Little wine route in Rueda (Noia, Prado Rey and more) - I

Our wine fridge was getting quite empty and being Rueda just 90 minutes away from Madrid and with the lovely days of September, we did a small road trip to fill the white wine gaps for the family

We decided to try different things, so we went to a vinyard, went to another vinyard that has expanded into a restaurant and shop and also to visit a large shop in Rueda that carries many wines

First we went to Bodegas Naia. Naia 2007 and 2008 have been some of my favourites whites in Spain in the past years. Although we are in the middle of the harvest so it was difficult to even buy the wine there today, I had an interesting chat with one of the staff members around the several wines that they produce, their distribution (Naia is actually fairly well known in the US and it is well distributed there) and other challenges. Also as usual I did chat about why we keep not investing in Spain on creating an experience around wine and the vinyards where you can go, taste wine, have food, visit the winery and more. The wasn´t an answer around this topic although Cristina (from Naia) have been in New Zealand and was talking about how interesting it was to see this concept in action.

This lead us to Prado Rey Winery which has recently open a restaurant (Colores de Rueda), a very nice shop and does tours of the cellars, so yes the full experience. The shop was beautiful, personnel was knowledgable and I did like the presentation of the products. However it wasn´t that easy to do a wine tasting and only after we ate at the restaurant we got to try on eof their wines.
Prado Rey Verdejo 2008 This wine, with appealing greenish tones, features varietal aromas from Verdejo on a complex background and exotic fruit with aniseed hints. It gives an sunctuous, fleshy, fat impression in the mouth with a very pleasant aftertaste. It dies too early into the mouth, which is in the other hand very common on young verdejos. A likable wine that goes easy with fish and seafood. A decent alternative for an Albariño

They are also making a combination Prado Rey Birlocho. A very good priced wine for 3,5 Eur that combines the Verdejo grapes (similar as the 2008 Verdejo) with Viura. Did not have the chance to try it but bought a couple of bottles to do so soon

The restaurant "Colores de rueda" was actually very nice, rich cuisine, good choices (including a very good fresh fish selection which being Rueda deep Castille is always remarkable). The service was efficient and we did enjoy the meal and we tried some of their wines. I will stop here more often but they should try to do some menus where they combine their wines (or at least make wine combination suggestions) with some specific plates

In terms of their wines, as most of the wineries Prado Rey Winery is developing a high end version of their classic verdejo wine. The same was the case at Naia (with the Naiades). This type of wine is staying for 9 months (instead of 4 months as the other Verdejo varieties) in the barrels, creating richer and more complex wine flavours. In the case of Prado Rey PR3. Using 3 types of different central european barrels. The yellow colour is stronger in a way greenish, very fresh and brilliant. I could smell some toffee and some fruits (peach maybe) que fermentan en tres tipos de barrica centroeuropea de 300 litros. Es de color amarillo pajizo tirando a verdoso, limpio y brillante.
Tiene una gran nariz, en primer termino salen tostados muy finos y minerales, algo de salinidad como a mar, luego salen frutas tropicales y frutas de hueso ( melocoton,albaricoque). En boca tiene buena acidez, te llena la boca, es glicerico, espeso, balsamico, con un final seco y algo amargo, pero muy agradable.
Me ha gustado.

Enjoying a good rice place in Denia (Alicante), Spain

I have had the chance to spend a good number in Denia in Alicante, about 4 hours drive from Madrid. I am not a huge beach guy but I like Denia and its sorroundings (specially the Mongo mountain, always changing always different depending on the angle and place you look at it

Apart from that, the food is excellent and there are tons of great places and not very expensive ones to enjoy the fish but specially to enjoy the regional speciality RICE!!! And not just paella which may what many people from outside Spain knows but many other ways to cook it like

- Arroz Negro (Black rice, aka rice with calamari and calamari ink)
- Arroz a banda (First you cook the broth with fish, once you have it you clear the fish and you just cook the rice on the broth with shrimp and calamari and you serve dry and with Ali Ali (let´s say like a garlic mayonaise), hmmmm
- Arroces caldosos (rice with broth, almost soupy)
- Fideuas (cooked similarly with with small noodles instead of rice)

So here you have a couple of recommendations for places, both of them already in the road "carretera de las marinas a denia", both almost by the beach in Las Marinas

