Outside the big cities, the gastronomic focus tends to shift. Frequently, the effervescence of the sector moves, every few years, creating an undulating current between different areas of the same territory that arises thanks to the large restaurants, the teams that form in them and later open their own projects, etc. .
Recent Galicia is no stranger to this trend. If at the beginning of the century the center was surely in Rías Baixas, with the appearance of restaurants such as Culler de Pau, Pepe Vieira, Yayo Daporta or Pandemonium, many of them formed together with the chef Pepe Solla, the movement then seemed to move north, with recent years in which A Coruña -Árbore da Veira, the late Alborada, Nado, Omakase, etc.- was undoubtedly the spearhead.
Currently the phenomenon seems to be more widespread, with interesting novelties that arise with some frequency in the four provinces, as is the case with restaurants such as Miguel González o Ceibe (Ourense), Prebe and Lado (Lugo), O Camiño do Inglés (Ferrol) or Alberte (Vigo). But in recent months, Santiago de Compostela seems to be forging its own dynamics that postulate it as one of the centers of attention for the coming times, with openings such as the Gaio restaurant or the project we are talking about this week.
Simpar opened its doors on August 3 in Rúa do Vilar, which once served as the city’s main street and which today seems to be drifting towards a restaurant focused on tourists and a souvenir shop. It’s just a walk down this street in the old town and come across, although some other proposals survive in the middle, with posters of frozen paellas, offers of jugs of sangria and Asian food franchises. That is why the appearance of a restaurant that becomes a counterpoint to all of this is great news.
Áxel Smyth is from Compostela, although he has spent a significant part of his career outside the city. Trained in the schools of Pontevedra and Santiago, he later went through restaurants such as Casa Marcelo (Santiago), Hispania (London and Brussels), José Carlos García (Málaga), Baluarte (Soria), Miramar (Llançà) or Auga e Sal, already back in the city, where, as head chef, he earned a Michelin star in 2021.
After the closure of that project, a sad loss for Compostela cuisine, Smyth returns with his first own project, a commitment to updated local cuisine that does not renounce more academic winks.
From the first moment it is clear that the local product rules. The salmorejo with pink tomato from Herbón demonstrates this, in the same way as the wonderful bread from the La Bulanxerí bakery and the olive oil, from the autochthonous brava and mansa varieties, made by Figueiredo in Ribas de Sil (Lugo).
The longueirón, a bivalve of the razor family, is enormous in size. They are brought by Artesáns da Pesca from the port of Ribeira. Smyth cooks it at a low temperature and proposes it with a plum, dried tomato and almond dressing. Acidity continues to be the protagonist in this first part of the menu with a sliced ??scallop from Cambados and served in an aguachile of Herbón peppers in which the vegetable bitterness of the pepper provides a very pleasant counterpoint to the natural sweetness of the shellfish.
Watermelon, marinated in ponzu and slowly dehydrated at a low temperature to a really interesting, almost meaty texture. It is cut into thin slices and accompanied by a beetroot tartare and tajine powder. Again acids, a very controlled sweet and spicy nuances in an interesting vegetable dish.
Ajoblanco / White Prawn. Another summer proposal, simple but very tasty. A canonical ajoblanco and an avocado puree base on which a white shrimp tartare and fried almond slices are arranged.
La Croqueta presents itself, almost like a jewel, a pause between starters and main courses. Creamy and very powerful, with an Iberian ham broth that is cooked for hours at a very low temperature and is complemented with milk infused with ham. Pure intensity. Probably when the restaurant launches the bar area at the entrance, which is not conceived so much as a tapas bar but as a somewhat more informal second space, it will become one of the classics on the menu. For now, it is worth ordering it in the dining room.
The Galician-style mackerel is an exercise in good sense, a version of a local classic of seafood cuisine in which only a few nuances are added. The allada, the classic sauce, comes in three textures; traditional sauce, emulsion and a malt sand; the touch of garlic is added with a garlic flower, the flavor of paprika is reinforced with a few filaments of ito togarashi; the traditional potato is, in this case, a puree mixed with olive oil.
The Roman hake, for its part, proposes a more radical revision of another icon of seafood cuisine. The fish is cooked at 55 degrees and is pearly, shaky, with some flakes that begin to show through. The traditional Roman sauce is, in this case, a yolk sauce at the base, some tempura pearls on the fish and, emulating the traditional garnish, a seasoned heart of La Finca de Los Cuervos that provides freshness.
The salty section ends with a Higinio Gómez squab, matured for 23 days, academically produced: the thigh confit and coated with a tasty but lively sauce, far from excessive reductions that, unfortunately, are so frequent. The breast, pan-seared with butter, arrives with almost crispy skin and rosy interior, perfect. Beside him, a pâté from the insides of the bird, a Robuchon purée and the slight sweet addition of a corn sprout.
And we finish with tripe, an option that the restaurant proposes as an additional addition to the menu, a classic of Compostela tapas that reinforces the local tone of the proposal. They are presented in a casserole to underline the message of a classic preparation, with the accent more on an intense tripe juice than on a dish dominated by chickpeas and tripe.
In the sweet section, return to containment and a certain look at a revised classicism. If the menu as a whole is light -the addition of the tripe breaks this dynamic a bit, but it is up to the diner’s choice- so is the confectionery proposal on the menu, which avoids excesses of sweet tooth and avoids a succession of elaborations that surely they would only distort that feeling of a well-measured menu. Pear, vanilla and toffee, yet another revision of a classic, in this case a tarte tatin that is reduced to its elements, rearranged on the plate. And a slice of carrot cake, barely a bite, with the coffee. No more is needed.
The final sensation is that of a well-thought-out menu, in which local raw materials are the common thread and in which, here and there, a more classic touch is not renounced -the pigeon, the Robuchon purée-. Knowing that the restaurant has been open for a little over three weeks, it is surprising how the rhythm, the proposal, the room service that the chef himself is directing and a calm, relaxed atmosphere, far from the nerves of the first days, work more than well.
There are some details to adjust, logically, but it is clear that the proposal is based on the work of a team that is known before. Claudia Merchán, who has already worked with Smyth at Casa Elena and Auga e Sal, is her right hand in the kitchen. They also worked with Itzíar García, during the Toledo period, and María José López, at the time in Auga e Sal, before joining this new project. And this brings a certain dose of maturity that one does not expect in the first month of a restaurant.
Santiago de Compostela seems to be experiencing a certain gastronomic resurgence in these months that will be confirmed with new openings in the coming weeks, great news for a city that has been moving in recent times on the dangerous and difficult edge of tourist balance, a temptation to which destinations rarely do well in the medium term.
Finding a project like Simpar in the heart of the old town, in an area that sometimes seems deserted to passing customers, is fresh air and almost a declaration of intent. Seeing, in addition, the desire and solidity of a proposal that, although it will win with the filming, already puts more than enough reasons on the table for a visit is wonderful news and makes you have to look at its immediate future very carefully .
