“I’ve gone crazy!” exclaimed the owner, Juan Carlos Méndez, after beating establishments in Navarra, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa, Granada, Álava and Burgos
Wednesday, October 11, 2023, 17:01
The contest with the most tradition, the one most loved by the organizers of San Sebastián Gastronomika, the one dedicated to the best grilled chop, was won this year, to the surprise of locals and strangers, Mohamed El-Handy, griller at La Tropical , restaurant located in Los Alcázares. “I could’nt believe it; “I was recording the awards ceremony and when I heard our name, I cut off the recording out of shock,” said Juan Carlos Méndez, owner of the restaurant, after winning the national grill competition this Wednesday. “I’ve gone crazy!” he exclaimed.
Eight grillers from all over Spain attended the fourteenth edition of this contest. Restaurants and grills, as well as meat companies, submitted to the judgment of two juries – one popular and the other professional – who scored their preparations based on the cooking, texture, flavor and quality of the meat chosen by the griller. The winner was decided based on the final assessment of the two juries, with a weight of 80% for the professional jury and 20% for the popular jury.
“We knew we had a chance, because we had the meat a month ago and we had taken care of it and tested it,” says Méndez. “In addition, Mohamed has taken care of her as if he were her little son, preventing anyone from touching her.” E-Handy has used 6-7 year old Friesian dairy cow meat with 27 days of maturation from the Trasacar company, thus avoiding that tendency towards over-ripening, which the owner of La Tropical considers wrong. Grillers from Navarra, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa, Granada, Álava and Burgos – with a clear predominance of northern origin, as expected due to barbecue tradition – were the competitors of the Murcia restaurant that finally won the award.
Quite a surprise, even for David de Jorge, spokesman for the jury, who upon hearing the name of the Murcian griller, who is clearly of Moroccan descent, exclaimed: “Wow, wow, it seems that times are changing.”
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