Restaurante Jamse
C/ Passarell 3
03700 Denia
965 783 506

Nice and simple outdoor covered terrace, paper cloth and napkins and plastic table and chairs, but you come here for the food. Good service and in 2 years I always see the same waiters, always a good sign. when you reserve over the phone (and you must or you will never eat here and in season it is always full) they ask you for the rice you want and when you want it. So if you reserve for let´s say 15, you go there 1430, order some starters (try the tellinas, really small clams cooked with butter and lemon, or/and sepia or chopitos (different calamari/ squid) and then by 15 the rice comes in a big pan ready to be served. You will left full so take it with time and enjoy,
We love the arroz a banda here and once we try to fideua (which was different than the typical one having the noodles much thicker ones)
You will eat for 25 Eur per peson (maybe 30 if you order dessert)

Restaurant L´Estanyo
Llac Sanabria, 6A.
Tel.: 96 647 42 42 (Denia)

The setting of this restaurant is a bit more scenic as Jamse as it is by the beach and you can see the sea by some of the tables and it has a truly outdoor area. As Jamse, you wont eat here without a reservation. Tables are a bit more set up and less plastic and also good service (although sometimes the noise in the room maybe not allow you waiter to even hear you)

Apart from some of the starters already mentioned, we love here the escombro, which is actually very deep fried calamary, really amazing
Here we usually go for the arroz caldoso (the soupy one). I really like the one with crayfish. Also the arroz a banda here is really good
At night this is also a good spot for a drink and a tapa if you don´t feel like dining

Enjoy and let me know next time you are around Denia

Around Zamora and the border with Portugal (I)

We had the chance to spend a couple of days between Zamora and the border with Portugal recently and we come across different places that could make an excellent short weekend trip to do some sports, enjoy nature, relax and obviously eat and drink well, so here we are

We started stopping for lunch in Zamora. I had some other restaurant in mind (El Mirador) but it seemed it was closed. So taking a look at other choices I come across an interesting proposition called “Villa Claudia”
It is not the easiest place to find (not even with the GPS) so before you go there just check on google maps or some other map how to get there. But it is worth it

Villa Claudia
Ctra. Almaraz,
Carretera Almaraz, Km 1. 49027 Zamora.
Teléfonos 980 52 99 96 / 658 99 31 38
http://www.villaclaudia.org/

The building is al old farm, quite large although the dining room seems small and a bit dark; probably quite cozy in the winter. Very nice prepared tables, simple but elegant. Nice and attentive service

Menu is not too large, but it can cater to all gastronomical moods. More oriented towards salads and sharing entrees in the summer and lots and interesting looking spoon plates (”Pucheros y Cazuelas”) for the winter (Cocido (garbanzo pie stew with pork and beef), fabes con almejas (been with clams) and different rice types))

The salads we shared were nice, fresh and interesting combination of flavours, although we went for the classic ventresca (tuna) salad with peppers and lettuce (Ensalada de ventresca con cogollos de Tudela y pimientos
Asados). We also tried a very nice and compensated carpaccio de pulpo (octopus carpaccio). Even if most of the spoon plates are the winter there was still a small but still yummy summer election. I went for the Morcillitos de Ibérico con setas y hongos (pork leg with mushrooms), really good, the meet was very soft and it was almost melt in your mouth and very smooth flavor with the mushroom taste. Having said that, hope you are hungry when ordering the plate ☺

Don´t know why we did not feel like wine so we went for Sangria (it was not in the menu but they did one for us. Really strong and nice taste), but the selection of Toro region wine was really large and it is worth to mention it as this region is producing great wines in the last years

Will think about repeating the visit next time in Zamora although this time we should good in the winter and try the stew

A great restaurant in Avila: El Almacen

On my way up to Oviedo (Asturias) with a couple of friends from the US, I wanted to stop in one of our favourite historical cities within one hour of Madrid (Toledo, Alcala de Henares, Segovia, Avila) for lunch and enjoy some nice food and views. At the end I decided to stop in Avlila and I did look for restaurant choosing at the end to stop at El Almacen

