Hi everyone, welcome to potluck food talks. Today we have a very special guest. It's my
cousin Walter Sidoravisius. Being my cousin, I've known him since I was a little baby.
But just recently he became the third Venezuelan in history to get a Michelin star, which is
quite an achievement with his project, Omakase by Walt, right?
Omakase by Walt.
And I'm also here with my homie Phil, as always.
Hey, congratulations, Walter.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, we are super, super happy about this. It was a huge,
fantastic surprise for us.
Yeah, like I was not expecting it at all. First of all, because I thought like that
your project was more like a private dinner in place more than a restaurant that could
actually get a Michelin star, like from the basis of the recognition.
So it was quite a surprise. I was like, what? What is this?
For me, for me too. So I think we saw the last year, some, a few, a few clients, a few
customers, they start to say, look, and the Michelin star inspector already came and the
Michelin star already say something. The Michelin star, what? I don't think so.
And you were not even thinking about it.
I think the concept is not the concept of that Michelin star in Spain, because I think
for example, in Ibiza is just three recently three Michelin star restaurant and it's a
restaurant with a table and with a sommelier with a one waitress per person for guests.
And, and this is a type of Michelin star that I think is here in Spain. It's not like Asian
in Asian, you have amazing street food who have some Michelin star, no, it's a different.
Yeah. I recently, I was recently in Singapore and I visited two places that had a Michelin
star and were street food hawkers. Okay. Yeah. And I mean, like, like it's nice. And I understand
that these places have Michelin stars because in one case they invented a new type of noodle
soup and the other one also something like really historic. But, but like if you put
it on the same level, I think there are a few pinch of places that could have a Michelin
star as well in Spain, you know, like here in San Sebastián. Exactly. It's what I was
thinking about here in Spain is a lot in Andalusia. You have amazing tavernas or taskers where
you eat amazing food every day, the same amazing dishes or in Pichu place in the north of Spain.
And this deserve no Michelin start to. So that's why I was thinking my concept, maybe
it's not like the concept they looking for, no, they're like with us sommelier, so many
waiters, so many huge elegant service to elegant place, but these are very minimalist, very
small, very Japanese. It's the Japanese proper way not to service omakase sushi and Japanese
food. Exactly. Tell us a little bit about your place. First of all, what is omakase?
I think we've talked about omakase on the sushi episode. I think we touched on it. Yeah.
So omakase omakase means trust in the chef hands. So it's where the chef is free to choose
now the menu he's going to prepare and always is looking for represent the season of the
of the year. And in washoku or in Japanese food is very important to represent also when
it's one season to the beginning of the season, the middle of the season and also the end
of the season. No. And I think the omakase is where the chef choose the menu depend what
part of the decision there. They are no. It's always sushi, right? Omakase omakase can be
a tempura place can be a jacquitori sukiyaki place and omakase is a is this concept. Okay.
So it's yours. It's not really a print menu. You don't choose know it's a tasting close
menu for say something. Yeah, I recently visited omakase in Singapore. It was quite nice. In
French kitchens, you would call it like a carte blanche, you know, basically where you
just go somewhere and you completely like give yourself up to the chef, you know, and
it's like a like an experience like a surprise, you know. Exactly. I think it's part of it's
part of the beauty of the this experience, no, the people don't expect nothing, no, no,
no, no suspect what we went to service. And also my concept is, is a mix of a spiky sea
place with a omakase. So I think it's a double unexpected experience. Exactly, because that's
what I heard why with my aunt, she went to visit and she told me, yeah, the entrance
is like a garage, like you don't expect like you enter like to a house and suddenly you're
in like this beautiful sushi bar. It's like a storage. Yeah. With it's only 12 seats,
right? It's 10 seats. We start with eight seats. And after we do 10 seats. Yes. Okay.
