Spain for foodies

A GOURMET’S TOUR

Spanish restaurants dominate world’s top 10 list, so is it time for a tasting?

The Basque Country (above) is famed for its cuisine. Munoz (below) fuses Spanish with Chinese flavours.

It used to be that when one thinks of Spain, it’s flamenco, tapas, bullfighting and Gaudi’s dripping La Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona that comes to mind. Soon, one can add fine food to the list of associations, if it hasn’t been already. On Monday, it was reported that Spain’s El Bulli had topped S Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for the fourth year in row. More importantly, three of the top five restaurants were from Spain. Mugaritz and El Celler de Can Roca took fourth and fifth place after Britain’s The Fat Duck and Denmark’s Noma.

So, is it time for foodies here to loosen their belts and pack their bags for a tour of Spain? Today sat down with up-and-coming chef from Madrid David Munoz — who is in town for the World Gourmet Summit this week — and his wife Angela Montero for their take on the culinary revolution in Spain and tips for travelling gourmands.

Indeed, Munoz, who co-owns Madrid’s award winning DiverXO restaurant with Montero, is very much part of Spain’s new wave of innovative cooks, fusing Spanish with Chinese ingredients to produce startling flavours. His potato omelette looks like a tiny Chinese dumpling, to be enjoyed with a sip of jasmine tea.

Why do you think Spanish restaurants are so highly rated now?

There’s been a burst of culinary innovation that started with Ferran Adria from El Bulli. He opened the way for chefs to experiment with their cooking. Also, there’s been a liberalisation of thinking in the past 10 to 12 years. The Spanish had been oppressed under the Franco government, but now people are experimenting with things — in food, in fashion. The young make an effort to learn English. It’s a new way of thinking.

Where should travellers go for a culinary tour?

Madrid has a lot of places now. Catalonia and the Basque Country are also good regions for food.

The Basque has incredible cuisine. Even in the a pub, they eat very well. They have a way of cooking, they do a lot of stews. They have very good gastronomy and now, they have very good restaurants. Mugaritz and Arzak, the fourth and eighth top restaurants in the world, are from this area. Travellers should try the cod. It’s salted then cleaned with water. When cooked, the flavours are very different. A lot of people like it this way.

Any tips for finding the best places to eat?

When you see a country, you take a guide but you only see what the guide shows you. To know what’s going on, talk to the people. Ask where they eat. You have to interact with them to find out what’s best.

What must visitors try?

Iberico ham. It’s what distinguishes Spain from other countries. In Catalonia, they eat espardenta. It’s a small animal found inside a sea cucumber. Chinese people would eat the outside and throw away the inside. In Spain, we eat it. It’s very expensive — one kilogramme costs €150 ($293). It tastes a bit like baby squid. Very nice. Jennifer Chen

From TODAY, Traveller – Thursday, 23-April-2009

Into a deep blue dream

MALAYSIA

Kota Kinabalu waters offers divers rich sightings

Justin Lee, traveller@newstoday.com.sg

You see it on television — schools of fish swirling in formation like a tornado against the light, turtles languidly winging past spiky beds of coral, sharks, ever elusive, materializing out of the blue. If you live in Singapore, you’ll know that these wondrous scenes need not be confined to the goggle box. Awesome marine life abound in South-east Asian waters, with some of the most stunning to be found off the coast of Kota Kinabalu.

Take the world-class diving destination of Sipadan, which I decided to explore a few years ago. Accessible by boat from the city of Tawau, Sipadan is a diver’s dream because of its location and geographical formation. The island is the tip of a mountain rising a few thousand feet from the sea floor. The surrounding coral reef is home to a diverse marine ecosystem you won’t find anywhere in the world.

Before I jumped into the water with my scuba gear, I was told by the resort manager: “If you don’t see a turtle, you get your money back.”

He didn’t issue the guarantee without cause. Sipadan has a sea turtle nursery that allows visitors to see how they sleep, mate and hatch. Visitors can also participate in the growth of turtles by releasing newborns into the sea.

Needless to say, I saw plenty of turtles during my time in Sipadan. I had come to swim with schools of barracudas and jacks and catch a glimpse of hammerhead sharks — which, along with manta rays and whale sharks, forms the “Holy Trinity” of sightings. I got my wish but more of my shark-crossing experience later.

Sipadan today has a cap on the number of divers allowed on the site to protect its natural resources.

If you can’t go, consider other Kota Kinabalu gems such as Layang Layang, a spot famed for its hammerhead sightings. The shy sharks are hard to spot and divers can be on site in the thick of hammerhead season and not see them.

When it does happen, there is no mistaking the moment. The hammerheads literally come out of the blue; their silhouette is unmistakable — horned torpedoes that strike both excitement and fear in swimmers.

When I was lucky enough to spot the sharks, my heartbeat quickened and I irrationally yelled “Hammerheads! Yes! Finally!” into my mouthpiece. Irrationally, because my words came out in a stream of bubbles that no one understood.

Seeing the approach of a hammerhead is both an awe-inspiring and terrifying moment. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be shark breakfast or throw up my own.

Then, my fellow diver exhaled, his breath rose in noisy bubbles like a curtain of silver beads. That was enough to spook the hammerheads. In a flash, they were gone, back into the deep blue.

Looking around I saw what they left behind — a group of ecstatic divers. If there ever was a state of diving nirvana, this was it. Television doesn’t even come close.

Best from the surface

If you don’t have a diving licence but would like to take in the sights of a coral reef, Malaysia also offers some great spots for snorkelling.

My favourite is Redang Island. The site is part of a marine park, so the reefs are well protected and in good health. Snorkellers can see a wide range of marine life — barracuda, parrot fish, jacks, turtles — in crystal clear waters.

The quickest way to get to Redang is by Berjaya Air from Seletar Airport. The plane ride is 90 minutes long. The overland journey is 11 hours.

From TODAY, Traveller – Thursday, 23-April-2009