The Prince and The Hawker

I love it when a restaurant has both strong ties to its location and a unique point of view. Blossom in Málaga is one such restaurant. Blossom’s tasting menu is filled with Spanish flavours and local ingredients, especially with an abundance of seafood. The menu is also dotted with South American sparks courtesy of the Argentinian chef’s origins. It also has a Bib Gourmand designation from Michelin.

The restaurant boasts an intimate space, with only about four indoor and four outdoor tables. The host/head server greeted us emphatically at the door and led us to our table. Since the restaurant solely offers a tasting menu, he showed us the menu and informed us that the kitchen had already started preparing our meals. He also mentioned that some items on the menu would be altered or replaced based on ingredient availability and that he would explain the dishes as they came.

Looking over the menu, we were excited by many of the flavour combinations, including kimchi and fermented lemon, and white chocolate and chamomile.

Time to Eat at Blossom

The first morsel our server put in front of us was a tiny and beautifully assembled carrot tartlet with peanut praline. The dazzling colours and the unusual flavour combination made for a fun dish. The tart shell was crisp and the peanut flavour came on strong without masking the dainty rounds of carrot.

Then came a delicately adorned mound of trout carpaccio flavoured with kimchi and fermented lemon. I thought the fermented lemon was an excellent complement but couldn’t distinguish any flavour from the kimchi. Perhaps they toned down the spiciness for Spanish tastebuds.

To round off the small bites was a pungent tartare on a crisp toast topped with thin slices of radish. The mustard condiment came through the tartare nicely. This dish gave a classic taste in a novel presentation.

A warming pumpkin soup was next. This felt like a quintessential winter dish (even though winter in Málaga still means summer-like temperatures for a Canadian like me) with toasted pumpkin seeds and a pumpkin rice cracker on top. The ginger notes in the soup punched through every spoonful.

Next was the ubiquitous South American dish, ceviche. This one was made with silver snapper and classic leche de tigre. A good deal of spiciness and acidity came through the sauce. The punchiness of flavours was a clear theme emerging from Blossom’s menu.

An interlude then came in the form of a small bread course. A homemade slice of wonderfully sweet rye and molasses bread. It was served with a silky smooth ewe’s milk butter.

As we moved into the more substantial dishes, the punchy flavours kept coming. Seared scallop on top of foie gras was a surprisingly sturdy base in the next dish. Painted on this base was a mix of ground Málaga almond butter sauce, sweet potato puree, and vanilla oil. I loved how the sweet condiments helped bring out the sweet notes in the scallop.

The catch of the day was sea bass. It was perfectly cooked with a thin slice of Ibérico pork on top which acted like skin for the piece of fish. The seaweed parsley cream sauce complemented the fish well and had fun pearls of seaweed dotted throughout.

The next dish I thought was very innovative. It was a white asparagus panna cotta topped with caviar, served with a burnt shallot sauce and drops of blackcurrant oil. The sauce and oil brought smoky and bright flavours to the relatively mild canvas of white asparagus.

One of my favourite dishes of the night was next. Wonderfully crispy fried sweetbread served on top of a chickpea fainá (flatbread). Hard to describe, I felt the fainá was a canvas the colour of white on which the sweetbread and its sweet glaze lay.

Getting into the meat dishes, first came a beautiful duck with roasted onion, cauliflower puree, and sweetcorn nduja oil. Again, the accents from the accompaniments served to elevate the main protein.

Finally came the heavy hitter dish of the tasting menu: venison from Córdoba served with its a mushroom velouté, mole, beetroot, and beetroot gelee. The venison was a beautiful medium rare, leaning on the rare side which I love. What was interesting was that the beetroot’s savoury and sweet sides were accentuated by the mushroom sauce and the mole, respectively.

The desserts were probably the most beautiful dishes of the night. The first was a dish of caramelised apple, English custard, tonka bean, and chamomile. All the flavours worked wonderfully together without being too sweet. The caramelisation on the apple was light, giving the feeling more of a confit.

The second dessert was a chocolate ganache infused with ginger, accented with dulce de leche and pine nuts. Again, the dish was beautifully plated. We were one of the last tables to dine that night. After seeing our faces light up eating this dessert, the head server offered us another serving. This was a welcome surprise and we emphatically accepted.

As a last treat served with our bill, we were given chocolate ganache truffles with frozen raspberries – a lovely end to a lovely experience.

Final Thoughts

Blossom’s tasting menu was a knockout! The overarching theme was punchy flavours on top of reliable base ingredients. The mix of Spanish flavours and ingredients with sparks of South American innovation was very interesting. I also enjoyed that some flavours recurred throughout the menu, like ginger, turnip, and almond. This brought a level of cohesiveness.

The staff were excellent. The head server really shined in explaining the origins and profiles of the wine pairings my partner opted for. Members of staff hailed from all corners of the world, including South America, Europe, and the British Isles. Peering into the open kitchen throughout the meal, I noticed the kitchen and serving staff interacting collegially and laughing. This is always a good sign for me and I like seeing camaraderie in an industry that can often have toxic workplaces.

Situated in the centre of Málaga, Blossom’s innovative and flavourful tasting menu is a must-try. Be sure to make a reservation, as there are only a handful of tables at this establishment.