Restaurante El Rus in Barcelona, reinvented

I've been on a dry spell lately and havent been posting a lot, but since I will be travelling soon back to Spain, I thought I'd post about one of my favorite Restaurants in Barcelona that I had hidden on my pending folder. El Rus is a small place located Near the Nou Camp, very near my house. Food there is typically called "Cocina de Autor" in Spain, which sort of means Spanish dishes with personal touches and adjustments from the Chefs. El Rus has many typical Spanish dishes with little Asian touches, like soy, sesame oil, etc...

The new Chef happens to be my cousin Vera Cacho so we decided to try it to see how it compared to the cooking of the former Chef, Jaime. I must say, I was really impressed with Vera's cooking. Some dishes are even better that when it was originally done by the Chef. She has also added some new dishes, which are all winners for me.

For starters, we had Tortilla de patatas en su cáscara con huevas and Gambas retorcidas plancha con fideuá al aroma de soja, genjibre y tosaka aka. The Tortilla is her on version of the classic Tortilla de Patatas, it its own egg shell and salmon roe on a bed of rock salt. The fideuá, a classic Catalan dish which is a noodle Paella, with shrimp, soy aroma, Ginger and Sesame Seeds.

After having the appetizers with a bottle of Martin Codax Albarino, the owner recommended we try a bottle of 2006 Quinta Sardonia, a wine from Castilla y Leon. After the success of Bodegas Mauro, from the same Region, many good wines have emerged form this region. Made from Tempranillo Grape, this young wine did not disappoint.

We then had other dishes, a sort of degustation: Mini timbal de salmón y tapioca de pandan relleno de creme fraiche de olivada y sirope de lima - Salmon with Pandan Jello, Olive creme Fraiche and lime...One of my favorites, went very well with our Martin Codax Albarino.

Next was the Bombones de pies de cerdo cubiertos de pistachio con salsa y gelatina de kiwi - Pigs feet bombons, covered in Pistachio and on a Kiwi Cracker. Simply delicious, crunchy and good combination. The sweetness/acidity of the kiwi gives this dish the contrast it needs.

Then we had Tempura de Codornices Picantitos deshuesados con Ensalada de Recula y aliño de Miso - Quail Tempura, slightly spicy with miso sauce. Typical Spanish ingredients (Quail) with a little oriental touch. I enjoyed this dish very much.

The last dish we had was the Dorada plancha con Meloso de Arroz Negro y aceite confitado de Ajo-Perejil. Dorada is a very typical fish from Spain and I'm not sure about how its called in English, but I think its Hake. Simply grilled fish with a creamy rissoto-ish Arroz Negro and a Garlic-Parsley oil...it also had a sweetish sauce which I think was some sort of Raspberry...this was my least favorite of all but still quite OK.

Over all we really enjoyed ourselves and were quite impressed by the cooking of the Chef, Vera. I will definitely return here again and again to enjoy all the other dishes and look forward to trying her new creations. Even my 85 year old Grand Mother who was with us during the dinner enjoyed the food, so that must mean something...

Gracias y hasta pronto...I'll be there soon....