Jamonera

After attending Philly Magazine's Philly Cooks Event in February, I couldn't wait to eat at Jamonera. I went last night for my birthday, and I'm still dreaming about it. It was dark in the restaurant, so the pictures did not come out that well, and some of the dishes I couldn't get pictures of at all. I will not use my flash in a dark restaurant- can't, won't.

They first brought to the table a bowl of olives and nuts, which was pretty tasty. I took a picture because some of the olives were the tiniest ones I've ever seen, and I was laughing a little.

Basically, you tell them all the things you want on the menu, and then they course them out for you, bring one at a time. First, we got the SPANISH BREAKFAST BITE, which is house made duck sausage, fried quail eggs, caramelized onions, zamorano cheese shredded on top. Here is my attempt at a photo:

This was a very large bite, and the best part of the meal. The duck sausage was spicy which added a nice kick, and the little egg on top was perfectly runny. The bread was toasted to perfection, thick enough to hold the toppings, but not thick enough to take away from the dish.

Next up, we had the LANCASTER PIG EGG, deviled farm egg, romesco, crispy pig belly.

I love a good deviled egg, and these did not disappoint. It was your standard deviled egg but with delicious pork belly on top that tasted like thick bacon. I don't know exactly what the red sauce underneath was, but it was sweet and I’m pretty sure there was some sort of nut in it?

We needed to get the jamon iberico, so we went with the chef's board, which includes two meats, two cheeses, and accompaniments (never necessary, but we ate them). 

We chose the Jamon Iberico, Chorizo, a goat cheese, and a cow's milk cheese (not sure of the names). The chorizo wasn't very spicy, but it was good. The Jamon Iberico had the saltiness of a Serano, but absolutely melted in your mouth.

Next up, the ALBONDIGAS, which were house ground pork  and beef meatballs, ibores cheese, 4 hour tomato-jamon sauce, grilled garlic bread. I can only describe these as your typical meatballs, but with so much more flavor and moisture. The sauce was excellent, chunky, flavorful, delicious. 

Last, we got the Paella Mixta. I was so full at this point, but it was still worth getting. You usually have to wait a while for paella and we did, but this time we had all the other bites to eat while waiting. The paella included squid (not too chewy or dry, but could have used more), mussels (cooked perfectly, not chewy, sandy, or dry), Spanish sausage (not spicy, crisp on the edges), pork belly (so crisp yet melted in your mouth, so good I almost cried), and a quarter chicken (so moist, and the outside SO crisp). The rice underneath was cooked perfectly, with a nice crunch on the bottom. 

All I can say is, go here.