Quique Dacosta – Innovative Mediterranean dishes

	Online Reservations
	C/ Rascassa, 1 Urb. El Poblet 03700 Dénia, Spain
	+34 965 784 179
	www.quiquedacosta.es

Chef: Quique Dacosta

Quique Dacosta Restaurante opened its doors in 1981 under the name of El Poblet and slowly developed into one of the world’s most creative restaurants. Quique Dacosta Restaurante is located in a street facing the beach of Dénia, a small beach town near Valencia.

The white building with its church-shaped tower reflects mystery and after entering the doors, the trendy loungy atmosphere welcomes the guests. Be prepared for a true unforgettable gastronomical experience! Modern art is combined with humorous accents and the traditional Spanish atmosphere is well kept on the whole property. Guests start with the aperitif on the sunny terrace or in the veranda, where the first nibbles are served. Once inside the dining room, you will be welcomed by empty tables which are slowly built up during the meal. All unnecessary items are removed to optimise the dining experience.

Quite remarkable and unlike many top chefs, Quique is a completely self made chef. The chef is known for his innovations, his modern cooking style, his ecological research and his creativity. Besides Quique Dacosta Restaurante, Quique also manages three restaurants in Valencia (Mercatbar, Vuelve Carolina & El Poblet Restaurante).

In the innovative temple of Denia there are two tasting menus available. Both offering an extensive dining journey to the guests: ‘Local Universe’ is a menu that consists of dishes that have been consolidated over time and represent the restaurant’s baggage in the form of tradition, evolution and modernity. The menu ‘Fronteras’ offers a view on the chef’s current innovations, his culinary vision today, his research and his passion for creativity.

The menus tell a story that is provocative, surprisingly creative and mainly based on the local terroir kitchen. Quique tries to use ingredients from within 75 kilometres of his restaurant and focuses on minimalistic, high flavoured dishes. His preparations are sometimes complicated, technically challenging and incorporating many ingredients, but some dishes consist out of a few or even one unique ingredient. The famous preparation with the Gamba Roja de Dénia is a good example of the latter: the juicy, sweet gamba is served on its own in one of the servings – pure and delicious.

The menu was divided into 6 spectacular acts and from the first serving until the last one…everyone was blown away.

The dining rooms at Quique Dacosta are managed by the experienced Restaurant Manager Didier Fertilati, who can easily be considered as one of the best restaurants managers in the fine dining scene. He welcomes guests as his friends and together with his team serves an ultimate professional service. Head Sommelier Jose Antonio Navarrete, who will surprise you with excellent wine choices and his broad knowledge, always assists in the best pairings.

The kitchen is managed by Quique Dacosta himself, Ricardo Tobella (Head Chef), Juan Valiente (Head Chef of the creativity department) and several ‘Jefe de Partida’ chefs. The team is constantly creating new dishes in the creativity studio, a new space at the restaurant where innovation and creativity fuse, using state-of-the-art elements and materials. The Quique Dacosta team will definitely guide you through one of the most remarkable gastronomical experiences in the world.

Menu Fronteras: His 2016 menu where he expresses his understanding of the kitchen of today! Today the 2017 menus are called Universo Local and DNA the Search!

• 1° act
  • Cocktail of cockles
  • Chinese orange – Kumquat
  • Rice liquor quinine and emulsion of yuzu.
  • Carbon with pericana sauce: dehydrated merengue with squid, pericana sauce made with olive, paprika & dried codfish
  • Light beignet of codfish
  • From the mountain: Raïm de pastor & Kalanchoe: served on stone and symbolizing the plants that were everywhere at all peoples table available.
  • Piadina of fermented corn, red tuna and dashi vinegar
  • Stones of manchego cheese with white truffle extract. Stone made from cacao butter.
  • Moruno pig nose: made from parts and liver of pig
  • Tea of chards and emulsion of king prawns
  • Almond’s nougat, almond milk and teriyaki sauce.
• 2° act
  • Red tuna belly rested between sugared kombu and mechoui
  • Roe of mullet: known dried as bottarga but here soft and you have to eat it like Vacherin cheese. WOW!
  • Torta of ling roe
  • Dry octopus: burned for 5 minutes and than 36 hours dried outside, sliced thin.
• 3° Acts
  • Crushed and dry tomato.
  • Fish lemon from pesca limon with a spicy chili touch.
  • The living forest.
• 4° Acts
  • Cold soup of cucumber with marbles of water of vegetables.
  • Langoustines on the grill, green curry, slightly burned avocado and corn.
  • Flamed eel from Albufera and ginger emulsion.
• 5° Acts
  • Rice Albufera with confit of onions, leaf and fresh goat cheese, leaf of fig tree, infusion of fig.
  • Iberian Castanuelas with flamed oyster, kale and soharma. Sweetbread, fresh oregano and juniper.
• 6° Acts
  • Snow of peach: a lovely play of textures.
  • Strange flowers with mango.
  • Moss: pistache & matcha tea, mousse of green apple.
  • Petals of roses, gin tonic of apple.

It is truly impressive to experience the journey throughout Quique Dacosta’s kitchen and, surprise after surprise, guests become more and more astonished. Delicious and creative dishes served in menus where each preparation is bursting with flavour and that are made from the most remarkable ingredients from the region. This restaurant definitely offers one of the best and original retakes on the Spanish tapas cuisine and guarantees an unforgettable culinary experience in the world. Put it on your bucket list!

Be-Gusto

Be-Gusto score:                     9,5/10

Be-Gusto value for money: 9,5/10

 

Quique Dacosta Restaurante

C/ Rascassa, 1 Urb. El Poblet
03700 Dénia, Spain

Phone: +34 965 784 179

www.quiquedacosta.es

 

Pictures by Belgian Taste Buds

Original review made for wbpstars.com. Discover the ultimate guide for food lovers, travellers and the restaurant business. Discover many thousands of images and hundreds of films of the most amazing culinary wonders in the world. An exclusive documentation of the very best.