An authentic, delicious and inexpensive Michelin star experience: Restaurant Lienzo (7. May 2022)
What you experience at the Lienzo is a traditional and authentic Michelin-starred experience for a very decent price. We went for the larger “14-course tasting menu Lienzo” (EUR 95.00) which is definitely an experience. That being said, I have to give you a heads up. The interpretation of 14 courses is rather liberal in this case as all the amuse bouches are considered a course. Now, personally, that’s absolutely okay as the dishes are tasty and very enjoyable (with one exception) but it’s not what I would call a 14 course menu!
The first course is “orange blossom honey gelly cannelloni, stuffed with four-cornered cheese and black garlic honey” and it is a great bite. Smooth and creamy, with a crunchy outside, and the sweetness of the honey. Perfect to get your palate started.
The next course sounded rather boring but was actually amazing! The “eel terrine with alkalized pumpkin and arropyaki (a mix between arrop and teriyaki)” looked like the pumpkin was going to be hard to bite but it turned out to be perfect – and the combination of the saltiness of the eel, the based flavour of the pumpkin, and the sweet dash on top was just a bite which made my taste buds dance happily.
As good as the previous dish was, I did really not enjoy the third course. The “marrow thistle with ham fat and almonds” really had a taste of old fat – so, definitely not enjoyable. I think it’s a question of taste but this one was one I only finished half the way since it really didn’t speak to me.
The “choux stuffed with Valencian chicken pâté” was a good bite but on the rather intensive side of things – the chicken patée is rather intense and there shouldn’t be more of it since that would definitely be way too overwhelming for it to remain enjoyable.
The last course of the finger food dishes was “roasted Foal Royal served on a leaf to be eaten like a taco” and while it looked a bit confusing since the meat was somewhat glazed with sauce, it turned out to be exquisite. Another great bite.
The “bread with olive oil” would allow you to have a few bites between courses and to neutralise your palate.
The next course started a bit odd as we were basically shown a piece of clay. And were informed that the dish would be inside …
… which was then revealed after the waiter had hammered the clay open where some green asparagus and calzot were to be found which were then prepared …
… with some bottarga (dried fish roe) on top resulting in a pretty dish of …
… “clay (asparagus and calçots with traditional pil pil, tiger nut pil pil and mullet roe”. Frankly, it was good, and it was definitely an experience seeing the process of how the dish was prepared, but if it wasn’t for the bottarga, I would have found the dish to be a bit bland.
The next course was “shrimp from Santa Pola cooked in beeswax, tear pea, textured yolk and” …
… and filled up with an “emulsified broth from its pods with caraveruela sheep butter” making it a good dish in combination. The raw white prawn was tender and smooth and as enjoyable as the raw Carabinero the day before. Other than that, I liked that they had prepared a little bee (the yellow thing) paying a lot of attention to the details.
Since I’ve had a whole menu of kohlrabi when dining with “The Witcher”, I am a bit sceptical about kohlrabi dishes and this turned out to be true for me again today. The “organic kohlrabi cake glazed with a morella veal demi-glace, Manzanilla (Sherry wine) chantilly and osetra caviar” was really nothing exciting. I mean, sure, the dish works, if you make sure that you combine all the ingredients present on the plate in your spoon, then it does work. But the amount of kohlrabi compared to the other ingredients is just overwhelming making it hard to get the right balance between the different ingredients. That being said, this wasn’t my favourite dish of the evening.
The favourite dish came right after. It’s hard to see what exactly it is but it is “squid cooked at low temperature, with a dashi sauce, garlic, ginger and pickles topped with a tuille made from the squid’s own ink”. Of course, you have to smash the crunchy black ink – and once that happens, the magic begins. Get a bite full of the tender calamari noodles in combination with the refined dashi sauce and some chopped pickles. And I tell you, there will be an explosion of flavour in your mouth – just a perfect bite and definitely worth taking your time to savour every moment of the dish.
As great as the dish before was, this one didn’t do the trick for me either. The “Valencian confit beans, kale and partridge broth” was boring. Okay, to be fair, the bite with the garlic flower was intense and hit you with a note of garlic you didn’t expect. But the other bites were rather boring and definitely not what I’d call excellent.
That being said, I absolutely liked the “Mediterranean hake with sorrel and broccoli leaves and sage plant oil”. The hake was perfect in terms of texture, the pig sauce itself wasn’t really that amazing but in combination with the sweet and sour oxalis dots, it really made a difference. And the broccoli leaves which were on top of the hake really added a bit of something to the dish in terms of texture.
The last savoury dish, the “Guirro lamb cooked at low temperature with a demi glace of its own juices. Purple sweet potato gnocchis and a black lemon foam” was good. The lamb was tender and didn’t taste like lamb – so it was quite enjoyable. The foie sauce with the black powder really added to the dish. The sweet purple gnocchi were perfect – an absolute experience of perfectly yummy gnocchi causing a little flavour explosion of happiness in your mouth.
Then it was time for dessert already and while I wasn’t really looking forward to it too much, I must say, I was super positively surprised. The “strawberry gel, kiwi gel, baby strawberry, served with wakadi ice cream” was not only great because the combination of textures and flavours was exquisite but also because the dish just looked somewhat perfect when you got a bit of everything onto your spoon. And the fact that they also take the time to form a perfect red butterfly to put on top, really adds to the dessert experience.
The last course was a “urban honey comb made out of garnache with kefir and lime, the combs filled with honey, and a variety of different other ingredients, served with a cow milk ice cream” and a piece of the actual honey comb as well as a honey lolly. And man, it was delicious. The experience itself of having a piece of honey comb on your plate and being able to fully enjoy it (well, you don’t have to eat the wax but you can) was really something. And the whole dish is amazing because the base of the chocolate honey comb is a light thyme-based cream which really adds something extra to the dish. I absolutely adored it.
The fact that they cut you, as part of the Lienzo menu, a “piece of the honey comb” to put on your plate and that the head chef herself comes to prepare it at your table is really something one can and should appreciate.
Plus, you get to select a bit of one of the local honeys to try as a lolly. While I love the idea and was curious to get the “palm tree honey”, I think the concept of the lolly doesn’t entirely work as you don’t get a lot of honey really, it’s quite liquid so it starts dropping from the wooden stick, so once you want to start to enjoy that lolly, you’re basically sucking on wood (no pun intended).
Once you’re done with the menu, it’s time for a little artsy inspiration which comes in the form of some friandises – this evening “aqua de Valencia jelly gum and spicy and salty chocolate bonbon” which both were enjoyable.
All in all, I absolutely liked the Restaurant Lienzo as the place is great, spacious, you have your privacy, the waiters Mario and Fatima are absolutely amazing and the fact that the last course is served by the head chef herself really adds to that level of satisfaction. On top of that, the price for the 14 course menu is rather low with EUR 95.00 and, ultimately, all dishes (for me “but one”) were good and some were even exquisite. If you are into trying relatively cheap Michelin-starred cuisine on a good level, I would highly recommend you to book a table in advance when you intend to go to Valencia.
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Contact Details:
Restaurant Lienzo
Plaça de Tetuan 18
46003 Valencia (E)
Tel.: +34 963 52 10 81
E-Mail: info@restaurantelienzo.com
Homepage: http://www.restaurantelienzo.com
About the Author: Sven
I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org.
Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City. 
