Pabú is the Madrid restaurant that everyone is talking about these days: gourmets, for the interesting culinary proposal of its chef-owner, Coco Montes, who successfully mixes vegetal avant-garde with a certain French classicism; the less gourmets, because here the entire Spanish royal family – emeritus included – recently celebrated the 60th birthday of Infanta Elena. As this is a website dedicated to (good) food, we are going to skip the gossipy chronicle and explain what really matters, which is what comes to the table for the diner's enjoyment.
To begin with, what does Pabú mean? Our dear colleague Alberto Luchini tells it in 7 Caníbales: “It is the acronym of the words Pate and Bubú, with which the chef's nephews call their grandparents, Montes' parents, key figures in the launch of a hundred-hundred-year project. per hundred family.” Pate and Bubú are, in addition, the names of the two tasting menus that the house proposes, at €150 and €110 respectively, based on changing dishes that strictly follow the seasons and where garden products abound, as could not be least in a student of Eneko Atxa (Azurmendi) and Alain Passard (L' Arpège).
How is the restaurant? Well, it occupies a ground floor and a basement on a side street of Paseo de la Castellana and you have to look closely to avoid passing it by, so discreet is the sign on the door. The enormous glass window on the façade gives access to a small waiting room with nineteenth-century armchairs, more typical of a private club or an exclusive showroom than a food establishment open to the general public. After going down the cantilevered staircase, the neophyte client discovers a spacious space with neutral gray walls and floors that contrast with those elegant Second Empire-style wooden tables and chairs, the colorful contemporary art paintings and an open kitchen bathed in light. natural corner of the street where the boss welcomes you before going to the room with capacity for 30 seats.
Ignacio Montes, alias Coco, is a sensitive and restless thirty-year-old, who combined university studies with Le Cordon Bleu classrooms and internships in Zalacaín, to finally go to work at L'Arpège on the banks of the Seine, where he spent 6 years and He ended up serving as head chef of this temple of vegetables in the 7ème arrondissement of Paris. Passard's taste for minimalist combinations of two or three skillfully seasoned vegetable elements, some raw and others barely boiled, can be seen in Pabú's first dishes; Just like the master's obsession with cooking whole birds in a cocotte, presenting them in the room and then bringing them to the table properly cut and sauced. Ah, the sauces! If the extremely high professional level that Coco has achieved in the French capital can be seen in anything, it is that mastery of the funds and the Gallic salsa tradition, which almost no one claims anymore, but which is an indisputable pillar of great classical cuisine.
Once seated, the customer only has to choose between the short menu (Bubú) and the long one (Pate), before immersing themselves in reading a carefully conceived wine list, where bottles from small producers here and there are enriched with the host's very personal texts.
And what about the food? “Micro-seasonal cuisine,” Coco aptly defines it. Which means that the dishes that we enjoy on a sunny December noon will not be the same as those that will be offered to you in January. It doesn't need to be, because in Pabú the essential thing is that inalienable concept of seasonal recipes, millimetric cooking and intelligently treated vegetable pantry above any protein.
We started with a remarkable sourdough bread made in-house, drizzled with virgin Cornicabra olive oil. Then came an impeccable foie mi-cuit with black winter truffle (Tuber Melanosporum). And then a succession of horticultural combinations, each one more attractive, all playing with three elements that complement or contrast to provide warm, earthy, acidic, bitter or chlorophyllic sensations, but always recognizable, tasty and happily sapid. To wit: Bourbon vanilla new potatoes; pumpkin with chestnuts and buckwheat; spinach with orange and quince; Brussels sprouts with horseradish and kiwi; topinambo with cocoa and mustard leaves; stewed lentils with Tonka bean; cauliflower with parsnip and 36-month Parmigiano Reggiano...
At the end of the party and before moving on to dessert, a very orthodox pularde from Bresse arrived with the beurre blanc. To finish with an apple pie and fresh herb ice cream and an original infusion of herbs and flowers from the garden, not only very delicious but absolutely Instagrammable.
Good efficient room service and nothing constricted. A very varied drinks menu which highlights a wide selection of champagne, a versatile wine that perfectly accompanies this type of long menus with a lot of vegetable weight. A unique experience in the capital scene, which is worth trying. And they've only been open for a few months.
