Don't miss the Rolex!
The Sala de Despiece is definitely the star of Calle Ponzano, a street in Madrid’s Chamberi district which has seen a meteoric rise in popularity and is now one of the city’s top destinations for foodies and bar hoppers. Sala de Despiece offers and ultra-modern take on traditional Spanish fare, even making nods to molecular gastronomy and incorporating flavors from Asia and Latin America. The results are simply amazing. Really, it was one of the best meals I’ve had in Madrid in a long time.
They hand-written menu is divided into various sections (appetizers, meats, seafood, preserves, vegetarian, desserts, etc.). We ordered a few bottles of La Virgen, a local beer, and opted for the grilled sweetbreads marinated in the bizarre but ultimately amazing combination of oyster sauce and whole grain mustard, razor clams with roe and algae which tasted like a mouthful of the bright blue ocean, a steak tartar which was nice but nothing out of the ordinary, and the restaurant’s luxurious star dish, the “Rolex,” consisting of a fat hunk of foie gras topped with an egg yolk, wrapped in pancetta, and briefly cooked table-side with a blow torch. It was, no joke, one of the single best bites of food I’ve ever had. It literally melted in my mouth. To finish up, we ordered a dessert of brie cheese mousse, fresh berries, apple juice concentrate, and puffed quinoa balls which was the perfect way to end the meal.