El Almacen
Carretera Salamanca 6
05002 Avila
920 211 026

To start with the location is great, just at in front of the Muralla de Avila (the medieval wall from the XIII century), right after the “Cuatro Postes” (Four postes) monument in the old cross roads in Avila and the roads to Salamanca and the Barco de Avila (N110 Avila – Toledo)
The restaurant just went under a large renovation recently and the result is excellent. One of the sides of the main room the restaurant is all windows which allows you to eat while enjoying the amazing view of the walls and the latest addition of the new festivals building of Avila
The style of the room is modern and tries to avoid a bit the typical castillian meson style while still providing you with a very cozy and although the entire restaurant does allow smoking (which is usually a NO NO for us) at least the distance between the tables is very large and allows you to enjoy your meal with no thinking of the smoke bothering you. However I have read that as they also allow to smoke cigars sometimes you may not be able to really enjoy your meal. Being such a nice restaurant and having 2 very different rooms in the restaurant it is difficult to imagine we they have not taken care of this
The menu is large and offer different ways to add modernity to traditional plates. We love the nidos de morcilla (pig blood nests with small rice noodles), see how he plays with the idea of the “morcilla de arroz” but combining the rice outside the morcilla and with a red pepper souce (although I may admit I have read some other blogs and people did not enjoy them as much as we did) to cold soups for the summer (tomato cold soup) and great spoon plates in the winter. Very well presented all of them and ideal both for sharing a couple of them or enjoy one of them yourself
For the main we did focus mostly on the meet and choose different combinations of Solomillos de ternera or Lomos de Cerdo (beef or pork), apart from the typical but always great ways to cook the lamb and small pig that is done so well in Avila and Segovia, like the cordero and the cochinillo. The Solomillo is offered perfectly cook, with great meet quality and very well done sauces as a blue cheese (excellent!!) one or a sauce of uvas y vino blanco (Grapes and white wine). The lomo was done with a suca eof foie and hongos (mushrooms), equally good. If you don´t fancy meat, there is always a choice of at least 5-7 fresh fish plates. We did try the Atun Rojo (Red Tuna fish) and it was really excellent
The selection of desserts is also really good but please note that you have to choose them at the beginning, as some of them take some time to be prepared. While the chocolate fondue was OK, the emborrachado de almendra (Almond Drunk cake), was an amazing way to combine almost paste (marzapan style more or less) with cold and hot. Really superb
We did choose the wine house, price at 10 Eur. Artazuri, 2005 Navarra. Great wine, with the right level of complexity, smooth, a bit of red berries and apple, and it did complement the excellent meal (both meat and tuna). Overall the wine menu was very good and well priced
For a price of 40-50 eur each, I believe it is really a great culinary experience that combines with the amazing s

Some tips on MiIano

I am very far from being considered a connoisseur of Milano, but I have been in the city several times in the past years (my first trips there were when I was working at Vodafone and I have among others the opportunity to go to watch the F1 Monza) and I have several places that it may be useful if you are just looking for a good restaurant, a chill out place, a decently price but good value for money hotel (this is rare in Italy!!!!) or some more

First at all let me recommend the Sheraton Diana Majestic. The hotel is just fantastic overall but you don't even need to stay there (as prices are Sheraton prices in Italy, so easily 300 Eur a night so unless your company pays for it probably not your option) to enjoy the best of the hotel which is its outdoors bar. A cool and large garden, dressed up as a night club where it is just great to spend time listening to music, talking to friends and enjoying your drink

For a great place to eat on a sunny day and hot day, something like an oasis either for food or a drink I really recommend 10 Corso Como Cafe, in the trendy (although almost at the outskirts of the city) and full of restaurants Via Corso Como. The place is located in the inner courtyard of a traditional milanese palazzo and it surprises you as you enter the courtyard because for a moment you think you got the wrong place (as you are thinking about a trendy place). But once you get into the courtyard the place is just great. There is a gallery and a bookshop; there is a design store and a restaurantand a café and an amazing courtyard garden (it seems there is also a 3 rooms hotel). I did not have the chance to taste many things but the cold mango soup (or gazpacho de mango) was just great.
www.10corsocomo.com

Milano is full of restaurants and many of them I am sure are great. In fact when we come here with Vodafone, the company organized an amazing weekend and we have 2 just memorable dinners. However it was almost 4 years ago and I don't remember the names of the restaurants. But I can recommend a small place, probably a place that you may not even take notice on a normal day and even I felt a bit expensive for what it was but I had such an amazing plate there (my mouth is still watering just to think about it) that I need to mention this restaurant. I also did like the service and the look of the place. Also as it is near station centrale and somehow near some nice hotels in the area. And I have read that it opens 365 days a year, from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. The name of the place is Hosteria Tipica La Cadrega
Via Generale Gustavo Fara, 1 - 20124 Milano (MI), Italy +39 02 6738 2931
www.hosterialacadrega.it

I started with some octopus on a wine like souce. It was really nice and got me ready for what it was coming. I was obviously looking at the homemade pasta and I decided to try the Macheroncini with ragout beef souce. What a choice. The pasta was just perfect, the sauce was kind of a curry sauce with small pieces of beef, each time it reached my mouth I was just shaking. Great great great :-)

