Some good wine choices to buy at Madrid Airport - Reds (II)

When we talk about the red wine selection you can always play safe and spend your money in "classics" (but always amazing ones) as Rioja's Marques de Caceres and Marques de Murrieta or Ribera's Protos to name a few.
However maybe you want to try something different or you want to be spending a bit less, here you have some recommendations for 3 wines that I think could make you happier when you open them back home or you give them as a present:

Some good wine choices to buy at Madrid Airport - Whites (I)

One of the things that I really hate with the security rules after the famous Shoe Bomb incident is the ban on liquids (which BTW if you want my opinion is total BS and just a way to increase sales at the airport and manage the people's fear management) . So I used to buy 6-8 bottles and just curry them with me on my hand luggage. Now I am forced to buy some of them if I can / want to check in my bag or to buy them at the airport

The good news is that at least on Madrid airport at the Aldeasa shops the wine selection is not that bad (probably the biggest complaint is lacking some interesting wine regions as Bierzo, Madrid just to name a few). Let me give you some of my recommendations (Cuatro Rayas, MAr de Fredes and Santiago Ruiz) :

First tips on our new city: 5 restaurants I like in Vilnius (I)

We have been living for now over 3 months in Vilnius so we start having some OK knowledge on restaurant and places, although I am sure this will only improve with time :-)
Being a rather small city (500,000) and not being Eastern Europe among my culinary destinations of choice, I was a bit worried about the range of choices. I have been in the city for consulting or BD work several times, but my experience was reserved to 2 or 3 top restaurants, mostly French. But the city has exceeded my expectations, which is nothing but great.
I am not going to put all contact details (you can find most of them on http://www.balticsworldwide.com/tourist/lithuania/restaurants.htm or trip advisor) but my personal notes on them

Rather late but never too late: a great restaurant in Paris

I should have written this one almost on my first entry. However I never did. Today while organizing some business cards I found their BC and I could not resist any longer :-)
During 2006 and 2007 one of my best friends Juan Villalobos was the CFO of ING Direct in France. He did live in the St. Germain district (on the 6th). Juan is a Cosmopolitan guy but inside him he is a Cuenca (in La Mancha, 2 hours from Madrid and a magical city) born and raised and feels very proud of his origins. So obviously he did know about a Cuenca born chef who also happen to be 5 minutes from his house (the restaurant used to be at 10, rue Saint Julien and has sinced moved to 45 Quai des Grands Augustine, about 10m from its original location) and in my opinion one of the most creative and yes riskiest chefs (in terms of "Gastronomioe Espagnole") that I know. The restaurant name Fogon (formerly Fogon St. Julien)
Another great advantage of going there with Juan is that we did not even bother to order. The Chef Alberto Herráiz (extremely well known and with many different cooking books already published) will come out and suggest the tapas we should try that day. Then gave a choice of different rice dishes and then voila, the result was always amazing
So here the star plate is the Rice. But again this is a risky place :-) so don't come here expecting a normal paella or the ones serve to most of tourist. Alberto plays with many different ingredients (from french influenced by using foie to all types of seafood, Jamon Iberico (ham), meat or vegetables) and many different ways to cook the rice (caldoso, meloso, seco). So throw away your expectations and just get ready to discover new ways to flavor rice. He also follows a similar line with tapas (never too many on the menu, just a selection) and top of my mind is always his inventive gazpacho (Cold soups in different formats). Now I remember a lettuce gazpacho that was as special as different as delicious)
And by the way as a final note he always uses mineral water "Solan de Cabras", from Cuenca, with some old design bottle that it is just great (and this happened much earlier that the fashion industry has discovered this brand)

Fogon (formerly Fogon St. Julien
45 quai des Grands Augustins - 75006 Paris -
(+33) 01 43 54 31 33
fogon@fogon.fr
http://www.fogon.fr/en/index.html

Great discoveries on the Asian restaurant front (Madrid, Spain) - II

The second discovery was even more pleasant.
Oam Thong, in Corazon de Maria 17 (just in front of the back exit of the parking of the Silken Puerta de America, aka you can just park there and enter in the restaurant within one minute)
This is the best thai restaurant in Madrid (Krachai, see below is not far behind) Much better that Thai Gardens, at least in terms of food quality and prices. However it is true that the service was slow (only 3 people serving a rather large dinning room).
The decor is nice, light browns and lovely lights and since the moment you enter the place you know. The food was great. Good amounts (not huge), great taste, had some lovely beef on red curry, a great soup and some entrees that were just delicious. To end up, one of the best ever sticky rice (with Mango ice cream) that I have tried (and I am not a huge fun of dessert, so this is rare for me to say and praise)
Don't know what you are waiting for, next time somebody tells you about not having good Thai restaurants in Madrid, just go there, they will change their opinion forever!!!


