7,5

Askua


Kokotxas rebozadas
Ricardo Gadea
Country: Spain
City: 46021 Valencia
Address: Felip María Garín, 4
(+34) 963375536
Closed: Saturdays midday, Sundays, Easter, 15 days in August and Christmas
Price: 80/150 €
Tasting menu::


Ricardo Gadea’ practice is deliciously based on nature and naturality. He always looks doggedly for excellent products and doesn’t spare any euro with the expenses. “Give the best of the market”: this is his dogma. The selected delicacies are treated with utter precision and sensitivity here. The doneness deserves to be considered as impeccable, as well as the juiciness and the purity of the main characters, really outstanding. The flavours are always immaculate.
The feast has got concrete full names, like his famous red prawns, one of the best in Spain: gigantic, freshly fished and succinctly cooked. Like his equally famous coated cod cheeks, that can be compared to Elkano’s; intrinsically excellent, excellent for the golden garnishing veil and excellent for the brevity of the cooking process (they are served smooth, preventing the gelatin to melt). Like his very honourable beef tenderloin steak tartare, once again marked by its unprecedented nobility, its tenderness and its seasoning, which enhances the goodness of the meat. Like his fantastic beef sweetbreads with caviar; which provide amazing sapid and tactile contrasts, purely harmonized. Congratulations. And like his sensational rib steak, aged in a cold room for about a month, whose excellence is such, that the diner doesn’t even miss any smoked aromas.
Other glorious dishes: the Sanfilippo anchovies (a brand that only markets them salted), the best ones. The most sought-after delicacy in the gastronomic world: the Gran Reserva Joselito cured ham. The fabulous Norway lobsters. The sea cucumbers, which have the only and exclusive taste of sea cucumbers, although they are accompanied with some pieces of boiled and grilled Iberic pork jowls. This immeasurable level also applies to other more humble but not less exquisite bites, like the very particular cod croquettes, prepared without coating, made up of potato cream and accompanied with generous croutons. Or like the generous cap i pota (veal head and feet), which shows another facet of the chef: take bread and dip.