There is a sub-genre in gastronomic journalism that consists of proximity to Dabiz Muñoz. Like those soccer players who with two dribbles are nicknamed “the Messi (insert the young man’s nickname here)”, it is enough for a chef to have passed through the kitchens of the XO universe for headlines like this one to appear. And sometimes with good reason.
This is the case of Nicolás Nájera, an Ecuadorian chef trained in Argentina and trained in Spain under the tutelage of Dabiz Muñoz himself. He was Head of Production at GoXo, participated in the birth of RavioXo and now takes the leap alone with a suggestive proposal: grilled wings with 50 flavors from around the world, served in delivery format and cooked with haute cuisine techniques. It is called WingWing and has been operating in Madrid for a month.
The idea is not new, but the execution is. There is no frying, no battering… no shortcuts. Each recipe -designed one by one by Nájera- is cooked over charcoal and is based on an ambitious premise: to make affordable haute cuisine, in portions of eight wings at 11.5€. Recognizable flavors, but without scaring off those who just want to watch Netflix for dinner. It is made by someone who knows what GoXo is.
Chicken wings from around the world
The menu is, as the chef himself says, a “gastronomic passport” that travels from New Orleans to Bangkok via Peru, Japan or Mexico. The sauces range from grandma’s brava to a Balinese satay with roasted peanuts, passing through a Japanese miso glaze or a Kansas City-style barbecue.
There is also a section for the brave: the diabolic sauce, inspired by the Sichuan tradition of “mala” (that tongue-numbing spiciness that our collaborator Carmen Come told you about in this video). Here, the spiciness is not a garnish: it has habanero and chili peppers with a sweet and sour base, and is served with a warning. “Order it at your own risk,” warns WingWing.
The sides follow suit: smashed potatoes, homemade coleslaw, grilled corn. And for dessert, an unexpected charcoal rice pudding, a brownie with salted caramel or a protein bar.
WingWing works only in delivery format (for now), but it is not fast food as usual. Or at least, they don’t define it that way. It’s more like an informal and tasty version of the “democratized haute cuisine” that is so often mentioned.