And once you enjoy this one you can still try another one :-)
I have been in Restaurante Krachai +34 918 336 556 Calle de Fernando VI 11 (near the house in Chueca) several times. The decor, all in white upstairs and more lounge style downstairs is phenomenal. The restaurant is rather small so make sure you do reserve, specially for dinner on Friday and Saturday. Overall the food is very good but if you are hungry, please share a menu degustacion with your couple, friend and family. For only 30 Eur, you get to sample a very generous amount of different plates that it seem coming in small quantities when you start and you don't know where to stuff the last pieces when you are about to finish. If not the overall menu is large, always with very interesting propositions that will make your choice difficult but always certain you will choose well. Large but not least for an Asian restaurant in Madrid it does have a great wine selection (both Spanish and some interesting non-Spanish wines)

Great discoveries on the Asian restaurant front (Madrid, Spain) - I

As you saw on one of my recent posts, we keep trying and selecting different restaurants on the Asian front in Madrid. Not only that but there is more thai ingridients at my house these days than ever before, so eating curries and similar is becoming a norm, a good one I may say

So lately I did try a couple of restaurants. Nobody has recommended them to us but I read some reviews and I had a good feeling about both.

Fisrt one was Phuket Thai, in calle Atocha 115 (91 3896359) (almost in front of the side entrance of Reina Sofia Museum). On appearance it may remind you of the cheap chinese reataurants that you can find on dozens around the city. Even funnier if you take a closer look you may realize that this restaurant used to be an old meson (typical restaurant castellano) and they have just done the minimal changes on the decor to look a bit Asian. Paper napkins, aka not a fancy restaurant on the Thai Gardens style;. But hey you come here to have a good meal at a good price is that is precisely what you get.
The pad thai is some of the best I have tried in town. Very good Tom Yam (seafood) soup and in general large portions. The "menu de degustacion" seemed interesting and an attractive option if you are not in the mood for thinking that day
3 of us were very happy with the choices although Andrea was not that convinced
Definitively worth the try and quite large so you may be able to get a table late on a Saturday without a reservation

A wine from Baleares (yes from the island): AN2

One of my discoveries last year was to find an amazing wine from Baleares, not your usual wine producer region in Spain (not a usual DO). In general most of the wines made in Mallorca are geared towards the thirsty tourist hordes and do not aspire to excellence.

From the winery Anima Negra, which has been making some of Spain’s top wines since the mid-90s. Anima Negra works mostly with the island indigenous varieties of Callet, Fogoneu, and Mantonegro, blending them (but usually in small quantities) with Cab Sauvignon or Syrah.
Their most famous wine (in terms of retail popularity as they have another wine on the 60Eur range that is produced not every year) is AN 2. I have tried both AN2 2005 and 2007 (this one is the one in most of the shops these days)

IN this case the AN2 has aged 12 months in French & American oak, and I have seen it retailing usually around the 20€ (aka not cheap at all) :-) but still worth it
It has a light but brilliant colour, in a way weaker than usual spanish wines. The smell will surprise you, cherry and mineral notes, original to start. In the mouth it will surprise you. It is both original and complex, quite earthy and with red fruit for sure. It finishes well

It will tell you something and make your food way better that you thought :-)

(Updated) An amazing surprise from Jumilla from a wine shop in Chueca (Madrid) that is doing great things

I was the other day on one of my favorites wine shops in Madrid, a not so old shop in Chueca formerly knows as “La carte des vins” and now Bianco& Rosso in Infantas 18 (within the plaza Vazquez de Mella).

http://11870.com/pro/bianco-rosso

I did buy several bottles to take with me to Vilnius but wanted to take a couple of interesting bottles for lunch with my parents and family

He recommended to me a wine from Jumilla, so knowing it will be a good one clearly qualify for the “interesting” part (until not so long ago Jumilla was know was very cheap wine of very low quality, almost Sangria wine. However several winemakers has risen the bar in the region and have been producing several award winning wines)

The bottle this time was Juan Gil 2005 from the Bodegas of the same name. To start with the label is really elegant and classy. A rare avis on its design on the Spanish label ecosystem

The wine is made from the typical grape in the region Monastrell (Mourvedre) is made from 45 year-old Spanish vines and aged for 12 months in American and French oak.

