Catalan Face Stuffing

I've eaten too many meals with few updates, so the updates to come will just be some of the most memorable (not to discount the others, but I'm just simply too far behind to cover all of it and remember all the best details).  

I was on the road for most of July, and when I'm traveling at a pace like that, I try to visit a fancy place every once in a while to eat a ridiculous meal.  It's a bit awkward alone on a business trip, but hey, what can you do?  I had one night in Valencia (before heading to Barçelona for the weekend) and did a bit of reading about the local restaurants...one that caught my eye was called Riff.  When I found the place, the front door was locked...so I rang...apparently they don't want just anybody walking it, yet they let me past in flip-flops.  Must have been a slow night.  I got one of the 8 or so tables, and then opted for the tasting menu on the left, the cheaper of the menu options.  

I wasn't sure on the research before I ate there, but found out later this is a one star...and naturally there were a couple things not included on the menu...starting with some olives and a croustillant of some sort of cheese (no explanation given).  Next up was a cucumber cream with cucumber foam and a cucumber sorbet, accompanied by a hearty cheese bread...delicious and light, a perfect way to start off the meal.

Next up (sorry for the shaky picture, I'll blame the cava) was a watermelon sorbet with salmon roe and osetra caviar...the flavor balance was incredible, the lightly sweet sorbet worked well with every tiny explosion of the roe.  I got the hint that Bernd Knöller was into a bit of experimental cuisine, and I was certainly enjoying it. My descriptions of these two amuse bouche courses are a bit lousy, considering it wasn't written on a menu and I had to try to memorize what they told me in broken English...

Now onto the real plates... and no, this was not presented with the salad thrown all over the plate...but you couldn't see the delicious chorizo and octopus when it was covered in summer greens.  The chorizo was simply extraordinary and of course the octopus was perfectly fresh...all on top of a cream dressing with a bit of bite to it.  Not exactly a "light" starter but I wasn't complaining.  

It was hard to pick a favorite course out of this, but the roast snapper with mussel tartare and seed crust was the star of the night.  The snapper was cooked perfectly...not a centimeter (yes, I've converted to metric) was over or under-cooked...the seeds provided a nice richness and the tartare was subtle but the mussels had wonderful freshness to them.  I was told it was a smaller variety, but didn't catch the name...

I was a bit scared when this came out...but luckily the taste wasn't nearly as intimidating.  Simply small fried noodles with squid ink (and squid ink foam) and spring vegetables.  While it was visually impressive, the taste wasn't very complex... bit salty but not much of a profile to talk about.  On we go. 

Another stellar dish.  "Just" a piece of lamb slow roasted for 40 hours with african herbs and rosemary.  Simple, nothing fancy, and of course the meat just fell apart and was perfectly tender.  I don't know what else to say other than it was perfect.  It's just a shame it takes a long time to get meat to this stage, not exactly practical for your nightly meal. 

Lastly was apricots with white chocolate and kataif noodles... but wait, there's more than that on the plate???  Some vanilla ice cream, some chocolate mousse type thing....whatever it all was, it was delicious.  The apricots were fresh and tender, the chocolate melted perfectly, and enough dark chocolate around for me to finish up the wine....

I didn't even mention the service at Riff...it was impeccable.  Even without the food, it was amazing service...and the chef came out to describe the main dishes passionately.  I would certainly return here next time I'm in Valencia, but if this was so good, I'm wondering what the other starred restaurants are like there.  It's too bad I haven't found this kind of value in Paris yet...