If there is something that a cheese lover may dream of on March 27, World Cheese Day, it is for a renowned chef to prepare an exclusive menu in which this product is the absolute protagonist.
It is the experience that chef Rodrigo de La Calle is about to launch in his restaurants in Madrid and Barcelona – El Invernadero and Virens, respectively – after being challenged by Quesos de Suiza to reinterpret some of his most iconic dishes with some of the cheeses The firm’s most famous artisans: La Gruyeré AOP Reserva, Emmentaler AOP, Appenzeller Extra and Teté de Moine AO.
Faithful defender of sustainability, seasonal products and green cooking; De la Calle acknowledges that devising these menus has not required much effort, since cheese is a vital product in his kitchen, which does not use many other proteins of animal origin.
In Madrid’s El Invernadero (Ponzano, 85), for example, the menu that the chef has created begins with a lycopene bread with EVOO and continues with a beetroot tartare, pickled turnip, a Le Gruyéré AOP Reserva fritter, bimi sprouts with kimchi and Apellenzeller Extra, textures of corn and cauliflower with carrot. The experience continues with more substantial dishes, including artichokes (De La Calle’s favorite vegetable) fried with truffle beurre blanc or socarrat rice with teardrop peas. This menu can be tasted exclusively only from March 28 to 31 and costs 165 euros without pairing.
In Barcelona’s Virens, the restaurant of the Almanac hotel (Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 619, 621), the thematic menu devised by De La Calle begins with dishes such as slices of pickled turnip with spices, beetroot tartare, kimchi dumpling with lLe Gruyère aop reserva, green tea bread with EVOO butter and salad of roasted crystal red peppers, trout roe and fresh leaves. It will cost 95 euros and will be offered only from March 26 to 31.
