Nairod

Steam rising off a plate of something slow-cooked, the kind of warmth that reaches you before the fork does: that is where I would start describing this Eixample kitchen. David Rustarazo cooks to feed people, not to audition, and you feel it in every choice. Tradition holds the frame, the modern touches appear only where they earn their keep, and flavour stays in charge from first plate to last. For me this is who-would-I-bring territory. My sister, who distrusts anywhere fashionable. An old colleague from the fonda years, who would nod at the portions and the sense behind them. Anyone, really, who measures a kitchen by how it treats a simple main course rather than how it decorates one. Every few months I bring somebody new, and every few months the place quietly proves me right.