- There’s nowhere quite like Restaurante Gamberro (the ‘home’ of chef Franchesko Vera and front-of-house manager Flor García).
- The new (and some very fleeting) summer dishes are now featured on their exclusive 17-course menu (80 euros).
- Among the offerings are their courgette flower disguised as a dumpling, Pyrenean trout, mole maño (due to be launched shortly) and the ‘no croûte’ pâté made with (plenty of) Ternasco de Aragón lamb.
- A showcase of this unclassifiable and exquisite haute cuisine.
Summer has arrived, even if the calendar is reluctant to admit it. And with plenty of heat and sunshine, the very best of the vegetable patch and the larder—both local and from further afield—is also in full bloom. Franchesko Vera, the culinary soul of Restaurante Gamberro (Zaragoza, 1 Repsol Sun and recommended in the Michelin Guide), remains committed to seasonal produce and the most personal form of creative cuisine in the Aragonese region. His set menu (remember, there’s no à la carte here), comprising 17 courses (80 euros) takes on a summery feel, welcoming the fine weather with creations of ever-increasing calibre and maturity, always bearing his personal touch and that elegance with a hint of irreverence. Of course, the season calls the shots, so many of the dishes will disappear quickly, to be replaced by other creations.
Osmosis, a flower dumpling
One of the new dishes on the summer menu is ‘cherry tomatoes, tomato, kimchi and elderflower’, a dish that exudes summer from every angle. To prepare it, the cherry tomatoes are blanched and left to osmotise in cherry and elderflower water for 24 hours. It is served with cherry kimchi ice cream and a house-made oxidised tomato tea. A super-fresh, fruity and floral dish of which the team is extremely proud. Like the asparagus shoots, a fleeting summer delicacy, which are sautéed in brown butter on a bed of ‘Agua de Valencia’ gelée and a hollandaise sauce with foamed Japanese plum liqueur, orange biscuit and a Japanese fritter filled with asparagus vichyssoise, candied egg yolk and orange.
One of the most delicious and fleeting dishes is the ‘courgette flower as a dumpling’. This delicate bite-sized treat is filled with prawn and steamed Teruel pork, just like a classic dumpling, and seasoned with a soya sauce made from prawn garum and the garum made in-house at Gamberro, which requires four months of fermentation. To round it off, a green curry—made from the chlorophyll in the courgettes—is added, along with pickled courgette dusted with prawn breadcrumbs.
Another of Franchesko’s summer dishes is a traditional ajoblanco combined with smoked eel, almonds, borage shoots and stems, and a topping inspired by the Japanese yuzukoshō sauce (with chilli and yuzu), but which incorporates, instead, vanilla and lemon.
Floral trout and a very Aragonese-style pâté not en croûte
At Gamberro, where Aragonese heritage is celebrated (and fish is handled with great mastery), Pyrenean trout is a must. It is cured in two brines (one solid and one liquid), sliced thinly, served with edamame, and the whole dish is crowned with herbs, flowers and trout roe on a bed of green olive aguachile. As an exceptional finishing touch, it is finished in the dining room with black olive nitro foam.
Another delightful treat is their non-croûte version of the pâté. Franchesko, the official ambassador for offal under the Aragón Ternasco PGI, follows the trend for pâtés en croûte in his own way, but, being the ‘rebellious’ sort that he is, he dispenses with the pastry to complicate the process and create an exquisite pâté made from a wide variety of lamb cuts (prime cuts and offal) alongside a small percentage of Iberian pork fat. It is served warm, with homemade pickles and fermented vegetables, and a dusting of oil infused with native herbs. At the table, it is finished with a heavily reduced lamb jus for an extra burst of flavour.
Iberian ‘presa rola’ and ‘mole maño’
Another dish set to make a splash this summer is the Iberian ‘presa’ with a Colombian soul. This dish was born out of the nostalgia of one of the chefs, the Colombian Hildebrando, a proud ‘rolo’ (from Bogotá). To prepare it, the meat is matured in its own fat, braised and served with a highly original arepa prepared like gnocchi, with chontaduro, palm heart gel and pork ear crackling cooked on the slimmer griddle. It is drizzled with a reduction of pork jus, yellow chilli and a dash of lime for acidity.
There’s also a distinctly Latin influence on his Aragonese mole, a personal take on the Mexican stew due to be launched soon, which features various types of duck—such as the mudéjar and the mallard—along with fermented peaches and charcoal-grilled peaches, served with a creamy dairy sauce to temper the intensity.
Sweet new additions
Among the new desserts, the curd made from goat’s kefir from La Pardina cheese dairy stands out, as eye-catching as it is delicious. To create it, Fran and his team prepare a goat’s milk dulce de leche to sweeten passion fruit and a goat-shaped biscuit (with a coat of candyfloss) containing matured cheese in the dough. Also making its debut is a new flavour of their famous artisan mini-chocolates; this time, a Peruvian cocoa with a deliciously umami flavour, smoked with chipotle, and shaped like a skull.
And, by popular demand, Gamberro’s most iconic summer dessert is back: the asparagus, lemon and mint, a curious pie shaped like an asparagus, accompanied by plant-based ice cream with mint oil.
Not without my classics
The menu must, of course, include Gamberro Restaurant’s famous starters, most of which are absolute must-haves: the Thai garlic prawn croquette, the Air Pizza, the Guardia Civil (a take on the most famous sandwich from Aragon), the mussel olive… all of which make for the perfect start.
About GAMBERRO
Restaurante Gamberro (1 Repsol Sun and recommended in the Michelin Guide) is a restaurant with plenty of character in Zaragoza which, after eleven years of steady growth, has become a benchmark for the finest creative cuisine not only in Aragon, but also in Spain. Restaurante Gamberro is the personal project of Franchesko Vera (chef) and Flor García (front of house), a perfect professional and romantic partnership. Together, they have turned their restaurant in the centre of Zaragoza into a place of pilgrimage for lovers of fine dining. Their secret? A highly personal approach to cooking that takes the form of a unique 17-course menu (80 euros), with many of the dishes coming and going frequently, out of respect for the seasons. Their cuisine is centred on ingredients, technique and concept. Together with her team, Vera applies these principles in a contemporary way, whilst never forgetting the origins of each ingredient. All this is done with a distinctively personal style, characterised by a fondness for Aragonese recipes and ingredients, a taste for fusion with Asian and Latin American cuisines, great elegance and a touch of humour.
Source: FABRA Comunicación