The Spanish restaurant El Sur that opened its doors at Dubai's Westin Hotel in November is running a tribute to the famous Spanish restaurant El Bulli every Monday through June and July.
Gastronomic Mondays at El Sur offers six contemporary starters and three "special" dishes, inspired by the deconstructed food that used to be served at El Bulli, a Michellin three-star restaurant.
El Sur's chic decor and competent service - the restaurant boasts as many as six chefs from Spain and mainly Spanish serving staff - set the right mood for the culinary delights that came our way from a set menu.
We started with the liquid marinated olives - a tasty titbit with a tangy pop of olive-infused syrup - and cantabric anchovies with tomato shavings on a flat, crisp tortilla.
The avocado cannelloni with tuna, bursting with fishy flavour, was next, followed by a crunchy air bag of meat and Manchego cheese - a creamy delight that we could have had more than one each of.
The hen egg with potatoes and black truffle was when it started to get seriously gourmet - served in a perfectly slurp-worthy mini eggshell cup, the dish was foamy and full of flavour.
The standout starter, for me, was the burratta with mustard vinaigrette - a cheese-and-cherry dominated dish that has its origins in Rafael Nadal's hometown Manacor in Spain's Balearic Islands, or so our chatty server informed us, and then proceeded to discuss the French Open with my by-now-full partner.
The three mains - inspired by Ferran Adrià, the chef whose revolutionary cooking made El Bulli the top name on erstwhile haute cuisine lists, soon had our taste buds re-tingling, though. The liquid meat croquets, similar to the popping olives served up front, had croquette shavings and a throat-warming syrupy filling. The highlight here was the deconstructed Spanish omelette. Served in a martini glass with a potato-foam texture at top with the egg in the middle and a base of cooked-to-perfection onions, this is no everyday omelette. That didn't stop us from enjoying every spoonful of its frothy fabulousness - all the way from bottom to top, as instructed - though.
The Kellog's paella - a minuscule portion of soup, which reminded me of Malaysian laksa, with rice crispies on the side, was too seafoody for me, but my partner proceeded to wolf down his portion before turning his attention to mine with no such olfactory issues.
Gastronomic Mondays at El Sur, Westin Mina Seyahi, Dubai, run through June and July. Doors open at 8pm during Ramadan. The three "Tribute to El Bulli" dishes cost Dh50 each. Call 04 399 7700 or email reservations@elsurdubai.com to book a spot
pmunyal@thenational.ae
Deconstructed dishes dominate Gastronomic Mondays at El Sur in Dubai
The restaurant is paying tribute to Spain's most popular haute cuisine restaurant El Bulli, with three dishes that'll change your notion of Spanish food.
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