SOLLO
Diego Gallegos (São Paulo, Brazil, 1985) has forged a new culinary course. At the helm of his restaurant, Sollo (Benalmádena, province of Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, one Michelin star), this chef specialises in freshwater fish and crustaceans. His aim is twofold. On the one hand, he uses varieties to their greatest advantage – making them nobler than they seem – and that result in a great story on the plate. And on the other, he wants to convey a message that goes beyond the cliché; that farming is the only way to prevent the native fish and crustaceans of Iberian rivers from becoming extinct.
Sollo. River Cuisine thus presents more than 50 of Gallegos’s creations featuring farmed river fish and crustaceans that represent species that currently inhabit the rivers, lakes and reservoirs of the Iberian Peninsula. Sturgeon, Gallegos’s culinary emblem, is among them, as are trout, eel, tilapia, salmon, barbel and crayfish, as well as species with which the public is unacquainted, such as wels catfish and largemouth bass.
In addition to recipes, key preparations and tricks for their preparation, Sollo. River Cuisine describes the main characteristics of each of these species as well as aspects related to their historical and cultural importance. Sustainability is of paramount importance. “I haven’t come to preach,” says this chef. “I just know that we have to be aware.”
“This book shows that there is more life in rivers than simply sturgeon, trout and salmon,” adds Jãvi Antoja de la Rosa, head of Montagud Editores publishing projects and editor of this book. “Besides, there’s always room for their reinterpretation from an innovative perspective.”
PUNTO MX
448 pages, 125 creations (that include 41 bases and 20 cocktails) with 342 elaborations, 79 processes with their step-bystep pictures, and 800 photos… Those data are just a short numeric summary of MX (Montagud Editores), the first book of Roberto Ruiz, Martin Eccius and María Fernández (Punto MX, Madrid, one Michelin star). Those are frenzy numbers, and are loyal to the project they came from… The three restaurateurs, with Roberto Ruiz leading the kitchen, has gone down of the History of gastronomy in a few years. Not only because of the creation of unique and genuine concepts Mezcal Lab and Salón Cascabel belong to the fleet on which Punto MX is the flagship-, but also for winning the first Michelin star for a Mexican restaurant located in Europe. Punto MX has a meteoric career, completely supported by the critics: ‘The best Mexican restaurant out of Mexico (and comparable to any of the best restaurants of Spain); those are words from Carlos Maribona, Gastronomy responsible of ABC for more than 25 years. ‘If Roberto had his own restaurant in Mexico City, his name would appear next to the greatest professionals in the modern Mexican cuisine, such as Enrique Olvera, Jorge Vallejo and Edgar Núñez”, affirms José Carlos Capel, gastronomic critic from El País.