And how many guys are you in the kitchen? We are Jonathan is my right hands in the kitchen
and Francesca is the waiter. We are three only. That's awesome. Super cool. Three three
person for 10 person per day. Only only only one service. Yeah. And what about the drink
offer? Do you have like only sake and teas or is there anything else? Or yes, I try the
people going more for the sake choice, not drink more to wine or champagne. For example,
I don't offer champagne here in Ibiza. Champagne is serving I think in all the restaurants
around the island. And I don't want to service because it's not really Japanese. So I prefer
they drink a sparkling sake. For example, I had a sparkling sake recently at the Wakan
in Singapore and sorry in Kuala Lumpur. It was super nice. I really, really liked it.
Little by little is that this is for the beginning. The first sparkling sake I tried was very
sweet. But nowadays it's more like it's really nice. More dry sparkling sake. And it's getting
I think a little bit better now in Spain, maybe in Japan. They are very good. And yes,
we offer no alcohol drinks. Tea. I think tea is a very good combination, very good pairing
also with the food. And we offer kombucha. We have a person here in Ibiza. She makes
amazing homemade kombucha. Japanese beer. We have a selection of seven different sake.
Every night we select the sake depending on the menu. But if the people want to drink
more than seven, we have 20 different sake. And also we do a selection of wines. We have
like five, six different wines as well. Cool pairing with the food too. But it's like this.
So I prefer the people feel like they are in Japan. So when you are in Japan, it's not
there is nowadays a wine selection, but not. It's more like sake, soju, Japanese drink
selection. Super nice. This is the idea. So I'm talking about Japan. If I am correct,
you first learned cooking in Spain, then you went to Japan. If I'm not wrong, you went
to a sushi contest in Japan and you became finalist, right? Yes. Yes. So for the beginning
I started studying the culinary institute in Porto La Cruz in Venezuela where I was growing
up. And after I moved to Madrid, I started working in the proper way, like in a Japanese
restaurant like Sushi Chef. And after this I was missing the sea place because I grew
up very close to the sea. And I get a very good relation with bartender. He's my friend
nowadays and he's here from Ibiza. And he said, look, why don't move to Ibiza? Stay
in my house the first season to try and maybe you will like. So it was the best decision
I made in my life. So I moved to Ibiza. I started to work in a type of a beach club.
It's a huge famous beach club where a part of the kitchen is a sushi bar with seven chefs.
And I was working with a chef from London. He's a very good professional. Nowadays he
has his own restaurant in London. And he inspired me to move after the season in Ibiza to work
in London in some Japanese restaurants. So I work in a Japanese restaurant in the wintertime
in London. In summer back to Ibiza again. Next winter I moved to Australia working
in a niche restaurant compared with maybe with Nobu where I meet Sebastian. So Sam
Pinchera. We was working together in this. I didn't know you work together. I knew you
went to school together, but not that you. No, no, we work together. I think 12, almost
12 years ago, something like. And yes, in the same restaurant. I remember very, very
busy restaurant, like 500 guests per day. Very good quality, very good product, very
nice Japanese chef, but super, super busy, super busy slave place.
Actually, Sebastian Pinchera is someone who I was expecting to get a Michelin star. The
first time I went to his new place, I was like, okay, this place could easily get a
Michelin star at some point, you know, but I never saw this about you. You know, it's
crazy. Yeah, it's amazing. Something you can't. I don't know. It's very difficult to know
how they choose and how how it's coming. And after this, I back to Ibiza again for the
summertime and I decide if I really want to know about Japanese food, I think I need to
move to Japan. So Australia, I get working holiday visa and I start to look if I can
find the working holiday visa to Japan. And so I moved to Japan. I started to work for
the beginning in a in a farm. It's a kind of association of farms called Goof where
you work five, six hours a day and they give you accommodation and food and the good things
they have the rule who say in the end of the day, they need to teach you some Japanese
culture like calligraphy or the instrument or the language. So for me, it was a very
good way to introduce myself in the Japanese culture before to start to work in a Japanese
restaurant. That's amazing. After this, I made my own Kishu, my CV with a Japanese friend
help and I went to very traditional sushi place like Kimura, Saito, Sugita, Jiro, these
very top level famous chefs. Do you recall any memorable experience in these places?
