Pop-up Palacios
Pop-up restaurants are nothing new in places like New York, London and Paris, but in rural Andalucia the concept is just making its mark on the gastronomic underground. Wild boar and hares beware.
When your favourite chef works exclusively on a freelance basis, what else is there to do but gather your best food loving friends and hire him for an impromptu feast? Chef David Palacios is a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades, commercial airline pilot being one of these, chef extraordinaire another. Lucky for us, the latter is his preferred vocation.
What started as a loosely connected group of David’s friends who can’t get enough of his culinary craftiness has gained momentum and Chef Palacios now has something of a flash mob lining up for his next private supper club. Often held at his own rural farm, Cortijo Juan Salvador, a centuries old farmstead in a protected area of the Montes de Malaga natural park, these banquets bring gourmet elegance to some pretty rustic country fare. Who knew pork cheeks could taste so delicious?
If you’re lucky you might even find yourself tucked into stewed cheeks from the wild boar David himself hunted on his own vast property. In any event, you’re sure to get a sample of the seasonal organic herbs, vegetables and edible flowers David grows; and everything else will be of a local variety as well, from the autumnal quail and partridge so plentiful in the region, to the seafood from the Port of Malaga less than 15km away. As night falls over the dining table, the old stone courtyard, the candlelight and the aroma of roasted game might tease your senses into believing you are at some renaissance banquet if it weren’t for the beautiful contemporary presentation of each dish.
With the autumn harvest and hunting season approaching, I can’t wait for the next pop-up feast at Cortijo Juan Salvador with Chef David. That is, if I can even get a seat at the table.
Alan Hazel owns and runs the fabulous finca Cortijo El Carligto in Andalucia and little takes place in the area that escapes his attention, or his knife and fork.
