He was a trumpeter and stonecutter before deciding that his life would be in the kitchen. Ricard Camarena (Barx, 1974) launched into the kitchen with no other intention than to make people enjoy. Eternally dissatisfied, he has learned to channel his permanent restlessness to enlarge his kitchen, which he conquers in each of his proposals. Its flagship is the Ricard Camarena, in the modernist complex of the old Valencian factory of Bombas Gens ammunition, today art center. There sports two Michelin Stars and three Repsol Suns . 2018 was his year, and he still picks his fruit. This week he has received the National Prize for the Best Chef in 2018.

So much prize weakens, does he let his guard down? Why? No, it’s going. Upside down, it makes you upload it. The prizes mean more exposure and, therefore, you have to fine tune more. What is left of the Ricard Camarena of the Barx pool bar? The values ​​that I always had, that have not changed, the different way of understanding life, how I like to try to be treated. But it is true that 20 years have passed, the most intense and the most productive, where everything that had to happen has happened. In the kitchen how many years are they? In my kitchen there have been 20 lives. From one year to another I look suspiciously at what I did the previous year. I see last year's dishes and I say to myself: did we really do this? Now I was looking at the menu of a customer who is coming to dinner and who came last year, is something we always do, and it seemed Chinese, as if I had not done it. And only a year ago. It's curious. In the kitchen life goes faster. Has your kitchen evolved over low heat or heat stroke? It evolves fast, but at the same time slow. You come to my restaurant year after year you have the feeling that you are still coming to eat Ricard Camarena's kitchen, you notice very well the personality, the way of conceiving the dishes ... But since you are two or three years without coming, it will seem like a Totally different restaurant. If you see the gradual evolution, it seems that there is little, that there is a thread, but with two years it seems different because we always evolve a little the way to see the products, to work them ... There are dishes that are immovable, but it is because we made them at a time that was not its context. They were more advanced to their time and that is why it is still in force. What phase of their creativity can we find in each of their proposals? In the Central Bar there is little (laughs), because we want to faithfully reflect the environment where it is and what you would expect to eat in a place that is within a market. The Canalla is something else. Everything goes there because we try new mixtures in the same dish, looking at the product here from an outside prism. In addition, he wants to be uninhibited, that there are no rules, that he be rich and that he be enjoyed. And Habitual is the younger brother of Ricard Camarena. It is the vision of the product kitchen here lowered to a possible level, and to a place that wants to give 100 covered per service, that works and that can be paid. But it recreates the flavors of Ricard Camarena very well. Are flavors and products of quality and proximity still your big obsessions? Yes, and the day that is not so will not be me. I carry it in the DNA, even before I dedicate myself to cooking. When you get in that way, there is no going back. You no longer know how to do things differently and it catches you more and more. I feel very committed, I have been many years and I do not know what would have to happen for that to change. Their proposals also contemplate the environment where they are and the interior design as part of the enjoyment of their kitchen .. Nor can it be otherwise. You go to a restaurant to eat, and you go to the kitchen, but when you are there you also try to find other things. That everything is harmonious, that the place is conceived from the type of cuisine you are going to try, that it is well lit, well heated ... Because when you go out you cannot abstract yourself and say how well I have eaten, but how bad they have treated me or How cold I've been You leave with a global feeling and the decision of whether you are going to return or not is already created when you leave. And it's not just based on the tuna being excellent. That's why you have to take care of all that.Pombas Gens is a gift? It's a gift to the city. And in addition to me, because I would not have been able to access such a space in any way if José Luis Soler had not rehabilitated it and had proposed to set up a restaurant there. The work he has undertaken could not have been done, because there was a lot of work and investment before he could put a restaurant there. Beyond my gift, I affirm that it is a gift for the city. Do the stars weigh, subtract freedom? No, no. Why? I don't have that feeling. The stars bring you people, who come to look for a restaurant profile with a star, and what I think is that you have to live up to it. And I understand that if they give it to you, it is because you are. It said a few years ago that his name was known but his face was not. Has that changed a television show? No. Cuineres i cuiners is almost a cult program and its audience is not massive, because that of Valencian regional television is not. My face is still safe. Is there anything that this television contact has discovered with so many companions? I was not surprised at all because I knew the story of almost everyone. I know the sector very well and I sense what is behind each project. What I liked the most is that people can see it, because it is totally unknown what is behind the scenes. This profession is seen as something almost frivolous, that if a restaurant, being a chef, Masterchef ... I think there is an incredible commitment in all the projects we have been showing. Being a cook is a way of living life, a commitment to a profession, with the client. It is lived to satisfy. Nobody gets into this to make money, because the investments we make, the risks, the personnel and raw material costs leave you a ridiculous margin. It's because you love to see how the happy client comes out. Because you're passionate about it. Does so much cooking show contribute to that frivolous vision? I don't think so. Whenever there is an overexposure, a point of view is generated that is not entirely realistic, because in the end the image that people have can be that of a glamorous profession. There are, like glamorous hairdressers or glamorous journalists. But the day to day of the profession is demanding. I will never say sacrificed, because a sacrifice is to do something you don't like, but very demanding. But that there is interest in cooking and cooks all suits us. Is there a rivalry or is it a legend? There is a very good relationship. Of course, we all want us to do well, but we have never wanted the other to go wrong. There is a healthy rivalry, because there must be. If there are two customers on the street and they have to decide if they enter the Quique [Dacosta] restaurant or mine, of course I prefer them to enter mine. But that's it. There it ends. I am friends with Quique and others and I want them to do very well. That also itches us and helps us improve. Corporativism like the one in this profession, the way we share almost daily even recipes or staff references, it is difficult to find it in others. Do they 'steal' staff? There is everything (smiles). I have as a rule that if someone does not come free, I do not take it. Or at least I tell him to fix his situation where he is and then come or speak directly ... As in football, first with the club ... Yes (he smiles) because otherwise this would be the wild west. I think you have to have a little respect. When someone wants to leave your home, it is best to leave. But things have to be talked about face to face. Make back movements, in this sector is frowned upon. And when someone does, we point.

