Just a few streets from the Plaza del Pilar, Los Xarmientos Parrilla Aragonesa continues one more year to establish itself as one of the reference restaurants for those looking to taste Aragonese gastronomy first-hand. Beyond its privileged location, this establishment has made local produce, its own production and grilled cuisine the three main pillars on which its proposal is based.
If there is a dish at Los Xarmientos that sums up all that philosophy, it is «the shoulder of suckling lamb«, a true flagship of the house. Cooked for 12 hours at low temperature before being grilled, it has become the quintessential dish of this establishment. «By cooking it for so long at a low temperature, the meat is super tender and juicy,» the restaurant explains to Aragón Digital.
THE ARAGONESE PRODUCT, THE PROTAGONIST OF THE KITCHEN
One of the main hallmarks of this restaurant is its commitment to local produce. Los Xarmientos works all its dishes with products from the Aragonese community, thus reducing intermediaries as much as possible so that both meats and fruit and vegetables arrive fresh in the kitchen.
Both fruits and vegetables as well as cheese and meat, are all products made and acquired from local producers, only in the case of fish is it acquired from a national distributor for obvious reasons. «We try to make the product zero-kilometer. The fewer intermediaries there are, the better. We want it to arrive as fresh as possible,» they say.
Among the products that most surprise customers is the Barbastro tomato that they serve on the menu, an ingredient for which they are willing to sacrifice profitability in favor of quality: «It is a tomato that tastes like a tomato. It is one of the products with the least benefit for us, but when people try it they always say the same thing: it has been a long time since they have eaten a tomato like this.»
un premio que has boosted one of its dishes
Without neglecting the prominence of lamb, this last year another elaboration has been gaining relevance within the menu. It is the «oxtail timbale», with which the restaurant won the first prize for the Best Oxtail Dish, a gastronomic contest held in collaboration with the Las Moradas de San Martín winery.
The award-winning dish combines oxtail cooked for hours with a pickled zucchini, a tile of Grana Padano cheese and a demi-glace made from the meat’s own juice.
In addition to this recognition, a spinach salad with burrata, mango vinaigrette and creamy avocado was well received last June, created together with the solidarity initiative The MoveMen to give visibility to prostate cancer. The proposal became one of the most requested dishes on the menu of the day in that month.
A MENU WITH ARAGONESE FLAVOUR AND INTERNATIONAL WINKS
The gastronomic offer of Los Xarmientos is structured around three proposals. On the one hand, the menu of the day, available from Tuesday to Friday, where local produce is combined with flavours from other cuisines around the world. An example of this are dishes such as a Tai-style hake with coconut milk and tamarindor a recipe that incorporates Asian influences without losing sight of local produce.
The second proposal is the menu, starring classics such as migas, the assortment of grilled meats, octopus, cod or the well-known tomato salad from Barbastro. Added to this is the wide variety of desserts made in-house.
Finally, Los Xarmientos has an Aragonese Menu designed for those who want to discover some of the most representative flavours of the community and a Special Tasting Menu to taste the restaurant’s most successful dishes.
In addition, during festivities such as San Jorge, San Valero or different weekends of the year, the restaurant incorporates off-menu suggestions made with seasonal products.
EVERYTHING IS DONE AT HOME
Beyond the raw material, the restaurant focuses on another aspect that it considers fundamental: its own preparation. From sauces to desserts, virtually everything is prepared in their kitchens. «When a sauce tastes like pepper it is because we have cooked that pepper ourselves. All the preparations are made here,» they explain.
Each dish requires different previous processes that are carried out daily in the restaurant, a philosophy that they also transfer to the desserts and that they consider one of the great differential values of the house compared to other gastronomic proposals.
EXPERIENCE, BEYOND THE PLATE
Along with the kitchen, the Los Xarmientos team also puts the accent on service. Their objective, they explain, is that each customer feels accompanied throughout the experience, from the moment they walk through the door until they leave the restaurant.
The combination of a cuisine based on Aragonese products, artisanal preparation and close attention is, they say, the recipe that has allowed them to continue consolidating themselves as one of the reference establishments to enjoy traditional gastronomy in the heart of Zaragoza.
