New Order: sea urchin with bagna càuda, quail egg and fermented milk at RIGO’
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The dish
Sea urchin with bagna càuda, quail egg and fermented milk at Gonzalo Luzarraga’s new Fulham place, RIGO’.
The USP
Each dish at RIGO’ tells a story, and Luzarraga’s signature sea urchin is no different: a visually arresting surf ’n’ turf dish scooped inside the urchin’s shell, atop a bed of sea salt.
It has a curious texture, moist like an oyster but juicy and meaty too, like a snail. It certainly shakes up the London restaurant scene.
For Luzarraga, it’s personal. “This dish represents one of my first memories,” he says. “When I was six years old I used to go on holiday to Spain, where my father loved to dive and go fishing. I would wait patiently for him on the beach, and he would always bring back a sea urchin. He’d pack a lemon in his beach bag to accompany it.”
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Luzarraga didn’t have sea urchin again until “10 years ago, when I was in Chile where I tried it at a fish market. It blew my mind and brought back memories — I had to incorporate it into the menu as an homage to my father.”
Luzarraga’s food attests to be from a “kitchen without borders”. “The restaurant is Italian but I have worked in Spain, France and Italy and the menu shows my journey.”
The accompaniment
A dessert of porcini brûlée, with chestnut cream, caramelised popcorn and black sesame. Luzarraga caramelises the popcorn crust with a blowtorch in the kitchen. Chestnut cream should not work as a sweet substitute but it does: a delicate froth perched on the popcorn brûlée bed.
The drink
A Royal Aperol Spritz with champagne, vermouth and a pomegranate and basil tonic and the Mentha Margherita, with freshly juiced mint leaves. Fittingly, both are just as original as the urchin.