Kirei Valeria, Malaga

Kirei is the subject of my very first restaurant review, and it is also the first restaurant in the multiple Michelin starred Kabuki group to come to the city of Malaga. I'm going to postulate too that it must be the first restaurant concept to start it's life as an airport concession (at Madrid Barajas), that due to its success in that format is now being rolled out to "proper" restaurant locations nationwide.  Many concepts and brands have of course made that journey in the opposite direction, and achieved almost unilateral disappointment in my humble experience.

The restaurant is based in the Room Mate Valeria Hotel in a nice airy ground floor room with views of the big wheel in the port.  I opted for the tasting menu and sat at the counter hoping for a kaiseki style experience. Oddly though, the seats were lower than the counter, so I couldn't actually get to see the sushi masters at work.  Also, I am sad to report that the wine list was rather limited and the markups were a little steep by Spanish restaurant standards. By way of example, a bottle of Trompo 2015 was €25 for something available at €10 or so retail. As such, I decided to avoid the wine and opted for a bottle of mineral water. A bottle of Cabreiroa Magma from Galicia was provided which was very pleasant. According to the chef the unique selling point of this water, was that it spends most of its time underground and therefore is less damaged by the sunlight. I could almost see the Sierra Nevada from where I was sitting, so this did prompt me to think that a bottle of Lanjaron may have had a somewhat less damaging journey on its way to the restaurant table.

The first dish to arrive was seaweed, soy and mirin. Apologies for the poor photo quality here, it is something I plan to address both equipment and competence wise as the blog progresses. This was a good start with plenty of umaminess but also an acidic but pleasant tang from the vinegar.

Seaweed, Soy and Mirin. 

The second dish was hamachi with truffle pate (on the left), and scallops with chorizo powder and spring onion. The hamachi was my favourite here, the truffle really complementing the fish. I didn't ask about the provenance of the fish, but given that some of the best quality sustainable red tuna in the world is currently in season just a couple hours around the coast, then it did seem a little odd to be eating something that I suspected to have come from the Pacific Ocean. Still enjoyable though.
The presentation of the scallops was pretty, but the arrangement did mean that some scallops had more powder on than others that resulted in rather uneven seasoning. I'm no sushi/sashimi expert but I think the knife skills were a little rough around the edges.

Hamachi and Scallops

Next up a dim sum in a seafood broth. Really enjoyed the broth, really rich and certainly up there umami wise, with really flavoursome carrot shavings too. The dim sum dough was a bit too thick and chewy to my taste and the filling was lacking flavour. I must disclose though that have been spoiled dim sum wise by too many visits to A. Wong's in London.

Dumpling broth

The next dish was a salmon tartare.  Salmon really isn't my favourite fish, due to having it almost everyday for breakfast on the 6:48 to London for the past 10 years, and it makes even less sense to me to be eating it when you are overlooking the Mediterranean. There was a nice accurate piquancy to the dish though.

Salmon Tartare

This was the best dish of day. I'm still in the honeymoon phase of enjoying the taste of Southern European vegetables, particularly tomatoes, and will probably continue to bore everyone about this for some time. The tomatoes here were no exception, despite playing a minor role in the lamb nigiri, they really packed a punch. Then it was the truffle pate and quail egg - what's not to love with that combination? My favourite aspect though was the rice. It was absolutely spot on. Maybe a bit vinegary for others, but just to my taste. I saw a large plate of nigiri go out to another table that looked awesome, and immediately made a mental note to return for that alone.

Tomato and lamb nigiri, and egg and truffle nigiri 

Next, some nice but unspectacular California rolls. Really good rice again though.

The final savoury dish was a tasty pork bao, with mint, scratchings and daikon. Not the fluffiest bun ever, not as good as Bao in Soho, yada, yada... (oh god, bore-off you utter food snob I hear you say.....)  

Pork Bao

To finish, a cafe con leche and green tea ice cream (that needed more green tea taste), and a biscuit crumble.

Green tea ice cream

That was it, and here is the bill, and few words to say that the service was good, but just a little rushed maybe, as I was done in around 50 minutes or so. That said, I value the food and flavour much more than the service, and I could have asked to slow things down if I wanted so this really wasn't a problem.

The bill

Ok, so I've never been to Japan, I'm no Japanese food expert (certainly not sushi and sashimi wise). In fact the best Japanese food I've ever had was in a little passageway in Clerkenwell in London (oh here he goes again, what an utter name dropping foodie wanker, I hear you say - even louder). Clearly Kirei does not compare to this, or to a Japanese experience, and I say that as someone completely unqualified to make such a comparison.

What I am qualified to comment on though is value for money, and the €40 I spent here represented really good value for the quality that was provided, and I will look forward to returning for some nigiri again soon. As such, Kirei is a most welcome addition to the clutch of Japanese restaurants in and around Malaga. I still just about prefer Oleo, but it replaces Ba at number 2, which I think suffers a little from its position, facing as it does, away from the seaview, and never seems to be very busy.

Here are my very first scores.

Overall 7/10
Food Value for Money 8/10
Wine Value for Money 2/10

So, that's my first review done. In reviewing the original objectives of this blog (see here), and given that I've been locked out of my audible account, it's pretty clear that I've made scant progress on the first three objectives.

The beard is coming on a treat though.

Kirei Valeria, MalagaKirei Valeria, Malaga