Vicky Sevilla
(Quart de les Valls, Valencia, 1992) received her first salary in Formentera, she bought a ticket for her mother to go see her.
She there she lived in a 36-square-meter apartment with five people.
"My room was the living room."
There she found her place.
"I was going through a complicated personal stage. She was 17 years old and I went to see a friend who was on the island."
She had never worked.
"She got me a job in a kitchen and I started... I didn't even know how to fry an egg"
.
When she commented on it at home, her mother only asked her one thing: "Don't let them kick you out, she told me."
And she complied.
Vicky has celebrated 30 this year.
She has had a lot of rain since then.
Even a Michelin star, the one she got last December
for her Arrels restaurant, the project she opened five years ago with her partner in Sagunto (Valencia).
"It was she who encouraged me to open my own space.
Everything good that has happened to us belongs to both of us," she
says, sitting in the living room of her premises, located in the old stables of the Palace of the Dukes of Gaeta, a building of the century XVI.
The cook during the service.
We return to Formentera so as not to lose the thread.
"Between season and season, I worked in an orange warehouse and I was in a restaurant in Castellón."
She confesses that she was "
a complicated teenager. She left everything halfway, she had no ambition.
I didn't even finish high school", she admits humbly.
That little thorn wanted to remove it and as soon as she could she enrolled to do a middle grade module.
"
I got it with an average of 9 and a bit"
, she adds proudly.
So, she studied and worked at the same time, putting in hours without rest.
The kitchen ordered her life.
And she did not hesitate to ask for a place in top-level places when she saw herself prepared: Susi Díaz (La Finca, Elche. One Michelin star) and
Begoña Rodrigo (La Salita, Valencia. One Michelin star),
, were two of them.
When he decided to go solo, another battle began.
"Being a young entrepreneur is very hard. I went to the bank to ask for a loan and the answer was always no."
Not even that discouraged her from moving forward.
"The first year there was no salary.
She had to turn off the cameras for a while while she baked the bread; we bought everything second-hand...".
But the important thing was that Arrels was already a reality.
Anchovy cracker in rice vinegar, one of the dishes on the menu that he has designed for the Imperfectxs project.
Since it opened, he planned his conciliation in detail.
She was 25 years old.
No working every day or double shifts.
"We wanted to have a family" and that meant rethinking the way of doing things that she ruled in the hospitality industry.
"In this profession there has always been a choice between having a successful restaurant or having a family. And I believe that both things can be combined."
When the Michelin star arrived, they even went one step further.
"We decided to close on Sunday, being the day that we invoiced the most of the week."
Taking care of the team is considered essential.
"Priorities change over the years and you learn to optimize work time."
Shy, cautious and mature in conversation, she appears younger than she is and that
sometimes comes at a toll.
"There are comments like 'did you do this yourself?'" that are still heard in the room when she comes out to say hello.
Until today, she has opted for indifference in the face of impertinence.
It's Monday.
Arrels is closed to the public because the masterclass that Sevilla stars in for the Imperfectxs project, developed by Cervezas 1906, is being presented. Here she
speaks loud and clear about vocation, self-improvement, conciliation, sorority and female empowerment
.
"These are issues that I believe must be given visibility."
And it is explained.
"Just because you don't take a course in high school doesn't mean you can't do great things."
Galician razor, Valencian pickled emulsion and asparagus, also for Imperfectxs.
He speaks of effort and sacrifice and does not share the idealized image that is often projected on the kitchen.
"There is a lot of commitment behind it and a lot of dedication; you burn yourself, you cut yourself, you get hot... The positive thing is that you make people happy, yes."
Sagunto is a town surrounded by orchards.
"My father is a farmer and my mother works in an orange warehouse."
He defends his humble origins tooth and nail.
In and out of his kitchen.
"I've always been clear about where I come from."
His is a kitchen of product, territory, market.
"There is a lot of my experiences on my plates."
Like that beautiful onion from his childhood that he has reversed.
His creative process has a clear roadmap:
"I'm looking for the original, dishes that you haven't eaten anywhere else before
. "
Like that raw cuttlefish with spinach alioli.
That surprise effect placed it on the radar of the Michelin guide.
First he was awarded the
Bib Gourmand,
distinction that highlights the excellent value for money, and last year she made a splash by becoming the youngest chef in Spain to achieve the coveted star.
"My only concern when we were appointed was not to fall down the stairs,"
she says with a laugh.
Mushroom muslin, cocoa and coffee.
He says "there is still a lot of work to do."
His goal is to "fill the restaurant" and echo his way of understanding gastronomy.
"I'm not very egotistical. I'm clear that the restaurant comes first and then me."
She wants to get rid of the 'young promise' label: "I've been in this for 13 years, I think it's time."
The day after the gala, the team decided not to open "in case they gave it to them and the celebration dragged on".
He was right in the decision.
She herself approached the restaurant to answer the first calls.
"I'm one of those who prefers to always stay at 7-8. Not aspire to 10 as a rule.
I like to have room for improvement."
They have reached a six-month waiting list.
"Friends contacted me to see if I could make room for them and it was impossible."
The first call you made after getting the star?
To her parents.
"The best thing was to see the illusion of him and the joy of him"
.
Formentera was in everyone's memory because this love story for cooking began there.
"In life it is important to pursue realistic goals."
More info: menus between 48 and 92 euros.
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