Xinito: irresistible bluefin fusion
Summary:
Gastronomy offers an unrivalled pleasure, as anyone with even a basic sense of taste would acknowledge. The satisfaction is all the greater, though, when the recipes or culinary narrative involve or bring together a spectrum of nationalities or origins, enhancing the meaning and outcome of all we drink and taste.
For example: a Venezuelan of Syrian origins and noble bearing who has made a name for himself in Majadahonda, near Madrid, adopting as his standard-bearer bluefin tuna, just as well-travelled and transatlantic. He goes by the name of José Haskour and has for some years now continued to enhance the appeal and success of Xinito, an establishment serving a skilful and well-rooted version of Oriental cuisine, and whose first success came with the name itself: “It occurred to me to swap the ‘Ch’ in ‘Chinito’, ‘little China’ for an ‘X’, and people liked it. It felt fun, and was easy to remember, and also seemed friendly,” argues José, a noble figure well over 6’2″ in height, and who has put together a team in which chef Álvaro Luis Rodríguez from the Dominican Republic plays the role of sushiman, masterfully serving up our beloved bluefin.
Haskour’s roots and history are there for all to see. “My parents emigrated from Syria to Venezuela in the 1950s. I was the youngest of three siblings. Back then it was a kind of Saudi Venezuela, with loads of people from the Lebanon, Syria… who all came with the oil boom. I grew up in Caracas, and studied Commercial and Tax Law there. Later on I did a master’s in Madrid, but returned to Venezuela with the idea of setting up a restaurant there. I came back here for good in 2008. I had my university degree recognised, worked at a legal practice, and in 2010 we set up the restaurant Xinito from scratch”.
Xinito: sushi fusion free of purism
“A year later Álvaro came on board, and has been learning and developing ever since. There were plenty of premises available after the construction crisis, and we found a place here alongside the Monte del Pilar shopping centre. Then we extended the bar, did some restyling. And we gave the restaurant a sushi fusion concept, free of purism, with hints of Vietnam, Thailand, Japan… but all with a short and memorable name that didn’t sound too Asian, because people sometimes associate that with expensive restaurants,” the Venezuelan restaurateur explains beneath the huge origami-style dragon hanging from the ceiling in the main dining room. “We opened in the year of the dragon, the best sign of all according to the Chinese horoscope, which is said to give a special magic to those born that year,” he explains.
Right from the start they also based the business on home delivery orders, at reasonable prices and with the finest ingredients. Then the pandemic struck, and they were practised enough to run like clockwork, on-time and delicious, building up a loyal, diverse clientèle that spans generations. Bluefin tuna is a fundamental, crucial and constant feature of the menu, although the recipes themselves change every two years. Xinito gets through 15-18 kg a week, “but it could be as much as 100 kg a month in high season, a whole tuna,” they reveal.
Bluefin tuna, the star of the menu
The sashimis and nigiris are of faultless flavour and texture, with two memorable types of tataki: one more traditional, with sesame sauce, wrapped in sesame, and also seared in sesame oil, sprinkled with a little black salt from the Black Sea; the other, a special maguro tataki with wakame, white sesame, sweet chilli, chipotle, wakame salad and tobiko (flying fish) roe. The spicy tuna gunkan is served neatly cut, macerated in kimuchi source, sprinkled with spring onion, on a base of sushi rice, ginger and wasabi, topped off with black sesame.
“We only sometimes serve tuna belly, which needs to be grilled and served quickly. That is also an outstanding product,” the businessman argues. Generous gunkan, makis, and a tiradito macerated in soy sauce (with soy, ponzu, lemon), chives and sesame, serves as the precursor to a succulent, engaging and chatty lunch.
The wine list features an eminent sake or two, with hints of citrus and sparkle providing the perfect pairing. With space for 100 diners, and 30 more on the outdoor terrace, décor that blends Orientalism with the Amazon jungle, Xinito is a highly recommended and enjoyable eatery, which inevitably invites thoughts of future growth or expansion. There is, then, one last question that must be asked: “Repeat this concept somewhere else? Look, only children are good because they have personality. If the time came, I’d rather recreate it under another name. It’s always wrong to make comparisons. But then if we opened in Dubai that’s not an issue”.