Because I remember once we were drinking and you were telling me about this place that
they counted the exact amounts of grains in a nigiri and they were the way they would
let it fall into the table would make like an impact in the pressure of the in this kind
of micro details, you know, like micro awareness of nigiri. Yeah, I remember for me, one of
the chef inspired me a lot is Sushi Saito because I think I already watched all the
videos and all the articles about Saito. And I remember one thing is amazing from the chef
when he put the piece of nigiri on your plate and how soft is the rice, how eerie is inside
of this bowl of rice. When he put on your plate, you can watch the fish is going a little
bit down, no? And you don't need to wait too much because more you wait, more pressure
make the fish to the rice. For me, it's the wow, this level is the master level now and
inspired me a lot. You worked in Nobu, Tokyo, right? Yes. Finally, I get the job in Nobu,
Tokyo. I remember I give my CV to the to the manager and was a very tall guy looked like
Yakuza, all style Japanese without hair. And he said to me, this is not a Japanese way
to give me your CV, you know, you need to send first an email or a letter by post. And
after we answer if you can come to give us the CV or not. I said, Okay, sorry, sorry.
And he said, guys, I know you are not Japanese, so give me your CV. This day I get a short
interview with him. And after this, I get another three interview one per week. So the
next one was with a head sushi chef, the other with a head chef, and after the four together
until I get the answer. So I was, I think there was a little bit worry about I was the
first foreigners who joined the kitchen. They asked me things like you have to do if you
have to do you cannot work. Okay. I saw you need to shave your your hairs in your arms
and all these kind of things, you know, very, very strict. So maybe double looks like very
modern restaurant and Tokyo very modern city but I think they they respect and they keep
very traditional knowing some in some point was amazing experience. I work almost one
year for Nobu Tokyo. The first three months was very, very hard, very complicated because
I was the only foreign ace who works in the kitchen. And all the dish I finish and give
to them waiters pass so many scams. No, the first scam from the waiter, the second scam
from the manager and the third scam from the daughter of Nobu because she is in charge
of the restaurant. And after this three scams is finally going to the table. That was a
huge pressure. Wow. But amazing. No, Tokyo has what like two stars? No, no, they never
they never get they never get a start because I think that I think that one from London
made two stars. One from London he get the he get one Michelin star. I think it's not
a concept they want to to keep Michelin. That's crazy. Yeah, there is one that opened recently
here. I haven't been there. Okay. And San Sebastian. Yeah, there's a new Nobu. It's
it's been open like for two months, but I have a rule. I visited a new opening after
it's been open like at least one month. Okay. Exactly. One year. Yeah, yeah. You don't have
to be the tester of the mistakes of the restaurant. And what about the contest? What's the story
behind that sushi contest? So I remember working in Nobu, Tokyo is coming one supplier and
he gave us paper with the publicity of these contest. And the content is they looking for
the best sushi chefs around the world, the best from America, the best from Spain, the
best from England. And after they choose from some many, many other countries, they make
a big contest, international contest in Tokyo. So all the chef was lovely. You can do you
can do you can do it. Okay, why not? I will I will try it. So why not? And it was was
fun. It was the most important for me for us taking fun about these and meet so many
chef around the world with the passion for the same things and and be the first big finalists.
It's like, okay, maybe not too important. But the important things was know all these
people around the contest. Yeah, I think it's most important for me. What did you have to
make it a contest? So the first day you need to do 15 pieces 15 traditional sushi pieces
in one plate. And they check the way how you do the way how you got of course your technique
and your creativity as well. And this is the first contest and the next day you make a
dish with 15 different pieces about your type of sushi you know about your fusion your own
style your own style. I have a question before you go on. You said like the three
traditional they value your creativity. But what is creativity and something traditional
is it like a little twist your own exactly what type of for example, some chef made a
nutty sushi not a sushi is very is the beginning of the of the sushi. No, or Aussie sushi of
fresh sushi is typical from Kansai area. No. So they are traditional. Yeah, there's this
ones that are rectangular right this square exactly. So this is the what I mean with the
creativity node is fine different type of traditional sushi in 15 different pieces.
