was a simple classic dish (steak and potatoes) masterfully executed. The sixth course was presented as veal tenderloin but given the vibrant red color of the steak, I assume this a young but not baby cow. Our trip to the Bologna market in Italy during 2017 revealed that other countries have words to describe both the age and gender of a beast. I assume English failing for such granularity forced the term veal. Semantics aside, this was a tender, perfectly cooked steak. It was served alongside local mushrooms and potatoes soaked in red wine. While it could not be billed as innovative, this dish was just damn good.

It was served with a big red blend, Martinet Bru from the Priorat region. This Catalan wine region is in the desert not like our own Yakima valley and remains an underappreciated wine territory. We have found that some of the best Spanish wines for the money come from this region.

On the Sweeter Side

Course 7: Strawberries and Cream

Course 7: Dessert 1

The first dessert a playful take on strawberries and cream sought to serve as both a palate cleanser and something to satisfy a sweet tooth. A whimsical blue glass plate was adorned with a steak of frozen candied balsamic strawberries topped with fennel ice cream, buttressed by sweet crème Catalan and dotted with coins of lemon sauce.  A cool refreshing and zesty dessert. The lemon sauce alone was so good I would have gladly accepted a bucket of that for dessert. Okay not a bucket, a bowl. After all it is course 7.

Somewhere between course 7 and 8, we were treated with a dessert wine, Josefina Pinol Dolc Negra made from Grenache. This sweet dessert wine is made from late harvest Grenache grapes from Terra Alta (we might call this an Ice Wine back home). I had no idea you could make dessert wine with Grenache and this was very good.

Course 8: Poached Pear with Cucumber Sorbet?

Course 8: Dessert 2

Admittedly this dish was not particularly memorable, staring at the image of this course on the train as I write about it 3 days later, I had to lean over to ask Sean what it was. He said it was a pear. That seems right. The only part I remember is the crumble which was like someone had taken a brown sugar cookie and turned it into powder. Not every dish can be the kind that stays with you forever. Reading this blog post you might think I took detailed notes on the meal but the image above with my wine notes written on the back of a receipt was all I had. No menu from the restaurant to refer to. Only the still images of each dish to jog my memory. I would argue a good meal that’s all you need. A hint to be whisked back to that moment. To taste those flavors again in your mind. Indeed writing about each course ensures that for years to come this can serve as the trigger for the memory of each course.

 Course 9: Petit Fours

Course 9: Petit Fours

I would argue that petit fours are not a proper course but since it was presented this way, I shall do the same. Petit fours are a traditional French end to a meal. Four sweet bites to go with your coffee. The selection that evening included an apricot gelee, dark chocolate bonbon with a liqueur center and I honestly don’t remember the other two.  Maybe some kind of shortbread? I had drank like six glasses of wine at this point. The exact bites don’t matter. It is like putting a bow on a Christmas present. It makes the gift look complete, the gift giver thoughtful but it doesn’t really change what was wrapped inside. The meal was start to finish exquisite and the petit fours added a finishing touch like the final bow of an encore.

We found ourselves pleased to find that the restaurant had grown in our absence. The dishes more nuanced and complex than our first visit. Its evolution acknowledged by the Michelin guide rewarding it with a plate. It was a pretty fucking good day and a damn good meal.

Sean outside of Restaurant Montiel June 11, 2018

 
Up next our first meal at a three star Michelin-rated restaurant: Lasarte