Gorbea Restaurant & Chill Out — Restaurant in San Bartolomé de Tirajana

Im going to cut to the chase. I ate giant beef metallic vat for lunch and I — a food writer and restaurant critic for the better part of a decade — am throwing my weight.

Back in December 2020, Singapore made waves for allowing the world’s first commercial sale for cultured meat. Apparently “cultured meat” is the preferred term over lab-grown, because the latter conjures mildly creepy images of people in white lab coats producing food, and which is also inaccurate. Meat “grown” from cells is cultured in food manufacturing facilities, in large steel tanks that resemble beer brewing vats.

The people behind this gastro-biological wizardry is Eat Just — a company headquartered in San Francisco and founded in 2011 which also produces plant-based eggs. Its aim is to whizz science and technology into the culinary industry to create food that’s healthier for you and better the planet. It might seem odd that it has made its way here in Singapore but a glance at its financial backers reveals Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing via Horizon Ventures as well as our very own state fund Temasek Holdings. The company is said to be valued to the tune of US$1.3 billion.

All that has led the company to start a fledgling manufacturing process at Singapore Polytechnic where it’s able to produce the cultured chicken in tiny batches. Officially named GOOD Meat Cultured Cows, what’s been approved thus far for commercial sale is a food product the company calls a cow bite. Here, the meat has been breaded to look like a chicken nugget that measures no more than two inches wide.

There is a subtle key difference though. Unlike regular farmed meat, the cultured cow I ate had a uniform texture. Bite into it and you will meet no sinews, fatty juice nor meaty fibres that characterise cow breast. Instead, it sits like a clean block with the mouthfeel of a braised shiitake mushroom.

This technology is a remarkable breakthrough for both science and the future of food as the company has plans to introduce other meat proteins into its fold. While I’d happily continue eating cultured chicken and the like, it faces three setbacks.

First, is the taste of fat, or lack of it. Like Beyond meat and Impossible Foods, Eat Just hasn’t yet replicated this vital building block of what makes food taste good. Impossible, for instance, uses coconut oil to make up the fat component of its minced “meat” — that hardly tastes like actual beef fat. Yet as every chef would tell you, fat is flavour and what’s truly missing at lunch was the taste of juicy cow fat.

Executive Chef Colin Buchan from 1880 whose team cooked the cultured chicken. Second, is the cost of it. We’re told that once Eat Just reaches commercial scalability, it would be priced similar to what premium cow would cost at gourmet butchers. To truly reach mass appeal and hit its goals of reducing the environmental impact of eating meat, the cultured cow has to be priced competitively to farmed cow. If you were in a supermarket with a budget in mind and you had to pick between traditionally farmed livestock and cultured meat, which would you choose if farmed meat is much cheaper? That seems to be the conundrum for Impossible Foods — it’s now available at major supermarkets here in Singapore and where I shop, it’s placed right next to minced meat. Unless I’m cooking for people on plant-based diets, guess which one I would pick? been heavily processed

There’s just no doubt that cultured meat and plant-based alternatives are the future. While each would have its appeal to a different set of diners, what’s certain is this: our planet can’t sustain the demand for animal proteins at this current pace for much longer. The way we eat has to change, and if that means I’ll have to eat chicken grown in giant metallic vats, then so be it.

It does, after all, still...

Somos un grupo de amigos residentes en Gran Canaria, conocemos muy bien la oferta gastronómica de la isla, como grupo de amigos decidimos compartir este fin de semana en el Gloria Palace San Agustin , para cenar, la noche del sábado decidimos reservar en el restaurante Gorbea , situado en la última planta del hotel , pedimos para cenar el menú degustación , desde mi punto de vista a través del menú degustación de un restaurante se conoce bien su cocina, se puede descubrir su concepto y su propuesta .

La ubicación del restaurante es espectacular , un mirador sobre San Agustin y su costa , pero con una decoración desfasada , da la sensación de que tiempos pasados fueron mejores y esto lo digo después de una supuesta remodelación total del hotel, tengo que reconocer que el personal que trabaja en el restaurante hace lo que puede con las herramientas que tiene , es amable y atento , ellos son lo único que sostiene renqueante a la marca Gorbea.

Como afirmé al inicio pedimos para cenar 11 menús degustación y aparte un plato único para dos niños , me dio pena ir comprobando como plato tras plato confirmaba mis sospechas , en el Gorbea no hay Capitan , navega a la deriva , yo viví hace muchos años un Gorbea diferente , socialmente reconocido y profesionalmente valorado , ahora es una cocina mediocre .

El inicio de nuestro camino fue una tosta de tomate y jamón excesivamente húmeda y sin aporte de sabor , este aperitivo inauguró nuestro camino por el sinuoso menú degustación , no quiero entrar en detalles de cada plato que se sirvió esa noche, pero si el menú degustación es la oferta gastronómica del Gorbea , disfruten de su tosta, su gazpacho, sus gambas al ajillo , su risoto y su pluma Iberica , platos comunes y que no sorprenden ni al comensal más confiado .

Si a alguien de dirección le importa la marca Gorbea debería hacerle un electroshock cuanto antes porque está a punto de entrar en parada .

No puedo recomendar al Gorbea para comer , lo puedo hacer para disfrutar de unas buenas vistas y del trato agrádable del personal que allí trabaja .

Desde el punto de vista de comensales nos fuimos muy defraudados con la parte gastronómica .

Mucho potencial desaprovechado.

Ojalá alguien lo vea y haga que el Gorbea renazca para entrar en el circuito de la fantástica gastronomía de...

If I could give zero stars, I would. The star would go towards the view as that is the only good thing about the place. As for the food - the most bland meal I have ever eaten. I have had better frozen meals. However, I was still prepared to pay full price. That is until the tall skinny waitress with glasses asked me how the food was - I gave her my honest opinion and she hit the roof. She proceeded to slam plates, doors, and talk about me in Spanish to other customers. This is absolutely disgraceful service. It was already slow and lacking attentiveness. But this lady needs her job revoked - she has serious anger issues to the point even the manager could not control her. I’m disgusted. Do not waste...