Soldaditos de Pavia

"We call this dish black coal because of how it looks," says Roncero. The classic batter is substituted with a tempura containing squid ink, which turns the cod black. It's served with a few drops of aioli, lemon jam, and powdered red pepper.

The multi-faceted Paco Roncero is Executive Chef at the La Terraza del Casino restaurant in Madrid (with 2 Michelin stars), and he also has restaurants in Bogotá, Cartagena, and Ibiza. He has also become a great champion of tapas, giving them a new lease on life by updating traditional recipes in his Estado Puro gastrobars in Madrid and Shanghai. Roncero is reinventing Spanish cuisine's most traditional tapas, refreshing old dishes with surprising, original touches that play with flavors and textures. The result opens up a new culinary dimension and shows that simple dishes made with quality ingredients, creativity, and imagination can become haute cuisine.