My last evening here in Orlando. I did see Jaleo and didn’t see anything else that looked interesting nearby. Plus it was Spanish food once again and I’ve certainly enjoyed the other José Andrés restaurants to which we’ve been. Jaleo in the Cosmopolitan always looked pretty good and we just never got around to eating there (although in sense we did eat there since we ate at é by José Andrés which is the more exclusive restaurant inside of Jaleo), so this was a chance to try it. The restaurant is located in the Disney Springs outdoor shopping mall. I did see a few stores that I wanted to check out too while I was here.
I wanted to sit outside so I had a bit of a wait (plus I was early for my reservation anyway). I’m glad I waited for that since it was really loud inside. Of course, I was seated at a table big enough for 6 people, lol. There were two tasting menus, the Jaleo Experience and the ¡Eat Like José! except that the ¡Eat Like José! said it required two people for the tasting menu and features many of José’s favorite dishes. I asked anyway and the waitperson said he’d talk to the chef and do it just for one. Nice! I also went with the ¡Drink Like José! wine pairing for only $65 (regular pairing was only $49).
As it would turn out, there were 15(!) dishes in this tasting menu and I think because I was solo, I basically had a serving for 2 people on some dishes. The first four dishes came out in rapid succession. It started with the server wheeling out the jamón on the cart and preparing the José’s taco (which I also had at Bazaar Meat and the seafood version at Bazaar Mar) which placed the jamón atop small sheet of nori and topped with some Osetra caviar. This seemed as good as the other versions I’ve had. The other dishes in this first group also included the Aceitunas moderna (the ‘Ferran Adrià’ liquid olive), the River Trout Cone, and a very thin pan de cristal with a bit of something with some sweetness and topped with fine grated cheese.
Next came a series of mostly seafood dishes. It did start with the Endibias con queso de cabra y naranjas (endive with goat cheese and orange), Atún crudo con piparras, boqueron (Spanish white anchovy), Mejillones with potato chips (I forgot to take a picture before I ate the mussels, so I only have it after), and a plate with Croquetas de pollo and Buñuelos de bacalao which came with a honey aioli. I love anchovies so of course I loved the anchovy bite on the bread and slide of marinated chili pepper. The chicken croqueta was so creamy, it was almost like eating chicken pot pie filling (seriously) and I liked this preparation of bacalao although didn’t really care much for the honey aioli though.
I was also supposed to receive the Gambas al ajillo which my waitperson mentioned was coming, but they must have missed the order although they later realized it and I did receive it as my last savory dish after a very long wait. But before that came, I received my other savory dishes which included the Patatas bravas, the Carne asada con piquillos confitados, and a Pimientos del piquillo rellenos con queso Caña de cabra. The steak was mercifully still had some pink on the inside, but it was only ok/good enough.
After a very long wait, the Gambas arrived with a side of bread. The waitperson did recommend I squeeze out the head which was good advice (I’m curious how many people follow that advice) because I’ve always thought the head was the most flavorful part of the shrimp by far.
Even after all that, there was still the dessert courses. First was the Pan con chocolate which was a cakey chocolatey ball with some brioche ice cream and a thin wafer of crisped fried bread. This was only ok and I didn’t finish it. The other dessert though was the Flan al estilo tradicional de mamá Marisa con espuma de crema catalana. Their flan was so light and creamy (and I usually prefer eggy flan) with the Catalan whipped cream (looked like small flecks of vanilla bean) and the caramel sauce was surprisingly light with the addition of some citrus (orange?). It was a very different flan and different than my typical preference, but I really liked it.
Aside from the slightly uneven service with the mixup with the shrimp, the wine service was very uneven. At one time, I was brought out two wines at the same time. While I had those, they brought out another wine early which I wouldn’t need until I finished with the dishes I already had. I had the feeling overall that they don’t get many people who do the tasting menu and the wine pairing (and given this is basically in a Disney outdoor mall) and no doubt the waitperson had many other bigger tables to deal with so I suppose he did his best. I did certainly get to taste a lot of food and I most definitely did not leave hungry!
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