With a colour that may remind you lots of the Catalan Priorat, dark red, almost black intense/Inky purple color with light oak, black fruit and hints of tea and tobacco on the nose. Full bodied. A bit of blueberry and a long black cherry finish. It is smooth but leaving your mouth as a thick mouthfeel. We had it with a couple of spoon plates (potatoes with mushrooms and beans with rabbit), what a combination.

More amazing even is that the wine usually retails for less than 10 Eur. A definitive buy to surprise always your host

TOP 10 wines 2009 - Value and quality

Recently I have been asked several times about some of my recommendations from down to earth (aka price/quality ration) wines beyond the very well know ones, so here is my 2009 Top 10 list, with no particular raking among them. I have tried to balance whites and red, several regions and different values. Some of these wines are very easy to find, some of them harder :-) but you will love them when you find them
(please notice that you have in many cases dedicated blog entries on some of the wines). Prices are standard prices found on wine stores

Legend - Wine Type – Region – Name – Grape and year - Winery

Under 5 Euros
White – Rueda – Cuatro Rayas – Verdejo 2008 (Agricola Castellana)
Red – Valdepenas – Vina Albali – Tempranillo 2002 (Felix Solis)

Between 5-10 Euros
White– Rueda – Naia – Verdejo 2008 (Bodegas Naia)
Red – Toro – Bajoz Crianza - Tinta de Toro 2005 (Pagos del Rey)
Red – Somontano –Laus Crianza – Merlot / Caubernet Sauvignon 2005 (Bodegas Laus)

Beteween 10-15 Euros
Sparkling (Cava) – Gramona Gran Cuvee de Postre - Xarel-lo, Macabeo y Parellada (Gramona)
Red – Bierzo – Petalos del Bierzo – Mencia 2007 (Descendientes de J. Palacios )
White – Rueda – PR3 – Verdejo 2008 (Prado del Rey)
Red – Toro – Prima – Tinta de Toro 2006 (Familia Mariano Garcia)
White – Segovia (Castilla y Leon, Vinos de Castilla) – Ossian – Verdejo 2007 (Aalto)

Some great oriental restaurants in Madrid

Madrid just used to have very little good oriental restaurants until not long ago. Apart from 3 / 4 top luxury japanese or chinese restaurants (Robata, Thai Gardens, Tse Yang (at Villa Magna)), there were very little quality around the 25/35 Eur range. However many more restaurants have appeared in the last decade and some of them are more than worth a try

Cafe Saigon, Maria de Molina 4 (corner with Castellana) - Reservations 91 563 1566
Probably the better know out of this pack (and now has some other restaurants from the Group in Madrid and other cities (San Sebastian's Maria Cristina Hotel has one) . Usually very busy in the weekends (impossible to get a table without a reservation, having 2 serving shifts), but you will get easily get a table during the week although it is always lively. The decoration is superb (which is even more surprising as there are on the bottom of a office building), high ceilings, very good service and good food. They have good combo menus but the "a la carta menu" is also good. Has one of the best noodle soups in town, called "Sopa de arroz Vietnamita" (which could also be a main), very good green salad with duck, great noodles (3-4 types nromally) and good fish and seafood plates, among other things

A recent discovery and not very well know is Asia Xang
+34 914 134 920 Paseo de los Cerezos 2. Very closed to the corner of Ramon y Cajal with Alfonso XII, on a very quite area, very easy to park on the street (a plus on a busy weekend in Madrid) and with an amazing terrace in the summer (just by the street, quiet and relaxing and always great temperature at night) but the inside of the place is also nice and well decorated. I have never had a problem finding space but could be quite busy on the weekeds. It has a number of combo menus, ranging between combining chinese and thai to a more japanose one. Decent sushi, great dim sum (probably the best I have had in Madrid), great squid and St Jacques grilled with a light soi sauce, good teppanyaki de solomillo y el "maki california". Service is always friendly and you can eat for 30 Eur a piece, even cheaper if you try,
Definetly you should give it a try

Others worth a try could be

China Crown, Calle de la Infanta Mercedes 62 28020 Madrid - 91 572 14 64
A bit more expensive than the others, around 40 Eur, but good food, and always a nice atmosphere and a bit different plates than the usual ones

Don Lay, Paseo de Extremadura 30+34 914 634 546

A wear looking restaurant (as it was an old meson castellano in which they have basically change nothing but the name), it does serve a great sunday Dim Sum. My cousin whom is Taiwanese always takes us there. That is a good recommendation for sure