A Michelin-starred and Techlam® experience
Cordoba is an essential destination for every traveller who loves art, culture and history. This Andalusian city brings together one of the largest historical centres of the European continent and the few in which three civilizations share the same cultural prominence: Judaism, Christianity and the Muslim world.
Since March 2016, Cordoba boasts of a new magnet, and in this case a very tasty one. We’re talking about Noor Restaurant, where the renowned chef Paco Morales has wanted to recover the culinary legacy of the caliphate of Cordoba, the time of greatest cultural splendour of the city back in the 10th century.
The most peculiar aspect of this risky bet is the meticulous and conscientious study in historical sources that the Noor team has developed to recover recipes and typical ingredients of that time, and its personal interpretation in the key of avant-garde cuisine.
Not everything in Noor is cuisine, research, history and innovation. Whoever visits this culinary mecca, that has achieved its first Michelin star only six months after its opening, will notice that the decoration and interior design are also the protagonists of this restaurant. If we must name this role, there is only one option: Techlam®, the versatile porcelain material of Levantina Group that Paco Morales personally chose to recreate the creativity, detail, love of geometry and plant motifs typical Islamic art, constantly present in Cordoba in monuments like the Mosque, the palace of Medina Azahara or even the Reales Alcázares.
The secret of this interior design project is the versatility of Techlam®, which allows to digitally print these motifs and therefore personalize the idea that Paco Morales had in his head: a tribute to the Andalusian culture that the diner can observe both on the exterior facade of the restaurant as well as inside.
As soon as you go through Noor’s door it begins a unique and unrepeatable experience, impossible to find in any other restaurant of the world. The first surprise comes when the room team invites the clients to wash their hands with rose water. Then we go through a curtain to enter the dining room, a set of lights, blacks and whites that transport you very subtly to the years of the Caliphate of Cordoba. Everything’s been thought through to the last detail, from the clothing of the waiters to the background music, going through the dishes, cutlery and, of course, the menu. A true tribute to the Andalusian culture.
The dishes that parade on the table reveal a deep respect for history, but also a firm defence of the avant-garde cuisine. For that reason Paco Morales doesn’t use any ingredient that wouldn’t exist in the Cordova of the 10th century, that is to say, raw material as common as the tomato, the chocolate or the potato, that Morales replaces by elements full of seduction: orange blossom water, rose water, carob, bitter orange, cane honey or smoked goat cream butter.
Four words summarize the culinary experience at Noor: aromas, flavour, elegance, and delicacy. But the notebook of the gastronomic traveller who decides to enjoy any of the menus of Noor will be filled with memories linked to combinations of aromas, bittersweet games, exotic ingredients and recognizable flavours in the Andalusian tradition. It is history turned into avant-garde gastronomy, a project where talent and innovation are made in Spain by Paco Morales, his team and the Levantina Group.
