ISA Celebrates Christmas in Style with a Blend of Asian Flavours at Four Seasons Hotel Madrid

Once again, ISA Restaurant & Cocktail Bar on the first floor of Four Seasons Hotel Madrid invites guests to enjoy Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve with a menu designed by Chef Ignacio Vara that combines the best from Asia with touches of roguish and contemporary style

November 22, 2024,

Madrid, Spain

ISA is offering something other than the classic Christmas dinner table spread and embracing the wealth of flavours to be found in Asian cuisine. This menu features fun and contemporary ideas accompanied by outstanding attention to detail and the creative passion of Chef Ignacio Vara, who has prepared two special menus to celebrate Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in the home of oriental cooking at Four Seasons Hotel Madrid.

The Christmas Eve dinner will begin at ISA with a selection of starters, which include the Galician sea urchin with white prawns and Ossetra caviar. This will be followed by a duo of dim sums including a scallop har gow with yuzu Hollandaise sauce and a panipuri filled with tuna tartare, ponzu and caviar, a combination that blends Asian tradition with the characteristic creativity of the kitchens at ISA. The main course will consist of sea bass accompanied by a carrot miso, kombu oil, coco, tonka beans and grilled bimi for a perfect balance of sweet and umami in each bite. ISA will then present a suckling pig terrine with bulgogi sauce and shallots glazed in orange and kumquat before kicking off the banquet of desserts: deconstructed yuzu pie for citrus fans and mooncake, an ancestral Chinese dessert full of textures that is a cultural symbol of unity, prosperity and happiness.

For those seeking to enjoy this dinner and celebrate the night of the 24th more intimately with loved ones, the private Santa’s Red Room at ISA offers the ideal space as somewhere that can be closed off for groups of up to eight people. This space can also be reserved throughout the Christmas season to enjoy the Aka menu, which has been especially designed for the occasion and consists of seven dishes that begin with garlic, kimchi and lime sautéed edamame followed by sea urchin with white prawns and Ossetra caviar. Next up is a selection of nigiris that include wagyu A5, yaniku with Sichuan pepper, O’Toro and Ossetra caviar with red prawn. The main course will consist of a wagyu A5 tenderloin with a bulgogi demi-glace before concluding with the Hanoi coffee accompanied by tonka bean ice-cream and egg yolk foam followed by a delicious ISA mochi.

To celebrate the last dinner of the year, ISA is offering a New Year’s Eve menu that begins with a faux lemon stuffed with pâté, horn of plenty mushrooms and black truffle, a starter that heralds the luxury and attention to detail featured in this menu. The meal will continue with a selection of sushi and shellfish: white prawn nigiri with caviar, turbot nigiri with coriander sauce and a Nº 2 oyster with tosazu and shallots. The next course will include Chinese bread stuffed with caviar and sour cream followed by a tuna tartlet with ponzu, ikura eggs and shichimi. The main course will consist of a red porgy Kobujime with sweet peas and pak choi broth; while meat lovers will enjoy the second main of A5 wagyu tenderloin with a bulgogi demi-glace, mini grilled chives and siu mai. To conclude this farewell to the year, the dessert on this menu will certainly not disappoint: a spicy chocolate accompanied by toffee miso ice-cream and Japanese whisky syrup, as well as a home-made good luck biscuit that will reveal the first predictions for 2025.

After celebrating the end-of-year Campanadas, the event will continue at the ISA after party well into the early hours of the morning, bringing some of the first memorable moments that the new year has in store.

Furthermore, the first day of the year deserves a special experience: a “hungover drunch” with touches of Asian inspiration for recharging batteries after the New Year’s Eve party. This will include live entertainment, such as tarot reading sessions, and signature cocktails. For those looking to recover from the previous night and feel renewed, there will be no shortage of detox drinks perfect for the occasion.

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