Amaya Garcia
Updated Thursday, January 25, 2024-09:27
Ramón Freixa (52) takes little time to forget the awards he receives.
"
I don't like to live on memories
," he says with a broad smile, who has held two Michelin stars for 14 years in the restaurant that bears his name at the Hotel Único in Madrid.
"I have two and I don't stop working to achieve the third. I don't like to settle."
We met the Catalan chef in his 'atelier' on Claudio Coello Street, in the heart of the Salamanca neighborhood.
He has just presented his fourth book on haute cuisine, 'Cooking Happiness' (Montagud), and his dining room in the Salamanca neighborhood, located at number 67 on the same street, is turning 15 years old.
There are plenty of reasons for a long coffee.
As a child, I dreamed of being a singer;
In reality, he wanted to be Miguel Bosé.
"I came to study piano and guitar," but as soon as the idea came to him, he gave up and threw it around the kitchen.
He started in the sweet part and from there expanded culinary horizons.
"
I inherited my father's Michelin star when I was 23
and kept it until he closed the family restaurant 15 years ago," he says.
It was then when he decided to make the leap to Madrid.
"With fear and respect because I had no idea what I was going to find."
He knew that he was competing with large eaters and that always prevails.
"I felt welcomed from the first day and I think it was the best decision I have ever made."
Pea bite by Ramón Freixa.
He says that "
maintaining is the most complicated thing
."
He has achieved this with a kitchen where the product and tradition are loved with avant-garde technique.
"I cook to please, always with a touch of mischief and non-conformity."
With honesty as a flag.
"
I have never liked doing what others do
."
The profile of diners has changed a lot in recent years and that has forced them to constantly adapt.
"The customer now knows more, they arrive with a more educated palate."
This implies that the level of demand always has to border on outstanding.
"The diner is fooled only once. The next time he doesn't come back."
He does not hesitate to affirm that "life is better with stars than without them. There is a gourmet public that travels the world with the Michelin guide under their arm."
In his case, he has more of a national audience than an international one.
«60-40%».
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Considered one of the greats of national cuisine, he confesses that he misses
spaghetti carbonara and sweets
.
With every menu change you make in your restaurant, you sit at the table like just another diner.
"It's important to test the experience you're going to offer."
He has also noticed the changes in the teams and in the reality of the sector.
"
Hospitality is not a harder job than any other
," he assures somewhat seriously.
"Now the schedules seek more conciliation. We do have to educate the client so that they know that there are things that they can no longer demand."
He listens to criticism, especially constructive ones, and when making decisions he likes to "meditate and think about them."
He has in mind opening a bakery-pastry shop in the capital, but it is still a poorly defined sketch.
Dish with Riofrío sturgeon with toasted yeast, pickle and bimi.
He has a friendly approach, a textbook enjoyment - he has a great time with friends in places like Amazónico - and he can't stand lateness.
"Everyone's time is important."
He has hours left to go to the gym, he likes to talk about painting and fashion.
"And
I love being a host
, receiving people. I like making others happy, it's the best thing in the world," he says excitedly.
His latest book, dedicated to his parents, talks about this double face of happiness: that of "cooking happiness for the diners and being happy cooking."
In the long conversation, he does not avoid any topic.
"What is expensive and what is cheap in this world is very relative.
Eating a tortilla skewer can be more expensive than going to a gastronomic restaurant
."
Of cooking shows, the positive side stands out above all and the negative side is relativized.
"Thanks to 'MasterChef' everyone knows what a siphon is," she says, raising her eyebrows.
The pandemic believes that it helped highlight the work in the kitchen even more.
"Everyone had to start cooking and that showed the effort and time it takes."
Ramón Freixa, a few days ago, in his 'atelier' in Madrid.
When he looks back, he says he wouldn't change anything about what he experienced.
"I have accepted my mistakes and tried to correct them, which is wise," she says sarcastically.
She has received offers to participate in a multitude of projects, but for the moment she is very careful about where she gets into.
"
They feel you when they know they can feel you
."
She claims to be in a "calm moment because everything is working well."
This is also where his team comes in, whom he takes care of as if they were family.
"The leader often has to know how to take a step back and be generous with his people. The leaders of my team are clear to me that they are my workers."
Beyond the Madrid gastronomy, the chef leads the dining rooms of the Mas de Torrent hotels, in Girona, and The Lodge, in Mallorca, and is in charge of the Papagena restaurant, located in the Royal Palace.
As if that were not enough, he has opened a restaurant in Cartagena de Indias, Erre de Ramón Freixa.
The universe of this Catalan chef does not stop growing.
"The third star will come. There is no rush."
Ramón Freixa Restaurant
(Unique Hotel): Claudio Coello, 67.