Phono by Johan Santiago
This is Nicolas Solanilla Leguizamón. He was born in Bogotá, Colombia and now resides in Guatemala City. He is the mind behind Ana, a restaurant inspired by his grandmother, that uses local techniques and seasonal ingredients to prepare every detail.
Today I've been invited by Nico, as we like to call him, to try Ana's upcoming menu.
The restaurant is located in what used to be a residential home in zone 14, Guatemala City. It's now been repurposed as a restaurant. Complete with a portrait of renowned chef Marco Pierre White.
Source: The New York Times
I was the only non-chef at the table. Everybody else has their own restaurant. I just have the privilege of being friends with them and getting these kinds of invitations.
My absolute favorite part of the experience was watching my friend Nico in action. He and his team treated us like special guests. The service was flawless as was every minute detail of the evening.
Before we were served, we were offered cocktails. I kicked the night off with a negroni.
First up was grilled bell pepper with raspberries, and green grapes. I was first brought to the table and then had gazpacho poured around it.
We were also brought bread that looked like river rocks. In fact, there were some rocks on the plate, but it was really hard to tell them apart.
It's mango season in Guatemala, so the next dish includes this delicious seasonal fruit. It was a small bowl of mango, squash and shrimp with coconut milk and covered with fruit "caviar" pearls. The presentation of every dish was very creative and unique. This was served in a sort of zen garden with volcanic rock for the spoon and volcanic sand from the pacific ocean, where the shrimp in the dish was most likely caught.
Next was focaccia with cacao paste, and by the looks of my glass over yonder, it was about time for another cocktail too.
Next up was a gourmet version of a popular Guatemalan dish, hilachas. Hilachas is made from shredded beef, and it usually looks like this:
image source: growingupbilingual.com
The gourmet version at Ana Cocina Local looks like this:
It was hearty, delicious and covered in rice, a magical froth and mache leaves.
Look what happens when chef Diego Telles of Flor de Lis mixes this dish. You can see the rice and tomato sauce. It was like something you would eat at grandma's house. One of my favorite plates for sure.
Next was top loin steak grilled to perfection, a side of sauce and believe it or not, that's mashed potato that's was also flambé'd to add flavor and texture.
cheers to all these delicious plates.
The final dish was dessert.
It might not look spectacular, but under there is a dark chocolate and salted caramel mousse. It was covered in truffle slices to complement the flavor.
As we finished our dining experience, Nico showed us his vintage meat slicer he picked up at a garage sale for next to nothing. Great find!
I then took some photos of the surroundings
This is a meat curing chamber with pink salt slabs at the bottom.
Thank you for coming with me in this culinary journey at Ana Cocina Local. I promise to have more like this in my next visit to one of my friends' restaurants. Hopefully I'm invited soon™
All images in this post are my own unless explicitly stated otherwise.