[New Eats] Spanish Molecular Fine Dining w/SciFi Vibes – Nébula

The Place:

Modern molecular Spanish-Ecuadorian-Chinese crossover cuisine with an intergalactic theme. Nébula opened just weeks ago in Haisu Greenland, an enclave of offices, retail spots and restaurants at the far end of Zhaohua Rd.

Helming the kitchen is Executive Chef Jonatan Rubio. He brings to Nébula 15 years of experience in the kitchen. In that time, we are told, he's picked up cooking techniques from the likes of Japan, Italy, France and even Nepal. He has a few notable bullet points on his resume too. He worked as the head chef at Ikaro, the Michelin-starred restaurant in Logroño, Spain owned by culinary power couple Carolina Sanchez and Iñaki Murua. He was also the executive chef at Kriollo por Ikaro, their restaurant in Quito, Ecuador.

The Space:

It's considerably smaller and more intimate than the cold and vast expanse of interstellar space. Galactic central point is a chef's counter. Here eight guests can watch Rubio as he puts on the finishing touches of each dish. Six other tables sit around it like satellites. They also offer two private dining rooms that can accommodate four or eight guests.

The ceiling is a night sky. Hundreds of pinhole lights twinkle like stars. Concentric geodesic spheres hang below like abstract planets. A dense cloud of 2,700 glass beads hovers over the chef's counter, like an errant spiral arm of the Milky Way. It's like a planetarium with a kitchen. You half expect your dinner to be narrated by the voice of Carl Sagan. Instead, you get a seamless playlist of ethereal trance beats.

The Food:

This is the kind of food that is designed and engineered as much as it is cooked. It even comes with an illustrated guide to all 12 courses, complete with callouts of every garnish, dollop, or sauce squiggle.

Dinner takes off with an homage to an Iberian mainstay, chicken gizzards stewed in red wine. Traditionally, it's a hearty dish best sopped up by a slice of crusty bread. For Rubio, bread presents an opportunity to pay tribute to Albert Adriá, the younger brother of the founding father of molecular gastronomy Ferran Adriá. He garnishes the gizzards with Yunnan truffles and serves them over a cube of "crystal bread," an airy, crunchy concoction of konjac flour that Adriá originally made famous at his restaurant El Bulli.

Elsewhere he fuses forest floor flavors with the freshness of the ocean. Sea urchin proves an unexpectedly tasty pairing with a stew of chantarelles and a black mushroom cream. A light onion foam adds a layer of complex sweetness. Fried artichoke petals give it texture, while candied lemon finishes it off with a note of freshness.

A course of prawn, langoustine, and lobster charts Rubio's culinary travels. The journey begins with his take on Catalan prawn tartare. He sandwiches the tartare between two thin, crispy squares of fried chicken skin. A black garlic emulsion gives it an accent of sweetness and umami. Next on the itinerary is Ecuador for a reimagined ceviche: grilled langoustine tail with a coconut-cherry foam and a coriander gelée. Final stop: China for a helping of blue lobster macerated in yellow rice wine longans.

Not surprisingly, Rubio reinterprets a paella too. It's steeped in rich mushroom essence and wrapped in soccarat, a crispy, caramelized layer of rice that sticks to the pan when it's done. It's served alongside duck breast sous vide and seared to a perfect pink center with a purple sweet potato cream, duck jus and roasted garlic sauce.

And of course, this kind of cuisine wouldn't be complete without something frozen in liquid nitrogen. Rubio comes to the table to press and freeze a mix of white chocolate and mango between two ornate waffle irons. The result is a cool, sweet, and creamy wafer. It's served with rolls of caramelized mango rolls, coriander cream, and an unlikely match of black olive jam.

The Damage:

12 courses will set you back 1,288 yuan per person. They also offer curated wine pairings at 390 yuan for five glasses of Spanish wine or 790 yuan for a global selection of six. If you want to do your own bottle, they'll also oblige for anywhere between 600 and 4000. Add 10 percent to all of that for service. Those white chocolate mango waffles aren't going to freeze themselves.

Good For:

Classy Trekkies with some money to burn.

If you go...

Opening hours: 6pm-10:30

Tel: 150-2695-0366

Venue: 2/F, Unit 4, Bldg B, Hai Su Cultural Square

Address: 666 Zhaohua Rd

For Didi Copy and Paste: 昭化路666号

For Reservations Add this WeChat: Nebula_SH 666

It's kind of... tricky to get to... so we're including the restaurant's nav guide: