Culinary Heights!

If you saw my blip from yesterday and dared to look at the extra, I can hardly express the startling contrast between yesterday and the revelation that unfolded before us on the table at Atrio in Cáceres.  After wending our way through rain on the Spanish plain (it apparently falls mainly there), we arrived at the best campsite we have experienced yet.  We were greeted by a smiling Spanish woman who spoke excellent english, and we discovered her dad was from the US.  We parked up beside our own private bathroom and all the facilities unique to each pitch.  Luxury. 

The luxury was not to stop there.  Mike and Daveen turned up to whisk us into the center of Cáceres.  There we discovered the old town, beautiful old buildings from another age, but also some interesting stalls and wagons that looked medieval and were all cordoned off.  These turned out to be props from the filming of House of the Dragon (Game of Thrones prequel).  If you have seen the show, this was the setting for part of Kings Landing!  (See extra).  We also discovered later from the Chef at our restaurant that the cast and crew had left town a couple of days earlier so we missed them.

And so on to the main event of the day.  A 22 course tasting menu at Atrio, a 3 starred Michelin restaurant here in the town.  We walked over using google maps in our glad rags, but couldn't find the restaurant for a while as the entrance was round a corner and google is not clever enough to tell us that.  There is hope for us humans in the coming battle with AI!  We were greeted by a stunning number of be-suited and bow-tied persons, one of whom led us down into the wine cellar of 35,000 bottles including a collection of a specific Sauterne wine from 1898 through to the present day.  Unfortunately criminals had broken the oldest bottle in a heist 2 years  ago.

Then up a different flight of stairs into the dining room and our table.  We were looked after by many attending waiters as the meal unfolded with 3 snacks.  Extra shows 2 of these, Potatoes with cheese and dill and Black olives tapenade, linseed and amaranth.  This was followed by 3 dishes belonging to Cochinito goes to the beach (seafood emphasis but still infused with iberian pork) also featured in extras.  Then came Cochinito takes a break in the dehesa... which featured 7 dishes including Ham, Salchichon, paté, Tartar of loin, Pot sticker, Porco tornato, Ink brioche, and wonderful dish with pork rinds and spring onion dressing.  This was then further enhanced by four more dishes including a delicious glazed lobster with pork sauce, green curry and lemongrass. (lemongrass suitably presented with foam (see another extra).  Finally we finished with a wide selection of desserts and petit fours - the Iberian chocolate with coffee (ground in a pepper grinder at the table) and aged ham - this is the featured photo and was absolutely amazing.

All this to say, whilst the food was 'out of this world', the service was exemplary.  The whole experience was enhanced by wonderful company of my sister in law and husband, and of course my own beloved and everyone's enthusiasm and enjoyment as the meal unfolded in artistic, flavor exploding style at the hands of our hosts.

And as a final "icing on the cake".  We couldn't get a taxi to take us home to our van, but Toño the head chef of this 3 star Michelin establishment gave us a ride home in his chauffered car to our campsite.  This was truly an unforgettable experience, and if you read this whole account, I make no apologies for taking up several minutes of your day nor for a certain amount of extravagance once in a while, as it served to remind me of how grateful I am for the life I have been given, and the unmerited privilege of experiencing it.