ANDALUCÍA - CÁDIZ - EL PUERTO DE SANT MARÍA - APONIENTE - VISIT 2

Oct 17, 2019
2 min read

APONIENTE Three Michelin Stars

We returned to Angel León’s restaurant, renowned for its seafood cuisine sourced exclusively from the ocean. Our previous visit was to its former location in the centre of El Puerto de Santa María, which has since transformed into a more upscale tapas bar and restaurant.

The new, far more glamorous place is just outside town, in what was an old flour mill, built in 1815. A small river/stream flows under the current building, and the energy generated was used to grind the wheat into flour.

There are two tasting menus that the army of chefs is preparing.

Calm Sea at €195 with wine tasting €80 Groundswell at €225 with wine tasting €100

We chose the calm sea and started with

Appetisers

Croquetas de langostino (langoustine croquettes)

Caviar

Tortillitas de camarones (Aponiente’s version of the famous shrimp fritters commonly found in Cádiz province)

Percebes (Goose barnacles)

Percebes after we had finished eating them.

Hueva de lisa (a fantastic mullet roe caramel flan)

Roca de plancton, wasabi

Ostra (Sliced oysters with crouton and lumlight fish)

Tapaculo (Spotted flounder marinière, the marinière sauce is made with flour, caviar butter and white wine)

Hot salt water is poured over the flounder to cook it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmZadieW3u4

Once cooked, it is then returned to the table with the marinière sauce.

Plankton butter brioche

Puntillas (baby cuttlefish stewed in their own ink with vegetables and dried baby squid)

Morena, tomaso (moray eel), onion, asparagus of the sea, and butterfish (the fish is made to resemble a chicken breast). The eel tasted just like fantastic pork crackling!

Dessert

Grapefruit in green and red pepper vinaigrette sauce (the most tart dessert ever).

Chocolate Top Left - Chocolate and Coffee Top right - White chocolate, salt and olive oil Middle - Chocolate and Jerez wine Bottom - Salty biscuit and brown sugar

We had various wines, including

Lustau Fino de Rama Yoda (Ángel León)

Tintilla de Rota 2003 (This is one of the rarest wines in the Lustau portfolio)

Desvelao (The wine is a revelation, being the first dry Moscatel grown in albariza.

Quinta da Muradella Crianza Oxidativa 2009 (This was Miguel, the sommelier’s, favourite wine from Galicia, but it is not Albariño; rather, it is the lesser-known Dona Blanca).

Exceptional service in a stunning environment, definitely worth visiting for those who appreciate top-tier gastronomy.

Chef del Mar, Ángel León, is a true gastronomic visionary. His technical ability, creativity, and deep connection with the sea have propelled his cooking into uncharted territory.