Wineries, windmills and award-winning workshops: culinary travel series 50 Best Explores is back with a trio of tours around the historic Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha. Starting this spring, 50 Best and three world-renowned chefs will set off on a series of mouth-watering tours around the locality lauded for its rich culture and history
For its 2023 return, 50 Best Explores will experience the very best the Iberian region of Castilla-La Mancha has to offer in an upcoming three-part video series. Since launching in 2018, the franchise has seen world-renowned chefs such as Ana Roš and Junghyun Park immerse themselves in the culinary traditions of Peru and Ontario, with the next stop planned for Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, later this year.
The three videos will follow separate trips across the region, each focusing on the produce, people and patronage of Castilla-La Mancha throughout the seasons. The first trip, taking place from 20th-24th of March, will see French chef Eric Ripert of New York’s Le Bernardin (No.44 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022) learn about Manchegan lamb, meet artisan cheese producers and sample some of the region’s finest restaurants in the blossoming spring. The later expeditions will focus on wine and melon harvests during the summer, before taking in the region’s truffles, game meat and saffron in the winter.
Discover the itinerary of the inaugural exploration below, featuring cutting-edge cuisine, olive oil distilleries, pottery masterclasses and more.
Be part of the adventure as 50 Best and Eric Ripert explore Castilla-La Mancha: tune in on @TheWorlds50Best and @50BestDiscovery Instagram pages and follow the #50BestExplores hashtag for live, behind-the-scenes access between 20th-24th March, then stay tuned for the videos to follow on 50 Best Restaurants TV.
Day one: Cheese, wine and windmills
The windmills of Consuegra and Manchego cheese are two of the Castilla La-Mancha's claims to fame
The first day in Castilla-La Mancha will see 50 Best and Ripert get their first experience of local Manchegan culture and cuisine with an afternoon at Finca La Prudenciana, an estate that produces lamb and the region’s most famous export, Manchego cheese, which will culminate in a traditional lunch highlighting the region’s best ingredients. Next will be a stop at the windmills of Consuegra, a historic set of 12 white heritage structures most famous for their inclusion in the landmark 17th-century novel, Don Quixote. The day will conclude in Toledo to witness one of the city’s breathtaking sunsets.
Day two: Touring Toledo
The historic walls of Toledo hold within them numerous restaurants, bakeries and more
The second day of the Spanish adventure will be centred around the city of Toledo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, beginning with a workshop at Santo Tomé, a traditional mazapán bakery. The marzipan, which must be made from at least 50% almonds to be classified as mazapán de Toledo, is still crafted using traditional methods by the bakery, which has been serving the city for over 160 years.
Next, Ripert and the team will tour Finca Loranque winery and vineyard on the outskirts of the city to learn about the region’s rich history of viniculture, which dates back to ancient Roman times. Once tastes and curiosities have been quenched, it will be chef Iván Cerdeño’s turn to host dinner at his eponymous restaurant, located in the rolling hills of the city with a stunning backdrop of the river Tagus. Cerdeño, whose restaurant is the only one in the vicinity to hold two Michelin stars, will craft an unforgettable gastronomic experience channeling his inventive take on contemporary Spanish cuisine.
The second day will conclude with a walking tapas tour of Toledo’s Old Town, sampling some of its most celebrated stops for the traditional fare.
Day three: Outstanding olive oil
Many chefs within the region, such as Carlos Maldonado, make use of Castilla-La Mancha's exemplary produce in their restaurants
Welcoming the 50 Best Explores team on the third day will be Finca La Pontezuela, an award-winning olive oil distillery with over 72 accolades under its belt, where Ripert will tour the expanses of its olive groves and taste its highly celebrated extra virgin oils. Lunch will be served at Raíces Restaurant the city of Talavera de la Reina, helmed by chef Carlos Maldonado, a previous winner of MasterChef Spain known for his contemporary take on Manchegan cuisine injected with international influences. The experience in Talavera de la Reina will be completed via a tour of a pottery workshop that supplies Maldonado’s restaurant, whose creations blend Castilla-La Mancha’s long history of ceramics with modern avant-garde designs.
Day four: A trio of chefs
Adolfo Muñoz, Pepe Rodríguez and Víctor Infantes (L to R) will all serve as hosts to the visitors in their respective restaurants
The final excursion of the gastronomic-focused tour will commence at El Bohío Restaurant in Illescas, where chef Pepe Rodríguez will demonstrate his sophisticated translation of the humble food of Castilla-La Mancha into fine gastronomy. Shortly after, lunch at the nearby Ancestral Restaurant will display chef Víctor Infantes’ masterful cooking in his neo-industrial temple devoted to fire and smoke, spotlighting the breadth of gastronomic offerings in the region.
Bringing the trip to a close, Cigarral Viñedos de Santa María, a restaurant located in a vineyard atop one of Toledo’s surrounding hills, will provide the backdrop for the final supper. Chef Adolfo Muñoz is a bastion of the Toledan dining scene, having opened his first restaurant in the city in 1976, and will oversee the assembly of the many local producers, artisans and chefs encountered over the previous days for the perfect conclusion to the first of the 50 Best Explores trips for 2023.
To find out more about the 50 Best Explores series, subscribe to our YouTube channel and see what happened when Junghyun Park, Ignacio Mattos and Sam Lawrence visited Ontario:
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