I called this hotel quirky because of the cold decor in the lobby and the ground-level bar decorated hundreds of glass jars with seemingly weird creatures inside that made it more like a medical lab.
But when we entered CEBO, it's a totally different world. A relaxed and welcoming vibe set the tone for a wonderful night ahead.
I was particularly looking forward to meeting Chef Aurelio Morales in person but he was nowhere to be found this evening. A rising star of molecular gastronomy who worked alongside culinary greats such as Ferran Adrià at El Bulli, and Paco Perez at Miramar, Chef Morales fuses Madrilenian and Catalan cuisines to create a unique haute cuisine that has made CEBO hugely popular since its opening back in 2016.
CEBO offers two unique dining experiences based on two distinctly different tasting menu. The 10-course Menu "Our Classics" (80 Euros) showcases the recipes that has led CEBO to their first Michelin star in 2018 while the 17-course Menu "The Seventeen" (110 Euros) focuses on the modern interpretation of traditional recipes from different regions of Spain. We would very much love to go with Menu "The Seventeen" but due to the late start (9PM!), we decided to go with the shorter menu instead.
First up, some green olives with orange and sherry wine jelly to get us started.
'Autumn' Spring Onion - Underneath the dough skin were spring onion, fig emulsion and a sauce made with pepper and almond, with toppings of sea urchin and black truffle resting on top.
It's highly explosive so we had to take with one single bite.
"Callos" - A stew croquette with fillings of beef tripe and beef tripe liquid (whatever that means) topped with a chickpea cracker.
Another "explosive" item on the menu but this was too big to finish with one bite.
"Brava" Piglet Ear - Crispy pig's ear deep-fried and served with "Brava" sauce made with garlic, red pepper and onion.
There were toppings of purple and spring onion. A little chewy but in a good way.
Anchovy - A study on anchovies. I knew I would be in trouble here coz I have never been a fan of anchovies.
The anchovy was prepared in three different ways. Firstly, the bones were deep-fried and pickled. This was met with an anchovy ice-cream and if that's still not fishy enough for you, try the marinated anchovy fillets in anchovy juice, spring onion, green pepper and olive oil!
The last part of the dish was an anchovy tail sitting on the side of the plate. That's likely all the anchovies I would have this year!
"Black Andalusian" Squid - This was prepared two ways, the squid ring was simply steamed while both the leg and stomach were deep-fried in a squid-ink butter batter. They were served with two different sauces - garlic and seaweed sauce for the leg and butter sauce which tasted a little like caramel for the deep-fried stomach. Deep-fried squid are always addictive and the sauces made it a little more interesting.
"Costa Brava" Creamy Rice - The creamy whole-grain rice was cooked with local white wine before finishing with mussels, agar and two types of mushrooms.
The rice itself was perfect but the seasoning was way too dominating for me.
Spanish Grouper - A bonus dish from the kitchen! Mucho Gracias~ I thought it was Spanish mackerel all the way judging from its size (never seen a grouper this small)!
The Spanish grouper was nicely matched with a herby parsley purée which has been infused with red pepper and garlic serving as a dip. Not bad.
Glazed Beef - We have already stormed through six courses (and one bonus dish) so just four more to go including the meat dish which's coming next.
The beef shank has been cooked for 24 hours at low temperature so not surprisingly, it was soft, tender and melting. It was served with eggplant, tender mussels and a rich bone marrow sauce. Jelloman thought something refreshing was missing there to cut through the richness of the beef but that didn't bother me at all. The flavorful and meltingly soft beef shank was just fine on its own for me.
Cheese with Black Truffle - Pre-dessert was creamy cow milk cheese topped with a sheet of shaved black truffle.
The milk cheese and truffle were wonderfully matched with the nutty flavors from the sherry wine sorbet sandwiched in between them (forgot what were the nuts they used to make the sorbet).
Next up was a gorgeous forest themed dessert with leaves, flowers and fruits all prepared using fruits and vegetables.
The top half of the dessert featured white asparagus, white chocolate and artichoke while the bottom one included flavors from green apple, bell pepper and strawberry.
Chocoratafia - Ratafia is a liquor from Barcelona flavored with almonds or kernels of fruits like peaches, apricot or cherries so you just know it would be pretty sweet. And the sweetness was in perfect harmony with the bittersweet chocolate (and caramel?).
I thought both the pre-dessert and dessert were very nice, though I would much prefer much lighter and refreshing flavors after eight heavily flavored dishes.
Mediterranean Sweet Bites - Petite fours came in the form of orange and mandarin flavored candies on a huge cotton candy cloud. A simple but solid end to our 2.5-hour journey.
I was hoping for a little more molecular gastronomic dishes but I would settle for the precise cooking with top-notch local ingredients.
Food Rating: 6.5/10
Price: €€€
Address: Carrera de S. Jerónimo, 34, 28014 Madrid, Spain
Closest Metro Station: Sol
Tel: +34 917-877780
Website: www.cebomadrid.com
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