Okay, you can make nigiri you can make sashimi you can make a fosomaki you can make futomaki
you can make you can choose your the 15 is your own choice. Okay, all of these need to
be the traditional way super traditional style sushi. That's that's what they want. Interesting.
Yeah. The next is just your your creation or your own creation. And it was very good.
I was the number six on the beginning and after they passed the number eight I didn't
understand why. But that was very interesting. Very nice to to meet all the suppliers, because
the supplier was the sponsor of the contest and all the chef was was very interesting.
Yeah. Yeah. Japan visiting the fish market. I've seen every time you travel there, you
visit the markets that has to be amazing. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Well,
for me, the fish market is like a world is now. No, it's like for the kids what this
is for me is the sushi market. I think every other place in the world have a fish market
like this. No, it's the freshness of the fish. Most of them are in life is still in life.
The variety of the of the fish clams and seafood are amazing. How huge is this fish markets
is is incredible. Huge. I remember the first time I was very early and visit all the parts
that tune apart the all the all this fish and you get sushi like breakfast as well.
Nice, delicious, delicious sushi and outside of the market and around the market is another
market know with a lot of street food, a lot of great seafood making in the grills and
grill hotate or real scallops and just a little bit ponzo sauce on dashi broth and things
and yeah, it's wow. It's super nice. Super nice. Yes. Yes. I also I also remember I was
living in Bolivia. I don't know if this was maybe later, but I was living in Bolivia and
I was talking with you and with Phil at the same time and we had like a lot of time without
talking like maybe more than a year with both of you. But that day I was talking with with
both of you at the same time and you tell me, yeah, I recently finished studying at the
Vasculinary Center and now I'm in Japan and Phil and I was like, oh, that's crazy because
my friend Phil, he just he was working at Mugaritz in the Basque Country and now he's
also in Japan and he's working at Riojin and you tell me, oh, that's crazy because I'm
just going to Riojin right now to have dinner and I was like, what are the odds? You know,
like this is like. That was amazing coincidence. Was really, really amazing coincidence. I
was followed the Senji Yamamoto a few, few years before I arrived in Japan for me on
the videos. Of course, I didn't meet him before on the video. She was a wow, it's a alien.
No, it's another planet's chest. No. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen the like the technique videos,
the cooking videos. Yeah, it was the most. It's the most technical thing I've seen in
my life. It's so baroque, so over the top, over the top, more and more and more technique.
Yeah, I don't know if I can talk about this joint, but I remember I smoke a joint one
night before going to the bed and I was watching in my computer a video of Senji Yamamoto taking
a thing was like Amadai or some some snapper and he peel, he take out all the scales, he
dry the scales, he fry and he do like kind of panko just with the scale and after take
out the middle spine with a tube and fry and put the game back in the raw meat and after
put in the grill. Wow. The next day I wake and say, wow, that was real. It was real what
I watched in the videos. Because he also makes like 3D animations to explain the processes
of the spines of the fish and everything like it's really, really crazy. The crazy thing
is that they actually do those techniques, you know, like and I think the cool thing
about that is that they like they take like traditional techniques and dishes like for
example, like a grilled unagi, you know, and they do it kind of in a traditional way, but
like thinking about every detail and then they go in, they're sort of like, how do we
fillet it? How do we cut like taking like a tiny scissor like crisscross cutting the
bones and like the way that they cut. I have like drawings in my notebook from there because
they cut the skin, but they cut it in like a different width depending where on the skin
it is and yeah, it's crazy. They're so, so detail oriented.
