Ibiza Bpm has had the pleasure of being part of Madrid Fusiòn 2023, of its magnificent gastronomic days, throughout its three days of multiple presentations, show cooking, competitions, chefs and national and international catering professionals.
On the last day of Madrid Fusiòn we had the great pleasure of being able to broadcast live from the Ibiza stand, from where we were able to interview several chefs from the Balearic Islands, including the wisdom and experience of David Grussaute, French-born chef who was part of the team of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux chain (with Michelin star), passed through the Comoros Islands, Scotland and finally landed in Ibiza where he decided to stay and take the reins of UNIC Restaurant .
UNIC Restaurant represents a culinary experience, where diners can discover part of the essence of the island through a cuisine that mixes tradition and avant-garde and is located in the Hotel Migjorn Ibiza Suites & Spa, in the heart of Playa d'en Bossa. Km0 by conviction, as the French chef defines it, is committed to local produce. That is why he collaborates directly with small producers, livestock farmers and fishermen's guilds in the region. This allows Grussaute to showcase products from the island that had been almost forgotten and which he works with spectacular technique and know-how, the result of which are dishes that are brimming with flavourful nuances.
Without leaving aside other islands, we interviewed young chefs from various restaurants on the island of Mallorca, such as the Argentinean Chef Kike Erazo, the Mallorcan Marga Brunet and Miquel Serra, who explained new dishes and techniques in detail, and the interviews were conducted by Paul Ross, who played live and between songs asked the questions he received from our listeners.
After finishing at the Ibiza stand we headed to the stand located to the south of the fair and prepared our live broadcast from the Almadrabas Fishing Producers Organisation, where we were able to taste wild red tuna in its different forms, fresh, mojama and washed down with local wines, Marta Crespo, its Director and Manager who explained to us how they work in the Almadrabas with age-old techniques used since the time of the Phoenicians, The chef Julio Vazquez prepared some excellent and exquisite dishes that we had never tasted before. Gadira is the company in charge of the distribution and marketing of tuna
Its wild bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) comes from the Almadraba traps on the coast of Cadiz, a selective, fixed and sustainable fishing method. It is only caught in season, between the end of April and the beginning of June, when the bluefin tuna is at its peak of quality, its tuna is 100% wild and is not fattened after fishing. The rest of the year, they guarantee their commercialisation by deep-freezing at -60ºC just after being caught and homemade ronqueo.
Finally, they gave us a farewell in the purest Cadiz style, led by Antonio Sànchez, their main commercial director, with some chirigotas that were the joy and enjoyment of all the attendees.
Javier Rivero and Gorka Rico, Madrid Fusiòn 2023 Revelation Chef Award
These two young chefs are reviving the eating habits of the old Basque farmhouses in their small restaurant Ama Taberna (Guipúzcoa) Javier Rivero and Gorka Rico have become, on the last day of the Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España gastronomic congress, the revelation chefs of 2023, becoming part of a select group of Spanish chefs. Excited and still smiling, these two chefs couldn't quite believe it. "It has been a total rush and a joy for both of us because it means a reward for all the work we have been doing all this time", they said almost in unison as if they had rehearsed it.
And the synchrony of these two young people can be savoured in the restaurant Ama Tolosa (Guipúzcoa), where they vindicate the eating habits of the old Basque farmhouses. " You always have that nervousness and that illusion, but when I heard our names I said: 'That's it'. You see that the effort you have made is worth it and you feel very grateful and want to continue doing things the way we think they should be done", confessed Gorka proudly. 32 and 27 years old, these two young men have been cooking together "since they started studying at university for real", confessed Javier. "About five years, which is how long we've been at Ama Taberna, although we've been doing events together since a little earlier", Gorka pointed out. But they have been in the kitchen all their lives " with the ama (mother) and the amona (grandmother)". Their philosophy in the kitchen recovers traditional recipes closely linked to the territory, to the local and the seasons, to reinterpret them and present them under the sieve of the contemporary and always with the product as a guiding point to value the work of small producers in the surroundings of their small restaurant.
"We want to offer the best, to give everything we can, respecting the work of those around us and admiring it at the same time. We want to make our customers feel at home", they say, still feeling the emotion of having won such a prestigious award.
On their menu you can taste everything from monographic dishes dedicated to a single product, which they study and work on in depth, to dishes that aim to be a tribute to their environment "such as donkey, sheep, rabbit or lamb, anything that comes from our surroundings and that we can treat", they pointed out.
Noelia Tomoshige is the revelation pastry chef with a dessert of Japanese citrus and Andalusian honey.
The jury chaired by Paco Torreblanca awarded the prize to a creation that combines the two lands of the author, called "furusato "A dessert that combined Japanese and Andalusian flavours captivated the judges of the VI Premio Pastelero Revelación. With the name 'Furusato', a Japanese word meaning place of origin, the pastry chef Noelia Tomoshige used citrus fruit and honey as the main ingredients. They are symbols of her two homelands. One, 'sudachi', an Asian citrus fruit that is largely unknown in Spain, together with Andalusian chestnut honey. "I am Japanese and I was born in Seville", says Tomoshige, after receiving the Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España award.
She is 32 years old, studied French patisserie in 2020 and opened her Monroebakes shop in Getafe, she says. Who "two years ago was working in El Corte Inglés in something that has nothing to do with cooking" may now have invented a sweet genre with his "Japanese-French-Spanish fusion patisserie, which is present in my career every day". in the blind tasting, the jury chaired by Paco Torreblanca was surprised by this cake of various textures, with a glazed base and bright green colours, made with an ingredient that is rarely tasted in these latitudes, even less in pastries. "I wanted to present a novel dessert and I opted for sudachi, which I had a hard time getting here," explains Tomoshige. "I also wanted to represent Andalusia in some way and what goes well with sudachi is honey, chestnut honey.