Last but not least I had a last recommendation. Hotel Windsor Milano, Galileo Galilei 2
www.hotelwindsormilan.com
I did pick up a hotel that was near the train stations in order to get to the Malpensa Express quickly. I was type of afraid of the choice by looking at the website. It looked like the typical hotel, overpriced, old and in bad shape. The hotel from the outside did nothing to convince me otherwise. But I had a positive surprise. The corridors were nice and spacious, clean and shiny. The room was big, in great condition, good bed, great bathroom, free internet in the room (and fairly fast). And it was a 100 Eur a night hotel. A good recommendation if you are just passing by and will just have to do some work and to sleep in the room.

The forgotten pleasure of staying at a real 5 star hotel

I used to spend lots of time in 5 star hotels when I was working as a consultant and having engagements in Brazil, India, Portugal, etc.. I remember having stayed in amazing hotels as the Marriott at Copacabana, Oberoi in Delhi, Janelas Verdes in Lisbon, to name a few. But obviously after being a consultant and then a Telecom Executive I did become an entrepreneur. Even if I travel lots and lots and I do stay at nice hotels but not usually at really nice hotels.
Last week as we did travel together with a mission from the Spanish Foreign trade institute and we were put in the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo. WOW I have forgotten the pleasure of staying at such hotels. It is not about the room or the location, as this may sometimes be as good as the places I do stay these days. It was about the little details. It was about the packaging of the shirt they bring you from the dry cleaning, about then bringing you pineapple slices on the pool, about the team at the entrance getting you a taxi, explaining them were to go precisely, taking their license plate and making sure the air con was working, etc... I would never try to make the value equation work if those extra touches make up for the huge price you would normally pay but I can say that while you are there you are transported to a different world and that world is an oasis on its own and when we live at the speed we do, that oasis is sometimes all you need at that particular moment

If you are in Cairo and you have the chance to be at the Four Seasons The First Residence please do stay (BTW their Thai restaurant is excellent and really good value for money, I truly recommend it)

An amazing restaurant in Salamanca where you will not imagine, A gas station on an industrial park!!!

wowwww, this is all I have to say!! Just kidding but what can I say after what we experienced in Salamanca. We had a meeting with our (mmCHANNEL´s) strategic partner Unkasoft in Salamanca where we have been before several times. Last time we did eat at the Hotel Montalvo, within the industrial park with the same name. We have a very good "menu del dia" deal so no complaints. However Hugo Lanchares did promise that next time we will have a very nice lunch and I know he is a person who does enjoy food and wine
So last week when Tony told us to folllow him and we parked outside a gas station (Repsol) within the industrial park (just 5 minutes from Unkasoft headquarters) I was a bit surprised. We did enter through the gas station (whom for those who don´t know are nothing very fancy to say the least) and come up through the stairs and then we open the door. Surprise surprise :-)

An amazing and well decorated room, modern, clean, well designed. With a room for kids to play and very spacious. Shelves with books (on cooking, salamanca region, restaurants of Spain,..). On the table every details was perfectly designed (cutlery, colours (combining browns, whites and blacks), very original chargers (stone ones) and make you feel in front of a delightful experience to come
the food was excellent. Carlos (the chef) prepared a menu for us, that being very well priced, had an aperitive, 2 entrees, main (choice of meat or fish) and 2 desserts. Everything was great. Plates where very well decorated and presented, original combination of flavours and forms (squid cut like corn pieces on a cookie base with ink and pesto, caneloni of ox tail ("rabo de toro"), salmon hamburger (I can´t wait to try to cook the recipe at home)
Carlos did come at the end of the lunch and chat with us which just added that little detail to finished up an amazing experience we had at his restaurant. The bill arrived and we could just think on when we will be coming back

Carlos Barco Restaurante
Poligono industrial Montalvo III C/ Segunda N. 9 (Encima de la gasolinera repsol)
Carbajosa de la Sagrada (Salamanca)37188
Phone number: + 34 923197884
SPAIN


Link to Carlos Barco restaurant web site

Link to a blogger from Salamanca with lots of details on Carlos and his restaurant

Spain cathedrals

I was with Andrea in Salamanca and looking at the amazing cathedral there she asked me is Salamanca one of the most impressive cathedrals in Spain? How would you rate it?