Yeah, I remember Phil telling me that while he was in the restaurant, there are like this
cameras to see the tables and when he was watching your table, you were like looking
at all the plates, the brats and everything and being like, like really aware of everything
around you. Wow. For me was eating in a Senji Yamamoto restaurant,
three Michelin restaurant. I was so focused. I read all the, the politics and the website
about the restaurant and he said, I remember one politics say, uh, it's better you don't
use your cell phone to take pictures because you can be a little bit tipsy and break some
crockery and these crockery have many, many years as I work and no fun or nothing. Just
focus watching everything. Phil, you told me a story of a chef that
broke a plate and he was on his knees like, oh, sorry, please.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, this, I mean, the crockery in that restaurant was like, I remember we had
these like really beautiful bowls. They're like quite famous for them. Uh, it had like
Fujin and Raijin, the two like gods of thunder and wind like painted on them. And, uh, we
only had like three of them or something like that, you know, and it has like the ball with
the matching lid. And one day we went to a museum in Roppongi and we saw the same ball
like in the museum and we were like, oh, okay. Like, but like exactly the same one, you know,
and we're like, oh, shit, you know, and, uh, and yeah, like they, they were super, super strict.
And yeah, like it was so funny when you came to eat because it was like, so Eric told me so
spontaneously and I told the chefs and they were like, okay, all right. Um, but they're like very
reserved, you know, because they have so many like VIP guests coming in every day and we had
cameras on every table. There was a camera so that you could see what's going on on every table.
Wow. And, um, so in the beginning,
there was sort of like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Your, your friends coming. All right.
Okay. Sure. And then you were sitting there and you were so focused. Like I could see like every
time a dish came, you could just see how you were looking at it. You really taking it in that looks
and you the smelling and tasting each element. And I remember after like one or two dishes,
the, like the chefs that were kind of like standing on the pass, you know, how Japanese chefs are,
they were kind of like, you know, a little bit, a little bit arrogant or like, yeah, you know,
they were looking at it. And after like two or three dishes, they came to me and they were like,
who is this guy? You know, like, uh, because they could see, you know, they could see that you were
really, really into it and really taking it very, very seriously and really had an interest and a
respect for what was going on. You know, I think it was for me, one of the best culinary experience
I get. I remember I was, I think October or something similar, September, end of September,
end of September. And I was lucky because you still have a ju the river, the river fish.
Oh yeah.
And also you, you, the last time and the last year you get the eel, the unagi more than one kilo,
because the government after was forbidden to catch a wild, wild eel. So I was so lucky because
in the, in this menu, I tried both, you know, the end of the, the summer at you and the beginning
of the wild, more than one kilo eels, unagi was amazing. Yeah. For me, it was the best unagi. I
tried the, I don't know if you got the Shio, the Shio version or the Shoyu version. I don't remember
exactly which one, but I think was a Shio version, the salty, the salty ones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I don't have pictures to remember. It was 10 years ago. So yeah, these long menus are super
hard to remember if you, if you don't make pictures. Yes. Now, nowadays it's complicated.
Then you went to the Basque Culinary Center and while studying there, you were working at like a
super standard sushi place here in San Sebastian. But I remember you told me you were doing like
super crazy things, like super high standards, so it is there just to, you know, to practice like
working with super baby shrimps, peeling them one by one to make like a special of the day and
trying to improve your own style. And so can you, can you tell us about that? Yeah. Yeah. I remember
I just, when I arrived in San Sebastian, I think what was Sebastian who recommend to contact with
Kenji Kenji at this moment, he have a small sushi bar restaurant in old pathways, all the pinchos,
all the pinchos bar. Yeah. It's basically a Japanese pinch over, right? Like exactly. But
it's, I remember I arrived super Japanese, no shaving me. Everything was still with the,
after one year working in Japan with only Japanese people around me. That was fresh after Japan.
Exactly. Exactly. Oh, it was taking me like three months after Japan be back on me again,
no, because I was maybe so Japanese. Yeah. I had, I had a similar experience after
Mugaritz, like working in other places after Mugaritz. I had to like de-wash my brain
like to become normal again. I had to say, when I, when I came back from, from Japan, I was like,
I felt so culture shocked in a way. Like I went straight to like Belgium, I think, and then like
to Paris. And I remember like bumping into somebody like on a, on a square and being like,
Oh, come on aside. You know, cause you're so in the zone, you know? Exactly. Well, even when you
go into eat in the sun restaurant, like guests and you pass a troll back to a waiter, you say
Torimas, Torimas backpack, like you are working in the kitchen. Like you're still
working in the kitchen. Yeah. It's, it's a funny, funny things. Yeah. And in San Sebastián with Kenji,
he's a very simple, simple sushi bar with more, maybe I can say more American sushi.
