Mijo Minibar (Vigo)
The other day I told you about Ruxe Ruxe in Vigo. Today, I want to talk about another restaurant in the same city, Mijo Minibar.
The night before an amazing gig in Vigo, I couldn’t sleep. You can blame it on stress if you want, but I have the nicest type of insomnia, the one that comes in the morning. Sometimes, I simply wake up because I hear a noise at 5am and I can’t sleep again. It doesn’t bother me too much if I don’t have a gig the next day…but when I have to work at night it usually bothers me a lot.
So, what do normal people do when they can’t sleep? Probably watch TV, read or meditate. Not me, of course, I’m too weird for that. I simply browse food, recipes, restaurants or anything food realted on the internet. Yes, I know, probably not the best way to fall asleep again. The thing is, that night/morning, after noting down some dishes I wanted to try and add some cookbooks to my (always endless) wishlist, I found this place. It was like a revelation and I understood I had to pay attention to what I saw, and stop trying to sleep. I knew where I was going to eat that day, before even thinking about breakfast.
That same morning we were due to give some interviews on the radio. We had to spend the whole morning from one station to the other, so in the end…I couldn’t have breakfast, just a quick coffee at Othilio (where I went back in the afternoon for a Vermouth)
When I left one of the radios to go to another, I found an amazing shop where I bought some stuff for myself. I usually don’t do that kind of thing, but the shop was too pretty and it was Saint Silvio…so I had an excuse hihi.
After all the promo work, we stopped in Mijo Minibar. One of my friends told me he wasn’t sure he was going to like it (kind of a traditional guy) He made me look around the block and see if he found something less “new”. I knew I was gonna eat there, so I just went with the flow and nagged about it while we walked. Finally, Carlos said something like: “She’s made up her mind about it…don’t try to change the place” and after saying I had been thinking about that place since 6am and I hadn’t have breakfast yet, I used my new secret weapon: “I have a food blog, so I choose, if you choose, you can’t read about it because it’s going to be awful”. I know I sound like a two-year-old, but he needs to pay for something he’s done. Notice the sarcasm, hope you’re reading this, dude! 😉
And there we were. A lovely table next to the window and the bar. I ordered a sherry cocktail to start with, the cocktail of the month: “Sherry Crusta”. I have to admit that I only use sherry for cooking, so whenever I drink it…it kind of tastes like food to me. That’s why I ordered the cocktail, I needed somebody else to make something with sherry in order to forget I cook with it. It was a very lovely drink. I would gladly have one now while I’m writing on my garden with the sun shining on my head. It was not too sweet (something I really appreciate in drinks) and the lemon zest gave an amazing aroma right next to my nose, very difficult to forget. Also the colour combination was beautiful. One of the members of the staff (pretty sure he is the owner) started telling me how he found these and other flavours in New York or London and how he brought them back to Vigo and make them his own. You know I always love to hear a good story, so we got along pretty quickly.
We ordered two set menus and a ceviche, so I could try a little bit of everything. The set menu had two options that day: Russian Salad or Low temperature egg with salad for starters and Chicken Burger or Gilt-head bream with Beetroot purée.
My, more traditional friend (his name is also Carlos, apparently everybody else’s name but mine) went for the Russian Salad and the Chicken Burger. I tried the salad and noticed they used orange, which I thought was a great twist to a traditional Russian Salad.
The low temperature egg was amazing. The egg white was as nice as the egg yolk. Normally you rush through the egg white to get to the richness of the yolk, but this time I enjoyed, more than ever, that nicely cooked white, so thank you for that. The salad was very well seasoned, and the use of the chards in it was unexpected and nice.
The ceviche was all you can ask from a ceviche. It’s not difficult to make a good ceviche when you have good fresh fish, but not everyone know how to balance the flavours in order to make a great ceviche. They used tomato, and I found it curious, because I’ve never used tomato in ceviches. I loved it, it was balanced, fresh and I’d love to have it now with that Sherry Crusta to wash it down. Peruvian food is amazing, and ceviches are finally having a spot in restaurants everywhere in the world. I’m really glad Mijo has it in their menu.
I didn’t try the chicken burger, but it looked juicy and meaty. I mean, you could see chunks of meat. About the fish, what can I say? When you see it, it looks so simple, but it has a lot of work going on. The fish itself was well cooked, the skin was crispy and nice. Then, I tried the radishes. At first, I thought they were salty, but then…I mixed them with the beetroot purée and understood they were ment to be eaten together. It was a perfect combination of flavours and texture. The perfect garnish for that fish. The broccoli also paired well with the rest of the dish, that appart from delicious was very flavourful and beautiful.
Although nobody wanted to order dessert and I wasn’t hungry anymore, I had to try one. Talking about their desserts, they insisted on the “Pot de crème”. When somebody says about their own food, that something is the best…you have to trust them. He let me know that it had black salt, and that some people didn’t like that too much, but most of them were loving it. I loved it before even trying it, I really enjoy desserts with a pinch of salt. I ordered the dessert and it was beautiful. Even though I am not a dessert person it was probably the best dish of the day. The texture was dense and the flavour was rich because of the eggs. The caramel was light and lovely, and the salt made it the perfect ending for the meal. Perfect amount of salt.
I’m really looking forward to try the rest of the desserts. Also, I’d love to try another cocktail and get surprised by how I like drinks that I usually don’t.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention that they have their own microfiltered water, and as they reuse their bottles, they offered me a chipped bottle in order to take it home that I’m using as a vase. That was a nice gesture, so thank you Mijo Minibar for a very lovely meal and a little present I’ll keep for as long as it lasts (or until I want an excuse to go back and enjoy some lovely food)
Have fun!