Victor Gutierrez

Calle San Pablo 66

37001 Salamanca

www.restaurantevictorgutierrez.com

Tel.: +34 923 262 973

Overall rating: 5/10

Date of visit: January 2012

 
 

Victor Gutierrez was at my visit the only restaurant in Salamanca with a Michelin star. If I’m not mistaken, they offered a shorter, classic menu for €36, as well as a longer tasting menu for €80, which is the one I went for.

I’m not going to go into detail with every course, as every single dish was nice but forgettable. I found myself looking at my pictures of earlier courses midway through the meal, as I simply didn’t remember what I had just eaten.

 Appetisers, including among other things an “oreo” with guacamole (on the rock), and a pigeon mousse (on the right).

Passion fruit drink:

Sardines, and leek soup

Trout:

Foie gras stuffed with port syrup:

Truffles:

Venison with quinoa:

Seafood soup with an clam ravioli:

Sea bass with bean sprouts:

Pigeon (if I’m not mistaken):

Cheese with membrillo (quinche):

Apple dessert:

Brownie with ice cream:

Petit fours:

There was nothing wrong at all with the food here, but there was really no flavour in the food, nor did I see any identity in the food. Technically, the only thing I can criticise was that the sea bass and the venison was slightly undercooked – the rest was cooked just the way it was supposed to be. This restaurant didn’t seem any different than any other Michelin star restaurant that serves French or Mediterranean food.
The last dessert had real gold on it, but what was the point? To show off? Probably.

When I was at Sangonereta in Valencia I complimented every single dish, but at Victor Gutiérrez I simply couldn’t – except for the pigeon mousse, which was part of the small amuse bouches at the beginning of the meal. All criticism aside, that mousse was really nice and just left me sitting there longing for more. Two or three dishes did have bit more flavour, but the major flavour was simply that of salt.

All in all, I feel that a great meal is a bit like listening to music or watching a film. The meal should move me and make me feel something. I left the restaurant feeling quite cold.

The service was friendly and attentive. The waitress didn’t speak English that well, but she tried her very best, and she definitely deserved my tip. All the Spanish white wines I’ve tried have been pleasant enough, but I have still yet to find one I truly like. The same was the case here. The red wine (Krel, a roble (meaning six months in the barrels) from Bodega Trus, Ribera del Duero, 2010) she hit spot on. Nothing less than a wonderful wine! When I subsequently bought it at a shop, the wine was very plain, but the slightly more expensive crianza (12 months in the barrels) was much better and almost as good as in the restaurant.

I bought a tasting menu consisting of 10 courses including appetizers and petit fours for €80. It came with cava, which I don’t really like, so I asked for a glass of white and a glass of red wine instead. The waitress topped these up several times throughout the meal as well as giving me water continuously, and still the bill stayed at €80, so that’s definitely a bonus. Like certain other restaurants I’ve been to, they let me try several wines to see which one I liked the best before deciding.

So, great service, and I suppose some kind of value for money, but no flavour and no identity in the food. When it comes to down to how much I liked the food, Victor Gutierrez is at the moment the second worst Michelin star restaurant I’ve been to (only Alejandro del Toro has been worse).