VelascoAbella is the creation of Chef Óscar Velasco and his wife Chef Montse Abellá, which opened just over a year and a half ago.  We first enjoyed Velasco’s cooking at Santceloni and some of the menu has dishes related to that time. Abellá’s background is as a pastry chef but she is also in charge of the front of the house and she, with her bubbly personality, is perfect in that role. The couple was at the front door to greet their guests.  It’s a medium sized place with light colors and lowered lighting.  The ample tables are draped with white linen and windows look out into some gardens with music in the background.  They offer an a la carte menu with full and half portions as well as a tasting menu.  The really fun twist here is that they offer you the option to pick what you want to be on the tasting menu (6 dishes and 2 desserts) rather than a set menu.  If you want a bit more they can add in an extra course.  It’s the ultimate customization and when Abellá comes around to take your order she will help with your decisions.  They had a special of the baby peas that night and we added that to our tasting.  They have one Michelin star and are a place I’d highly recommend and will happily return to when in Madrid.

Set-up

 

Food

With our amuse bouche we enjoyed a house martini.  It was fabulous and only 15€.  The snack was 3 bites (L to R) cheese with olive on a crisp, corn paté crunch which was a sweet filling in a crisp crust, and lastly a Mallorca cocoa with quail egg, which was seriously one bite.

 

The bread service offered seedy and white breads and I tried a slice of each.  They are made in-house and were both fine breads served with their own blend of olive oil.

 

Another gift from the kitchen was mackerel with cauliflower cream and apple jelly.  The strong fish had a miso sauce and sat on bits of cauliflower.  It was fine

 

Beef, foie gras and pistachio terrine started our tasting.  Some fig jam was under the leaf to pair with this lovely liver and meat punctuated with crisp pistachios.  It was excellent.

 

Smoked spring onion, grapefruit, garlic, fennel and almonds were mixed with slightly crisped octopus.  This was mild in flavor but had lots of textures.

 

Ravioli were filled with smoked cheese and fennel and topped with Oscietra caviar.  This has been one of Chef’s signature dishes for 19 years and you can taste why.  The very tender pastas were silky in the mouth and filled with lovely flavor.

 

White prawns were paired “with garlic”, fried egg and potatoes.  Some spicy oil, ginger, garlic and pepper gave the dish extra flavors.  You could request the spice level on this one and we got medium spicy and it was just right with the crispy fried shrimp.  A fun dish to eat.

 

Peas, truffles and jam came out unsauced, with the sauce added at the table.  The peas are divine with their distinctive pop of flavor and lack of starch.  This was a fabulous way to prepare them as it enhanced the flavors rather than overpowering the peas.

 

Red mullet was in the juice of its saffron-scented thorn and sitting on a grilled artichoke.  The crispy lightly salted skin was on a perfectly cooked piece of fish.  The broth was great as was the little artichoke.  A good dish.

 

Chicken wings with lobster and spinach was such an interesting combination I had to have it on our tasting.  The chicken was moist with a perfectly crisped skin and it sat on marvelous mounds of tasty fresh spinach.  The lobster was tender and it all went great with the sauce and each other.  Delicious.

 

Citrus fruits were topped with crumbled rosemary biscuit and honey cheese ice cream.  A truly good combination with lots of texture and flavor.  The cookie crumbles were great on their own but when the ice cream blended into them and the fruit it was even better. A delicious mix.

 

Cooked chocolate mousse with coffee cream was topped with cocoa bean ice cream.  Here was simple perfection.  Lovely texture and flavors without a thousand ingredients or smears.   Fantastic.

 

Petit fours were red fruit jellies, red pepper rolled crisps, caramel cake with sunflower seeds, butter cookies and in a separate bowl chocolate truffles.  The jellies were better than most.  The rolled cookie had lovely flavor and crunch. The cake was chewy, sweet, nutty and great.  The butter cookies were short, buttery and delicious.  The truffles were solid and had some caramel flavor for a very good bite.