Sergi Arola is a Catalonian chef who has risen to fame as one of Ferran Adria’s most popular disciples.
In the cosmopolitan capital of Madrid, Arola has five restaurants including his namesake Sergi Arola, a gastro vermut bar in the basement below and Vi Cool for his innovations with tapas.
Vi Cool
Vi Cool reinterprets traditional tapas in a contemporary, relaxed, and stylishly cool atmosphere.
My first exposure to the restaurant was not even in Spain. It was in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the location has now closed, but the tapas and those signature patatas bravas left a lasting impression.
So naturally, Vi Cool in Madrid was a necessary visit.
The menu features all of Arola’s signature creations from cocas, his Catalan style pizzas, to Bravas de Arola, his famous reinterpretation on the traditional patatas bravas.
The sophisticated approachability, the playful presentation, and the taste of quality all speak for themselves.
The tapas experience is already fun. Vi Cool makes tapas even more fun.
Vi Cool Lagasca in the posh Salamanca neighborhood. The interior is fun, cool, relaxed, and yet sophisticated for the neighborhood. Weekday lunch offers a “menu del día” with a cold and hot tapa, an entrée, and a coffee or dessert – a fantastic dealBread service, the Catalan way of pan con tomate, with whole garlic cloves and tomato puree to spread on the bread. The simple, fun presentation sets the mood for the mealEnsalada de tomate y atun ahumado. Tomato salad with raw tuna. This dish perfectly shows off the quality of Spain’s ingredients. Tomatoes are succulently sweet, red, and plump during the hot summer monthsPortobello carpaccio. Thinly sliced Portobello mushrooms topped with grated cheese and chopped pine nuts. Another plate proudly showing off the country’s ingredients by presenting them in their raw formBuñuelos de merluza en tempura con mayonesa de vermu blanco. Las bravas de Arola. Fried cod with mayonnaise and Arola’s famous patatas bravas. In any of Sergi’s restaurants, you must order the Bravas. They are his signature creation of a potato sphere with brava sauce inside topped with homemade mayonnaiseAlitas de pollo con salsa “Kimchi” y cebolleta tierna. Chicken wings in kimchi sauce and green onions. You can’t go wrong with chicken wings. This is another worthy tapa with an Asian inspiration for a slightly spicy kickArroz con langostino. Rice with langoustines. For the lunch of the day entrée, there was a choice of this rice dish or a burger. Both are a great choice and excellent value. The rice and seafood were perfectly cooked with a pronounced taste of the langoustinesIf you do not want dessert, you can have a coffee or tea. This shot of espresso is brought to you by Nespresso. As a frequent luxury traveler, Nespresso machines and pods are often in my hotel rooms, so much so I have one at home. So to have it in a high-quality restaurant is also a familiar treatCopa catalana. And if you want dessert, you can have a cup for the crema catalana topped with a Maria biscuit. The presentation all the way to dessert is consistently fun and playful and completes the meal on a happy note
Vi Cool Huertas | Website | TripAdvisor
Calle Huertas 12
Huertas
Madrid, Spain
+34-914-294-913
1pm to 4pm and 8pm to 12am
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