Ángel León

This chef, called the chef of the sea, thinks of himself as a citizen of the Bay of Cadiz. He was trained at the Taberna del Alabardero in Seville, then perfected his skills in France, at Le Chapon Fin, where he stayed for two years. Then he went back to Spain, to the Casa del Temple in Toledo, until finally, in 2007, he opened his restaurant in a hidden alley of Puerto de Santamaría, where he obtained the Michelin star a couple of years ago.

R + D + G Research + Development + Gastronomy

In his food there’s no trace of herbs, sprouts and flowers. Nor of air, spheres, gelatines or mousses. With his essential marine gastronomy, Ángel León creates a world of his own, different from everything else. In a way, his cuisine mirrors his bumpy resume, in which the usual great names of the Spanish culinary vanguard are missing, but there are lots of long journeys on fishing boats that make him a great fish expert. A committed environmentalist, this eco-chef claims a right to a cuisine based on humble and unknown fish, out of the official circuits of high cuisine, cheap though priceless.

He’s a thousand-ideas-man, from the invention of the Clarimax, that clarifies stocks with diatom seaweeds, to the promotion of an ecological and gastronomic use of the carbon obtained from olive stones, and including the Iberian cured fish. His is a healthy, good, playful and sustainable trompe-l’oeil. He created a taste-enhancer marine plankton paste and last year he dared to invent a cheese made of fish fat. Ángel tries to put a silencer to his image of techno-chef. He continues to clarify stocks with his machine, to aromatise some dishes with his carbon oils, but he doesn’t show off. He represents technique at the service of new concepts and, most of all, of taste.