Mantua –without tilde– is a Renaissance city in Lombardy (Italy), declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2016. Mantua –with tilde– is, on the other hand, a white grape variety grown in Extremadura and Jerez during the 18th century. XVIII, with good acidity and low alcohol content, which was mainly used to make fine wines and today is almost forgotten. In 2014, when Primitivo Collantes decided to plant 6 hectares in Chiclana to make an interesting white called Tivo, there were barely 75 vines left.
Today Mantúa is also the name of a gastronomic restaurant in Jerez de la Frontera, which boasts a Michelin star and two Repsol suns, headed by chef-businessman Israel Ramos. Why did this distinguished disciple of Dani García and Benito Gómez in Tragabuches (Ronda) choose that name in 2017 for his second solo adventure after the essential gastro-bar Albalá? Well, obviously, for the love of Cádiz wines, which is manifested in a winery made up of more than 350 references, of which 200 correspond to Marco de Jerez.
“Ramos seeks in Mantúa to trace a journey through the tradition of his land with stops at some of the most typical dishes of Jerez cuisine. All the nuances that Jerez offers, its countryside, its orchards and the Cádiz sea are captured in two tasting menus that also give prominence to the wine culture of the region”, the Repsol Guide rightly explains. Have we read the word garden? Indeed, because for some years our protagonist has been enjoying the fruits, vegetables and sprouts that the farmer Rafael Monge brings him from his Sanlúcar orchard a stone’s throw from the sea. Cultivation Banished is called the project and it is already making people talk.
Going back to our business, Israel is from Jerez de la Frontera and trained at the Cádiz School of Hospitality. So no one will be surprised if today he proposes to his clients, on the restaurant’s website, “a different walk through this land” through three menus based on “traditional and love for the product” and on “honest and of flavours, free of prejudices and open to the world, where we give free rein to creativity, the senses and the emotions”. What a win!
With these expectations, we arrived one hot summer noon at his bright and minimalist dining room in Plaza de Aladro –very close to another great local gastronomy, Lú Cocina y Alma–, not without having previously read in the digital magazine 7 Caníbales the opinion of one of our most reliable culinary critics, my compadre from old rock days Xavier Agulló.
“Vigorous goldsmith of the flavors of his land, in his compositions of precious beauty nest the Jerez character and emotional tributes to its gastronomic traditions, built through the best local and harmonized products, without losing its claw, in a Mannerist way… Mantúa almost he never abandons his affiliation, despite his appearance
We choose the longest menu of the three (Caliza) and we are ready to enjoy. Sourdough bread with sheep butter and thin in the glass, to boot. Of immovable appetizers, the whiting soup in white and a seasoned carrot that simulates a spherical yolk. Then, a little cod omelette, in a deconstructed key. The mollusk with caviar comes in a spoon to eat in one bite in the form of a French macaron. The fine shell is bathed in a delicate salad juice. The cecina tartare is crunchy with a ditto of Payoyo cheese. Chop suey with nettle? Is that possible? Well yes and it is as daring as it is addictive. Chickpeas with rabbit provide a well-rationed set of textures (more would be heavy). Sea urchin and monkfish in a refined and at the same time tasty key – it’s possible! – culminates the round of tapas. And there are still eight passes. But who said fear with this impeccable use of technique at the service of the lightness of the dishes!
Shrimp, fennel and white garlic. Broad bean squid in green sauce. Jerusalem artichoke with chanterelle and smoked consommé. Grilled leek with pickled boletus and truffle. All speechless. Aside from its unquestionable ability to combine foods and its admirable exploration of the environment and flavors of yesteryear, Israel has sometimes been criticized for its penchant for overly potent backgrounds. This was not the case on our menu.
In fact, the duck cannelloni, with a paste that is actually béchamel, accompanied by pickled pumpkin –other times it is made with fennel– turned out, despite its daring, one of the tops of the agape. In the salty final stretch, there was no shortage of a good fish of the day on the grill, a grilled heart with vegetable juice –reminiscent of the cutting edge between fish and meat at eighteenth-century banquets– and roast deer (did it have cocoa? that succulent sauce?) with mustard. All this, duly washed down with Marco wines, from manzanilla to oloroso, passing through the wide range of liquid treasures aged under veil or oxidative from this endless and fascinating wine region.
We culminated the binge with the frozen raspberry, ginger and chili bonbon –another classic since the beginning–, followed by three mini-desserts, almost diet-friendly, such as the apple with avocado and matcha tea, the tonka bean with parsnip and rhubarb and the banana with almonds An indisputable feast for the palate. I can’t wait to return in winter to discover his cooking with spoons and his hunting recipes…
