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Germán Blanco and Henry Matamoros sign a dinner in Kentia (Lanzarote) that underlines the interest of evenings with product, Canarian wine and gastronomic sense
>>>It is advisable to write down the name before the agenda fills itself: Kentia has decided to make a move. And he has done it with something as simple as, sometimes - and this was -, quite effective: bring together good chefs in the same kitchen, offer a unique menu, take care of the wine, adjust the price to what an average public with a certain gastronomic curiosity can afford today and leave the door open to new appointments in the coming weeks. In times where eating well can dangerously oscillate between touristy, the routine and the inaccessible, the formula deserves attention.
The restaurant, located in the boutique hotel The Island and the Sea of Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, although with independent entrance from the street, It also has an advantage that is not always valued enough.: allows you to look good without overacting. It's elegant, convenient, with a careful atmosphere and a back bar that invites you not to close the night too early. Because the proposal does not necessarily end with the last petit four. You can continue with a short drink, a classic cocktail, a long glass or some signature blend, which is a fairly civilized way to prolong the after-dinner meal without changing the scene.
The dinner of 3 July followed that line of proposals “with four hands” with Henry Matamoros as host chef and German Blanco as a guest. Matamoros, 31 years, He has been in the hotel for seven, where he has gone through different ranks until assuming the executive kitchen. That fact matters more than it seems: We are not talking about a chef placed in a showcase, but from someone who has grown up inside the house and knows its gears. in front of him, or next to him, German Blanco, executive chef of Sea breeze in White beach, Lanzarote, one of the essential names to understand the evolution of haute cuisine on the Conejera island and frequently noted as one of its real introducers., when the island still did not boast so much of gastronomic discourse.
A formula that deserves follow-up
The interest of these dinners is not only in eating well one night. It is in what they can build if Kentia maintains the criterion: a small gastronomic program in which diners can discover different ways of cooking, different languages, other products and different sensitivities without having to pay exorbitant amounts. By 79 euros the menu, with the option to add 55 euros for the pairing, The experience is within a reasonable range for the current market, especially if you take into account the kitchen layout, sala, wines and context.
The full house confirmed that there was desire. Fifty people, the planned capacity, They occupied a room that functioned at a good pace and without a feeling of rigidity.. There was also the commitment of Natalia Bravo from Laguna, Head Hospitality of the group that includes The Island and the Sea. These dinners are sustained on the stove, Yeah, but they fall or rise in the details: the welcome, the times, service temperature, the cadence of wine, the light, the comfort, the general tone. that night, everything seemed to understand the type of evening that was wanted to be offered.
The menu moved around a Mediterranean idea with recognizable accents, without giving up Lanzarote when it was time to look nearby. It started with appetizers—Nashi pear, Tomato and Oyster tartar—which fulfilled their function well: open mouth, refine the palate and make it clear that the dinner came with intention. Then came the resident chef's version of Caldo de trigo, a dish that allows you to check if the kitchen knows how to handle memory without turning it into postcard folklore. Here it functioned as a bridge between the popular and the contemporary.
Pigeon as a dish of authority
Octopus's pass, black potato and carabinero from La Santa had the merit of gathering product, territory and intensity without having to raise your voice too much. There was sea, root and a clear insular reading. The boatman's cod, under the name of “Chromaticism”, took dinner into a more visual register, more technical, more composition. A dish also designed to be looked at, although with the obligation - fulfilled - of not remaining solely in the aesthetic gesture.
The roundest moment, however, He arrived with the Pigeon, morels and celeriac. It seemed to me to be the dish with the greatest culinary authority of the night.. An academic pass in the best sense of the word: delicate product, demanding point, classic background and a garnish that did not compete, but he held. Pure solvency. The three passes carried the signature of Germán Blanco, just like the pre dessert.
The sweet part followed proper logic: First an Apple pre-dessert, yuzu, celery and lime, fresh and clean, before chocolate dessert, café, orange and hazelnut, sweeter, with measured bitterness and recognizable structure. The latter from Matamoros.
The petit fours closed the sequence with that final gesture that distinguishes houses that do not consider the job finished when they have already served “the important thing.”.
A pairing with Canarian speech
The pairing was familiar to the kitchen, sweet and salty, of the night. Ana González Falero He drove the cups with precision, without turning the explanation into a class or the wine into a procedure. The selection had a clearly island thread: Diego Brut Nature from Bermejos, Maho by Diego Fernández, The Parrots of Juan Francisco Fariña, Landscape of the Forastera Blanca Islands, Ancestral White Viñátigo and Sweet Moscatel from La Geria.
The virtue was that the wine did not appear as a decorative accompaniment, but as part of the experience. The Canary Islands have enough nuances, varieties, soils and ways of vinifying to sustain a complete route when chosen judiciously. There was a bubble here, strain, fruit, salinity, ancestral elaboration and final sweetness. A small liquid reading of the archipelago, well integrated into dinner.
Kentia left the night with something more valuable than a full room: came out with a clue. If you maintain the level, price balance and guest choice, these dinners can become one of those dates that should be booked before someone has to tell you about them later. Because that is, in the end, the true attractiveness of the proposal: allows you to participate in a top-level gastronomic experience, get to know different cuisines, drink meaningfully and extend the night in an elegant space without feeling like you have entered prohibitive territory.
