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    Almodóvar's Kitchen Personal Chef Services

    5.0 (15 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 10:00 pm

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    Services - Almodóvar's Kitchen Personal Chef Services

    Catering

    Personal chefs

    Vegan catering

    1 More Service

    Vegetarian catering

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    An incredible salad with heirloom tomatoes, jamón ibérico, and a delicious freshly-blended sauce.
    Daniel C.

    I recently hired Helga Pons as a personal chef for a five-course Spanish dinner, and I wanted to share my experience. First, some background about me: I lived in Spain for a year before and I've traveled around most of Spain the way Mark Wiens travels, eating my way from one place to the next. From our first communication, Helga took the time to listen and understand our tastes and preferences. Not only that, she wanted to know what parts of Spain we had visited and were strongest in our memory; this would ultimately inform the dishes she would prepare. The dinner was one of the best culinary experiences of my life, and for one night I felt like I was back in Spain. As I've never hired a personal chef before, I asked her to do something a bit different. As I'm trying to learn how to cook some Spanish dishes, I asked if I could purchase the ingredients myself in order to really understand the thought that goes into putting together dishes like her AMAZING heirloom tomato and jamón ibérico salad. She agreed on a one-off basis (she usually doesn't do this). She put together a menu and I was off to the races. In addition to showing me which imported ingredients to order from a Spanish store online, Helga sent me to specialty markets with reasonable prices and the freshest produce and seafood; these are places that I would have never known about if she hadn't told me. Participating in gathering the ingredients also gave me a unique view into Helga's philosophy in the kitchen; she is demanding with the ingredients she uses, and every single ingredient is chosen carefully and often used in multiple recipes. I think if you've never purchased the ingredients yourself, it's hard to understand the incredible value added by a personal chef; she doesn't just run to Costco to get your ingredients, she's driving to each location to get the very best from each: a particular sweet onion from this farmer's market, a bittersweet baking chocolate from Whole Foods, a cuttlefish ink from a particular fishmarket. I think the photos in this review will speak for themselves, so I'd like to focus on the experience itself. It's something else seeing a professional chef like Helga cooking in your kitchen. There was one moment when she was making the sofrito for the squid ink paella where the whole house filled with the incredible aroma of sauteeing garlic, onions, and spices; then, to see her use a shot of brandy to flambé the sofrito and somehow intensify the aroma was incredible. Another moment I remember was watching her navigate two types of octopus that I had accidentally bought and had in excess; despite one octopus being originally raw and the other being pre-cooked, she managed to combine both types of octopus into one dish - Pulpo a la gallega - in a seamless way; the texture on that octopus was perfect, paired with the melt-in-your-mouth potato, crisp sea salt and smoked paprika. TLDR: Chef Helga Pons made a very special and memorable dinner for me and my wife, which reminded me of a happy time in my life when I lived in Spain. Her dishes transported me to different parts of Spain: Asturias with the chorizos a la sidra, Galicia with the Pulpo a la gallega, the Basque Country with chipirones, Barcelona with a squid ink paella, and then back to Chocolatería San Ginés in Madrid for a nice chocolate con churros to finish the evening. Helga and her sous chef Alejandro were wonderful to work with from start to finish. I highly recommend her services. One last thought. All my adult life I've had a mild reaction to chocolate; I eat it and I get canker sores the next day. Somehow with her chocolate con churros, I was fine! Not only that, I was enjoying the leftover chocolate for days afterwards, making chocolate everything out of it and I didn't have any reaction. This was the best chocolate of my life, and it was the perfect way to end the evening.

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    Thank you Jade for trusting in us

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    Review Highlights - Almodóvar's Kitchen Personal Chef Services

    Helga is from Barcelona and prepares amazing food that can transport you to the beautiful European country!

    Mentioned in 10 reviews

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