Galicia’s forge

«A new generation of cocineros has born, Galician food has boarded the train of contemporary cuisine», smiles Pep Palau, director of the Fórum Gastronómico, a congress that has just ended in La Coruña. Gastronomist Philippe Regol was walking around, after historicising the kitchen evolution of this extreme North-Western part of the Iberian peninsula with these words: «Modern cuisine took a while to take off here, paradoxically this was due to the excellent quality of the raw materials. Today, the dichotomy between tradition and modernity has vanished».

Vanished, or better still, it has been bypassed: tradition is strong, but is re-interpreted with some new techniques. Only few, however, slip moorings and venture, with determination, in the dangerous seas of creativity, those devoted to which need to walk towards Santiago de Compostela for the best possible taste pilgrimage, offered by Marcelo Tejedor, the “father” of every new Galician inspiration, today with the new bistronomic version of Casa Marcelo, halting fixed tasting menus and opening to informal counters. Or there’s Iago Castrillón, born in 1979, awarded with the Cocinero Revelación prize at Madrid Fusión 2013 with his Acio. However, we will write about tasty Santiago in a separate piece: for now, let’s deal with the rest of Galicia.

The fact that it is possible to witness a generational transition is shown at the Fórum itself, which has nominated 25-year-old Diego López – from restaurant La Molinera in Lalín, a small village between Santiago and Ourense - chef of the year. This is a good place: if you have the chance – as the author of this piece did – try to taste the cocido gallego, a pork celebration with a quality as high as the heaviness of the dish. How about the creativity? It’s not in the menu but is only dished out when reserved.

However, thinking of a too slow evolution would be a mistake. The guys from Grupo Nove, 21 chefs (a total of 8 Michelin stars) are urging as the follow avantgarde. They were nine, to begin with, in 2003, under the direction of Tejedor, who left this association last year: today, their point of reference is Pepe Solla, who, with an elegant style (imparted on the dishes) from his Casa Solla moves his disciples adelante con juicio (forward with judgement). Among them, there’s López himself and Javier Olleros, born in 1974 and with an experience at Berasategui. He’s making himself noticed: “restaurant revelation” award at Madrid Fusión 2010, last year he played a duet at Gastronómika together with Rafa Peña, the Barcelonan soul of Gresca. His Culler de Pau is located in O Grove, on the Rías Baixas, the western part of the Galician coast: of a high quality lunch we recall the Scallops with leek and corn and wood sorrel mayonnaise, as well as the Seabass with mushrooms, egg yolk with lemon, celeriac and vinaigrette with young garlic: mellow, almost “easy”.

In La Coruña a good group of restaurateurs with a moderate creativity is overshadowed by starred chef Luis Veira with his Árbore da Veira, who plays with techniques and pays particular attention to the aesthetics in his dishes, adding that extra oomph. We have also enjoyed La Coruña’s bistronomic alternative, that is to say Culuca, of chef Chisco de Llano, the upholder of a “high informal cuisine”; his Tomato confit with San Simón cheese mousse and the Lime cheesecake were both good.

The latter is a dessert: these are not the only high quality desserts in the area. Pastry shop Fina Rei, in the village of Allariz (though it has two branches) is famous for its almond specialties, such as the Almendrado, or the A Tentación de Eva cake. Going back to La Coruña, close to the airport, the multi-awarded Ariel Mendizábal, the youngest maître chocolatier in Spain, runs his Confitería Doriel with creativity. Another few kilometres and, in Betanzos, you can find what many people consider the best tortillas: at A Casilla or at Mesón O Pote.