I’m pretty confident that we wouldn’t have ended up in Casa Pablo, if it wasn’t for my beloved Tapas Gastrobar. We read somewhere that the owners also run a Spanish restaurant called Casa Pablo but we have never been there before, nor were we planning to go.
I guess it kind of slipped us that such a place actually exists. But after Tapas Gastrobar amazed us with its “Spanishness”, we knew that we have to visit Casa Pablo, especially with their chef being into “creative Spanish cuisine”. We decided to have lunch there to see what does this creativity mean in this case. We all know that pretty much all the modern restaurants are “original and creative”, but is it always tasty?
Casa Pablo is located on ul. Grzybowska. It has one large room and a garden where we decide to sit. First impressions? A+ service! Professional, friendly and smiling. We start with the tasting menu.
First we get croquetas, a traditional Spanish tapas – crispy little balls filled with runny béchamel and jamón ibérico ham. About the staff: they describe the meal and warn you how to eat croquetas so that the filling does not spill on the plate. Croquetas are perfect – like in Tapas Gastrobar.
first we get traditional croquetas with jamon iberico and béchamel
We wait for next, more creative meals. Next up is a salmorejo soup – a traditional Andalusian soup popular in Cordoba, prepared from tomatoes, bread, olive oil and garlic, spiced up with vinegar, sometimes sprinkled with Spanish ham or shredded hard-boiled eggs. Similarly to popular gazpacho, it’s also served cold. Salmorejo in Casa Pablo is more amazing than you could imagine. Served in a huge glass, decorated with gulas (young eels) on top, it looks stunning! On the bottom of the goblet, you fill find changurro crab’s meat and shredded yolk. On top, next to gulas, ibérico,ham, slices of piparra pepper and garlic chips. Despite the large number of ingredients, the soup is not overcomplicated and all goes together great, making a tomato and fish delight. It’s not a surprise that it was awarded during Wine&Food Noble Night in 2013!
zupa salmorejo z gulas, szynką iberico, papryczkami piparra i chipsami z czosnku
From starters we also get carpacho de vieiras and salmon semi marinado. Scallop carpaccio is served with homemade foie gras, grilled pineapple, cauliflower flower and the staff sprinkles the starter with a few drops of smoked olive oil. The texture is incredibly delicate, the flavours mix together, however Łukasz complains about foie gras and the smoked flavour of olive oil overshadowing the scallops that are the main important ingredient here.
Next starter is one of my favourites – a meal heavily inspired by Asia and quite reminiscent of… sushi. If you like it, you will surely find this astonishing! Salmon marinated in beets, served with wasabi emulsion, soy gel and caviar. The salmon is very dark thanks to the beets and I almost get fooled that it’s tuna! A combination common in sushi restaurants (salmon, wasabi, soy sauce) gets completely reinvented here! Tastes amazing!
scallop carpaccio with foie gras, grilled pineapple, cauliflower flower and smoked olive oil
After finishing the starters we can already say that it’s just DIVINE! How come we didn’t come here before? Why isn’t Casa Pablo as popular as other restaurant that often have much lower standards and still get advertised everywhere?
Main courses assure us that we were right. First, something simple and traditional: arroz meloso de pescado. Arroz meloso has different texture than the most popular Spanish rice dish – paella, and looks more like a risotto. Served with monkfish, mussels and shrimps, spiced with broth, the fish were boiled in, it’s a perfect choice for anybody who loves fish and seafood. The texture is creamy and so delicate that even kids would love it.
arroz meloso, monkfish, mussels and shrimps, piquillo peppers emulsion
Next up is yet another fish – this time a gilt-head bream served with boiled leek, decorated with crispy, roast rice and kale chips. Members of the staff pour a fish stock, parsley and olive oil based sauce over the meal, right at the table. The fish tastes great, however it seems a bit too salty at times. Łukasz loves the boiled leek. Me, not so much – I’m not a fan and probably that’s why for me, the meal is not as good as the others, even though it is tasty. The owner imports gilt-head breams, as well as other fish and seafood from one of the biggest fish markets in the world in Madrid, twice a week.
gilt-head bream on a boiled leek with black rice and kale
In the end, after many fish-oriented meals, we get some meat. And it’s not just any meat but a great Spanish delicacy – ox tail meat (rabo de vaca).. Served with foie gras, parmentier (potato puree with truffle olive oil) and crispy chickpeas. Also with a red wine sauce and filaments from red potatoes. I have to say that I’m a bit concerned. This oxtail seems a bit suspicious, even though I know that it’s a delicacy in Spain. I give it a try! The meat is absolutely delicate, it melts in my mouth, and when I combine it with creamy parmentier I taste a delicate flavour of the truffle olive oil. Then I nibble on the chickpeas. A perfect ending. Łukasz is amazed as well and nibbles on my foie gras.
foie gras oxtail meat, parmentier, crispy chickpeas, foie gras
Each and every one of the meals served at Casa Pablo was a highest quality experience. No qualititative differences that sometimes make it hard to rate a place and make you wonder what’s going on. Is it a bad day for the chef or the inability to cope with certain ingredients? No doubts here. And what’s even more important – the amazing way of serving the food is not an excuse for mediocre flavour. The food is what’s the most important in here. The taste rules.
It’s great that such a friendly chef like Gonzalo de Salas Smith feels so good in Poland and after working in Michelin star restaurants in Madrid, New York and Berlin, he decided to amaze us with his cooking in Warsaw. Because it’s really amazing how he cooks! It’s just a pity that we haven’t visited Casa Pablo earlier.. Better late than never. Don’t make the same mistake! 🙂
You just can’t leave a place like Casa Pablo without eating a dessert! We got a combination of three completely different ones – a little truffle covered in little fizzy chocolates (I remember those from my childhood!), a Greek yoghurt and balsamic vinegar sauce cream with strawberries and a cheesecake. Not just a plain cheesecake, but one made from goat’s cheese with kataifi pastry, cigarette pastry and tomato marmalade. Goat’s cheese flavour was prevalent but it did not spoil the dessert character of the fluffy cheesecake.
a dessert trio to end the night
How about the prices? I purposefully did not put the prices next to the meals since it was a tasting menu – don’t be fooled by it. The starters cost PLN 26-65, salads PLN 26-39, fish courses PLN 55-85 and meat courses PLN 58-90. Prices are corresponding with the level of the restaurant that can be easily considered one of Warsaw’s best restaurants.
Go there!
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
ul. Grzybowska 5a
00-132 Warsaw
+48 22 324 57 81
opening hours:
*Monday- Saturday
12.00 to the last customer
* Sunday – closed
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