A while back when I visited Rolf Beeler in Switzerland, he showed me a product he recently discovered in Spain. It was rice, Spanish bomba rice to be precise. The packaging looked amazing and it screamed ‘artisan’ all over it. A little confused, I asked Rolf, why he’s all of a sudden into rice. He replied, look Tom, I love artisan cheese, there’s no doubt about it, but when I stumble upon another product with similar characteristics, i.e. a product that is produced in a sustainable way, with true ‘terroir’ and of the highest possible quality, why shouldn’t I promote it?
It made sense to me and I tried the short grain rice shortly after; in the form of a self-made paella. Holly molly, this rice stayed firm, yet retained all the beautiful flavour of the broth it was cooked in. I found it absolutely stunning. And just to be sure, I cooked another paella with the same recipe but chose a different bomba rice and the difference couldn’t have been more stark.
Back in Australia, I showed my sample to John Lawson from No. 8 by John Lawson at the Crown Casino. He had a similar reaction like I did with Rolf at first, but once he tried a batch, he called me straight away and let me know about his excitement. You can even see some of his beautiful creations, like a truffle rice pudding or a gorgeous rice salad on our Tartana Bomba Rice product page.
Today, you find the rice in its ‘gourmet’, 500g size at many premium retailers around Melbourne. For example Leo’s Fine Food & Wine (all stores), Spring St Grocer in Melbourne’s CBD, Bill’s Farm at the Queen Victoria Market or Delicatess in the Prahran Market. We even have it in our online store and ship it nationwide.
Seriously, do yourself a favour, try it – you won’t be disappointed.