Camarena, in the Habitual room, at the Mercado de Colón in Valencia. BIEL ALIÑO

Did you ever think that in addition to being a chef, you would be an entrepreneur with this volume of business? When I enrolled in the hospitality school I thought it was for cooking, I didn't even think about having a restaurant. I knew I was going to cook, that I would make good meals that people would like, or so I intended. The rest was not in my plans. But I come from an entrepreneurial family. My parents had a small supermarket in town, my grandfather was very, very negotiating. I had it inside, but I did not imagine this. Have you had to pay a price for the independence of not having partners? Yes, and it has been high. When I had them I was wrong. I realized that it was not worth to have partners. Because I don't have the patience to sit down and convince someone of the things I see. Part of my decisions are intuitive and I have a hard time explaining them. And in a society, if there is no good communication, things do not work. I have had good partners, but the one that is not worth to have partners is I. The risk is only assumed by you ... I make very intuitive day-to-day decisions and the people I have around me many times only question me a part. Because they know that if I'm seeing that, it's probably going to work out. Or I reason a little and that's it. But you have to convince a partner, to present a business plan, to package the project so that he can imagine it ... and when you have done all that, you have already lost the opportunity cost. What made you excited, does not make you anymore. Do you think you have the responsibility of having such a large team behind? I do not think so. We work together and everyone is responsible for their job. I only take the client's money and give it to my employees. I am an intermediary. If someone thinks I pay him I am wrong. We all live with the client. Do you also think about it when embarking on projects? I have never left anyone hanging or I will not do it. If I make a mistake I do it with my money and take measured risks, that if they go wrong leave us little touches but that we can move forward. I never put the general approach of the company at risk because I would be crazy. Not even my partner, who is my wife, would leave me. The investments we make is because we can, because we believe in reinvestment in business so that they continue to function, not to buy us a yacht. And everything is reasonable. We don't do crazy things of millions of euros because neither we can nor are we so ambitious. I saw CocaLoka four months ago and had to do it. I told Mari Carmen that we were going to do something with cocas, we bought an oven, a kneader, we hired a person who helped us with the masses, we did tests ... That's reasonable, because if it didn't work out we would relocate them and not there's a problem. But it went well. Is there a total cook, aware of everything: kitchen, product, living room, customer, projecting image ... You have to have a total vision, but not be a total cook. When I thought Regular, I thought about the dishes I was going to use because I thought about the whole concept. And that must be moved and have equipment to do it. You have to tell how you imagine the service, if there will be a napkin, tablecloth ... In Habitual, for example, a year and a half ago there is a tablecloth, because I saw that the kitchen was rising in range and that the dishes we were building were better expressed with a tablecloth. You build the story from the kitchen and it translates into many small details. You have to have the ability to see that, but also have the ability to execute it. And there comes the team, who are guardians every day of the concept and even improve it. You have to have the vision and very good people around. Does that cost to find? Yes, because it requires a lot of trust from both parties. You have to know that they will try to do it very well and they will fully trust what you tell them. And you must also have the confidence that if it doesn't work, they tell you. Because in the end they are the ones who drive every day. Is it closer to stop feeling dissatisfied? I get to know each day more and learn to manage that dissatisfaction so that it is productive and not a restlessness. With that you can't live. Now I channel her to add value to what I do. She says she doesn't cook at home ... Only when I have time. Day by day, no. Last Sunday I made food for the family because I had the morning off and I wanted to recreate myself. If I have ten minutes, I open a bag of salad and throw a breast into the pan. Tell me a plate and a product that I would never stop cooking. One product would be vegetables in general. And a plate, the boiled Valencian. So simple but so good. I love. It is easy to prepare and very rich.

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