Fine dining in the village
In the predictions that are already being made about the restaurants that could achieve the third star this year, one of the ones that is being mentioned most strongly (apart from the Marbella restaurant Skina, which has all the odds) is Casa Marcial, the restaurant of the Manzano family in the tiny Asturian village of La Salgar, near Arriondas.
Although he hears these rumors too, Nacho Manzano isn't resting on his laurels. He has a very clear vision and advances year after year in his highly personal culinary style. His philosophy of combining his grandmothers' and mother's cooking with impeccable modernity, of always seeking out his roots and embracing local ingredients without falling into absurd rigidities, results in delightful and flavorful dishes.
In the kitchen at Casa Marcial, there's imagination, technique, a great deal of aesthetics, and an apparent simplicity that belies countless hours of work. Mind you, all this doesn't mean everything is perfect. His desire to move forward, to create original dishes, leads him to make some mistakes. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. And Nacho Manzano always takes risks.
This season's menu features many brilliant dishes, from the smoked limpet broth that kicks things off to the squid with bean mole, the grilled beans with hake essence, and the red beans with Kalamata broth, smoked bonito, beef fat, and pickled cranberries. And of course, there are the signature croquettes served as an appetizer, a dish Manzano has made famous, and two essential extras: the fabada (Asturian bean stew) and the stewed pito (a type of chicken).
These are the dishes he continues to prepare slowly, in the way he learned from his mother, and they are what allow him to keep bridging the gap between his creativity and tradition. That's why, at such a high level, the presence of pigeon on the menu feels jarring. Even though he adds some personal touches, like his famous sardine skin, in this case on a pigeon tartare, a chef with so much talent shouldn't use such a hackneyed ingredient, repeated in so many cloned menus from chefs lacking personality. And even less so should he present it almost raw, at that point where it's impossible to cut.
It's all a matter of rethinking it, because Nacho, one of the most outstanding Spanish chefs, has enough ability to find another dish with meats from the mountains surrounding La Salgar.
