26-11-2015
Spanish Ángel León greets from the new location of his restaurant Aponiente, at Molino de Mareas, opened last September in Calle Francisco Cossi Ochoa at El Puerto de Santa Maria, near Cádiz, Andalusia, tel. +34.956.851870. Behind the establishment, 2 Michelin stars, an edible journey across the mysteries of the abyss (photo from Pinterest)
Today we welcome, for the first time, an article from Gastroactitud, an important Spanish food news website, directed by José Carlos Capel and Julia Pérez, curators of the international congress Madrid Fusión. Every month, they write a report on one of the most interesting places in Iberia and beyond. We at Identità are doing the same on Gastroactitud: we’ve already published a first piece on The 5 most interesting new restaurants in Italy. The new Aponiente is a dream floating on a marsh, a beautiful landscape full of sand and water surrounding El Puerto de Santa Maria, a small town near Cádiz, in the Southern tip of Spain. It is the dream of a chef, Ángel León – aka "chef del mar" – who weaves recipes with fish and seaweeds, plankton and shells, who lives stuck between the banks of a strait. Because you can cook avantgarde with a little seawater from Andalusia. A universe of jellyfish and mackerel, sea horses and sardines. A ray of light disrupting the abyss. The story of captain Nemo told with the inflection of Cádiz.
The mill in which León built his new home no longer mills wheat, as in the 17th century, but fine-tunes one of the most powerful mechanisms in 21st century cuisine. Stonewalls enclose the essence of the sea. A unique universe with which only León and his boatswain, Juan Luis Fernández – with whom he forms an indissoluble tandem – are capable of confronting themselves. Marine thoughts are translated into edible allegories. A cuisine with a sapid soul that is sometimes dressed up to deceive the guest, as in the case of the selection of fish charcuterie, served as an aperitif on a platter in which the pork is in fact made with seafood ingredients: longaniza and butifarra sausages, sardine pâté, pâté in a pastry crust, tuna pastrami… If you don’t love fish, keep off. There’s no menu at Aponiente; only two tasting menus exclusively made of seafood and marine vegetables. It’s a huge radicalisation of a territory.
Royale with marine leftovers (photo Pérez)
Ángel León, born in 1977, in the portrait on the cover of his biography, "CDM, Chef del mar", published by Montagud
In a cooking strongly based on savoury tastes, sweets are the most difficult part. Yet León is working hard to fix his faults. Cleaning and refreshing: Cucumber, lime and hierbabuena mint. A great idea. Then, Apple sigh: a fake meringue, a sweet pavía (a conceptual repetition that could, or perhaps should, be avoided). And Chocolate-caramel, the perfect end. This is León’s cuisine: classic foundations and fearless spirit. A fish against the current, always looking for the impossible.
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by
Spanish food reporter for El Mundo and Gastroactitud. Her book, "100 Culinary experiences not to be missed", insipired a TV series on Tve