Restaurante Nublo, con las brasas como el corazón de Haro

Of wine and embers

Nublo Restaurant, with the embers as the heart of Haro

Where to eat in Haro? Miguel Caño, Dani Lasa, and Llorenç Segarra form a trio that spun off from Mugaritz and has just settled in Haro to showcase the consolidation of their careers in a project focused on charcoal grilling, lighting, and quality ingredients. Javier Vicente Caballero. Images: Aurora Blanco.

The stone walls climb to the skylight, which reveals the clear Riojan sky. The fire crackles, the silence burns. The clouds drift leisurely as the choreography of the dining room meanders with precision through the courtyard. Oven and grill converse. Rocks and cirrus clouds in communion in the town of Haro. Nublo is the name of this place of stone and embers, which promises to become a leading stop among those sanctuaries of raw ingredients with minimal and calculated intervention. In just one year, it has earned a Michelin star and widespread prestige both within and beyond the Riojan town.

Nublo Restaurant. A restaurant in Haro.

To achieve this, the trio of Miguel Caño (the driving force), Dani Lasa, and Llorenç Segarra, joined by Caio Barcellos, have founded (and fused) their respective careers. Their background at Mugaritz has shaped their character and refined their methods. Their starting point is a palatial house in Plaza de San Martín. “This house, which was in ruins, dates back to the 16th century, and its first owners were the ones who conquered Mendoza, Argentina. Santos Bregaña has done a tremendous job with the spaces and interior design. The central courtyard and the skylights are key features, but we've also created lounges on some floors and even a terrace. This terrace is a 16th-century spiral staircase that serves as a wine cellar, with walls adorned with bottles” explains Caño, who promises that local and railway wines, from the area with the highest concentration of century-old wineries in the world, will take center stage.

As for culinary commandments, a meticulous selection of ingredients combined with subtle technique is established, “no fireworks or rockets. And plenty of firewood, vine shoots, and tendrils. Also, a certain culinary regeneration, which is needed here, like playing with preserves, pickles, fermentations, our garden... There will be a fixed structure on the menu, beef tendon, beef cuts, or sea cucumbers, which is combined with the season's offerings of asparagus, line-caught squid, peas, or artichokes. The tasting menu has 13 courses” they explain in unison. A poem by José Emilio Pacheco punctuates the entrance leading to the dining room, revealing the luminous concept of ephemeral beauty that Nublo embodies: “Clouds last because they dissolve. Their matter is absence, and they give life.”