Promised and Returned
Moscow restaurateurs love to open several restaurants at once. This time, Folk Team by Dmitry Romanov and Veniamin Ivanov stood out. Just a week ago, we told about their new brasserie Anchovy’s club – and now another restaurant, this time of Spanish-Portuguese cuisine Padron, has opened its doors on Strastnoy. In a couple of weeks, a bar will open here as well. Padron is a true premiere not only because it offers rare Spanish and Portuguese cuisine in Moscow, but also because the experienced Argentine chef Adrian Ketglas is in charge of the kitchen, well known for the AQ Kitchen restaurant on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya (where he worked for nine years) and the Michelin-starred restaurant Adrian Quetglas in Mallorca. Ketglas left Moscow for a while, and now he has returned to Padron. The brand chef of the Folk Team restaurants, Evgeny Tsyganov, accompanies him in the kitchen.
Looking back, it is worth remembering that Ketglas was once one of the first chefs to introduce molecular cuisine to Moscow, but Padron has nothing to do with it. Ketglas seems to know that Muscovites are tired of molecular gastronomy and now want understandable, delicious food and a diverse menu. The restaurant is divided into several areas: a rectangular veranda with floor-to-ceiling windows and Gaudi-style frames, a second main hall with small and one large (for 20 seats) tables overlooking a huge Argentine grill, where fish and meat are grilled. There are also two wood-burning stoves, the coals of which never go out even at night: they will mainly be used to cook traditional Spanish paella. Finally, the third hall is a bar with a counter reminiscent of a famous Portuguese yellow tram, with vaults lined with azulejo tiles – unusual, romantic. Now about the cuisine: it features a lot of fish, meat, fresh vegetables, and exclusively natural spices and sauces. The menu is divided into understandable sections. Octopus appetizer, thinly sliced in carpaccio style, served in a sauce of fresh tomatoes, olive oil, and codium seaweed. Beef tartare with aioli sauce made from hot piquillo peppers with salty churros (Spanish pastries, usually sweet, made from choux pastry). A hot appetizer of rabbit kidneys prepared in a sherry sauce and served with celery puree and tartare. The famous Argentine empanadas are made according to the original recipe from the right dough.
They come in two varieties: with lamb and a rich port wine sauce, and with crab and black cod (one must order at least one to the table). Under the fish and seafood section, there is black cod with large white beans, boiled in pil-pil sauce (olive oil, fish broth) with garlic chips. From the meat section, there is saddle of lamb with a port wine sauce and artichoke puree. The meat is of excellent quality, much of what is grilled (dishes from the grill form a separate menu section) goes through a dry aging process in a chamber located in the restaurant. For dessert, there is a Basque cheesecake – a round piece resembling a large cottage cheese pancake with gorgonzola cheese, which gives it spiciness. Also on the open kitchen, as befits a true Spanish restaurant, there is a hamon leg that Adrian skillfully slices with a long, thin, sharp knife.
7 Strastnoy Boulevard, Building 1
Daily, from 18:00 to 0:00 (temporary schedule, expansion of working hours is expected)
High Gastronomic Vocabulary “Kommersant Style”
Umami is considered the fifth (after sweet, salty, sour, and bitter) taste, discovered in 1908 by chemist Kikunae Ikeda of the University of Tokyo. Remember the taste enhancer glutamate: umami is also an amino acid, natural glutamate found in some products: soy sauce, mushrooms, dried meat, corn, green peas. Umami has a long aftertaste, abundant salivation after consumption, deep and meaty taste.
The attractiveness of umami is related to the fact that the substances in it activate receptors that recognize the presence of glutamates (taste enhancers) and nucleotides. Some products do not have an umami taste, but, for example, if you simmer meat, it will acquire an umami taste, the same thing happens with some products when they undergo fermentation. Umami taste is present in the dish of octopus with Mexican rice and corn salsa at Sangre Fresca restaurant. It is dressed with a sauce made from chicken broth and tomatoes, blended, and umami taste is achieved by using fermented tomatoes and bonito flakes. In the gnocchi with duck, enoki mushrooms, and strachatella at Moro restaurant, umami taste is achieved by adding 18-month-old Parmesan cheese to the sauce.
At Miss you cafe, umami taste is also provided by Parmesan cheese in pumpkin soup with Parmesan mousse. The potential of the dense crust of Parmesan cheese is used here. The pumpkin soup is prepared with the addition of these crusts, which make the taste fuller, complement the simple vegetable base with a deep cheesy “body”. At B12 restaurant, umami is found in miso-ramen soup with grilled salmon, where it is achieved through miso paste combined with wakame seaweed.