That make me thing for a while about how will I classify the amazing cathedrals in Spain (which I believe I have had the opportunity to see many of them if not all)
So obviously this is my ranking which I am sure many of you will have a different one or a very different one, however I hope it helps those looking for some guidance

Tier 1 - The most beautiful, well known or just the "standards"
Leon, Burgos, Seville and Santiago

Tier 2 - Well known, tons of admirers and for many tier 1 in many cases
Salamanca (old and new), Oviedo, Toledo, Zaragoza, Palma de Mallorca

Tier 3 - Interesting, different, lesser known but fascinating anyhow -
Segovia, Cuenca, Zamora, Avila, Barcelona, Palencia, Malaga, Cordoba

Tier 4 - Not in the capitals but as beautiful and special
Jaca, Santo Domingo de Silos, Astorga, Burgo de Osma, Siguenza

A couple of hotels in Istanbul

during the past 24 months I have always stayed in 2 hotels. One of them now owes my heart but both are really good

First one is Marmara Pera Hotel, near the always fun and busy Istiklal street with tons of nice places to spends time at (live music, food, drinks) as you may have read on my previous posts. The hotel on its own is really different, being circular all rooms have street view and the furniture does try to be a bit vintage. The breakfast room is large and the food complete and the prices are right. It is not noisy and the beds are nice (although it is almost impossible to get a queen bed). On top of this you have the great restaurant at the top, with some of the best views and drinks and a superb location and you have a very good buy (prices are around 120-150 Eur per night)
However I wanted to find a more unique place for my upcoming stays

So I try the Sofa Hotel in the Nicantasi area, the coolest area in Istanbul, packed with trendy bars and glamorous shops.

This is one of the best places I have stayed in my life, and I can tell you I have been in many places. The place is special and unique. Great service, the guys at the reception really mean well, the room is just spectacular, great bed, silent, the space seems created to spend time there. The bathroom is just an experience on its own. Gigantic shower (you can stay there for an hour), bath products from L'Occitane, superb bath rope
Then a Chaise Lounge where you can read for a while after coming back from work. And the room is equipped with a DVD player, music stereo and more
They always leave a fruit basket at your arrival to the room that can serve as a snack for your stay, they leave little orange/chocolate treats every night, what else can you say

Apart from the cafe area (where there is a nice book shop and very good sofa where I do work for a long time and the ice coffee is great), there is one of the trendiest bars in Istambul called Longtable

Haven´t have the time or budget to try the Spa yet but I am sure it is a great place

Just a few small details to improve: Breakfast is nice (although at 22 Eur I usually just go down the street to the House Cafe) and the concierge is probably where they can improve (they don´t seem to be on top of their game but improving). Then WIFI should be available in all rooms and for free in a hotel catering to travellers like me (at the end I spend up to 4 hours in the cafe area where WIFI is free and good but I will prefer to do this at my room specially on the after dinner work time)

The room price at 140-150 Eur is a superb price for a place that can compete with any 5 star hotel around the world

I do believe the Sofa leaves up to their new mission "A personalized experience" and I always look forward to be back here

Istanbul II: drinks, tapas, an amazing dinner and more drinks in Pera

Pera is a great neigborhood near Taksim but it seems very local and it is one of the key nightlife spots for young (and no so young turks)
But before nightlife there are a lots of things you can make happen in the neighborhood
If you want to snack a bit and have some Raki (fresh grapes drink mixed with water and ice that Turkish drink all the time specially in the summer and that I love) go to Pera and get lost of the streets behind the Marmara Pera hotel in the Pera neighborhood where any of those places with tables outside serve great Turkish tapas and drinks. It is also a great place to go out at night and have drinks and listen to live music.
Here in this neighborhood is also Babylon, a multi-purpose performance space/club, is the trend-setting live music venue of Istanbul. Lots of jazz, blues and interesting performances. Check www.babylon-ist.com for the dayle live music performances

For a good dinner (but really really expensive for Istanbul prices) and even better drinks with probably the best view of the city go to the restaurant at the top of the Marmara Pera Hotel, Mikla. Very posh and the food is served well but in small plates and you probably won´t be full and your wallet empty. However I do think their cuisine is good and some of the fish plates just superb. But if you are not in the mood to spend that type of money (around 90 Eur for dinner) then just go there for a drink. The bar is great in the winter and if cold you can just watch the view from the inside. In the summer the views become superlative, you can go upstairs to the outdoors terrace (where the pool just complements the ambiance) and sip very well done Mojitos while watching one of the best views you will have in your life
http://miklarestaurant.com/