Bellota and Bellota Unico

When it comes to rare food items, Galeries Lafayette, the famed Parisian shopping magnet, does not disappoint. Its two story Lafayette Gourmet offers eye-popping selections from gourmet sandwiches to a mobbed stall dedicated to Jamon Iberico. After sipping on cava, Spanish sparkling wine, comes the first dish - slices of Valle de Pedrix and Jabugo. Valle de Pedrix is darker and leaner while Jabugo is more marbled with fat and lighter as a result, both offering clean and well articulated flavor with mouthful texture. Second dish is Jabugo slices on a bed of steaming mashed potato where the heat releases alluring aromatic components to the nostrils. Finally, poached eggs with diced Jamon combine the simplicity of soft-boiled eggs and the intense punch of Jamon into an experience that is at once simple in ingredients yet profound in the tinkles that rush down the spine.

As good as the Jamon de Bellota slices are in Lafayette Gourmet, they ain’t no Jamon de Bellota Unico. For this, you have to go to Da Rosa Epicerie Fine whose owner, Jose Da Rosa, has been a purveyor in the Parisian restaurant scene for years. Several racks of whole legs greet the patrons from the windows and the young man with the carving knife offers slices to chew on while browsing. Wowing at the wondrous sight of hung Jamon de Bellota in the cellar, the army of wine and port standing in attention, and exotic spices flanked by bottles of Himalayan crystal salt, Da Rosa is a candy store for the gourmet inner child in you.




But, the real question is how good is Unico? It melts in your mouth like a well marbled meat, yet it is lean and does not coat your tongue with grease. With brininess of curing salt, sweetness of the meat, nuttiness of acorn playing off each other in infinite combinations, each bite comes with fluttering heart as long forgotten primal desires bubble from the core.

That, for cured meat suckers everywhere, is love.


Details
Lafayette Gourmet
Galeries Lafayette Haussmann
40, boulevard Haussmann
75009 Paris
www2.galerieslafayette.com

Da Rosa Epicerie Fine
62, rue de Seine
75006, Paris
T: 01-40-51-00-09
www.darosa.fr


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