In the kitchen is, is was working Hideki. He's a, he's a amazing Japanese chef and very good
friend. And she makes some more like, no sushi plate, but the sushi was very like more Americans.
And so sometimes I get a guest who sit in front of me on the bar and I can make like
omakase experience, you know, you say, okay, I make whatever you want. And I do like omakase
and this, in this moment, no. And I start to make my creativity with a Japanese technique and try to
find a local fish. And then really once we make a gunkan who is a bowl of rice around a seaweed.
And I take them at this moment in the fish market was a live shrimps,
kisquillas. And we take, we peel the kisquillas and we make a roll, move kisquillas, gunkan to
the guest. What was amazing is just a little bit salt and lime. I remember. And yes, this kind of
things. If you could choose like five sushi dishes you've had, or you, you made that you could say,
wow, this was really memorable. Like for instance, this one gained such a special produce and making
something that, that you can't really scale up. You can build a restaurant that produces this every
day because it's so hard, which would be your list of five in no order. Wow. Five. I don't know if I
have, but I have one. I really liked a lot. Of course, I don't think like I invent because I
think everything's almost invent and it was a Torbots nigiri and rodabayo. Yeah. And wild
rodabayo nigiri. And on top is a special part in Japan they call engawa. So it's the fins around
the fish. And of course to make a, in my restaurant, I have 10 guests is for one fish. It's impossible
to make a 10 piece of nigiri of engawa. So I need to choose who's going to eat engawa. So
it's not choose. I make a kobujime, it's a kind of a technique where you put the fillet of the,
of the Torbots you wrap in the, in the combo and curate for a few hours. I make a nigiri with this
and on top I get the engawa and grill, grill engawa and put just a small piece of engawa
on top. So I mix a Torbot with the engawa with a grill thing of the fish on top. This is one of my,
I think one of my favorites. That sounds delicious. Yeah. Sounds amazing. Yeah. Like
the excreting with combo and then grilling sounds really, really nice. Yeah. It's a type of
technique that I normally use for this type of fish. I think it's one of the fish with very
elegant and light, light tests and also a little bit hard texture. And this technique, I think
increase. So first the salt of the seaweed, take out the excess of water and increase the
concentrate the fat of the, of the meat. And, and after pass all the umami and sea taste to the meat
without kill the proper taste of the, of the fish. And the result is amazing texture with very
nice and elegant sea taste of the fish. Then I remember I was living with a friend and we had
a visit from, from a cook that came from Chile and he came to make a cooking course at the
Vasco de Inari Center with you as a professor for a special sushi course. And I remember the guy
telling me about how impressed he was about you butchering an eel with this technique where you
put like a nail in the eye and then you, you clean the thing. And can you tell us about this whole
world of fish butchering? I know you also worked at a Ponyente. You're probably also interested
in the work of Josh Neelan, you know, the world of fish pieces and everything. What, what can you,
you tell us about that? Yes, I remember teaching in a, in a Vasco de Inari Center. It was an intense
course of five days. So I tried to teach the most I can to the professional because they are already
our chef or they are owner of the sushi restaurant. And I remember one part of the teaching was
fillet, fillet fish. So the, all this type of, and different way how you can cut and fillet,
for example, a sea bream, how you fillet a flat fish like a turbot or how you fillet the eel,
the unagi. The unagi you need to fillet when it's still in life because when it's dead, it's like,
rigor mortis, no? Yeah, the shape becomes stiff. And exactly. It's not straight. It's impossible
to fillet a unagi with a rigor mortis. That's why you need to cut in life. And this was very
interesting. Every, I think it was like a 20 person, they tried to fillet a unagi, a lot of blood
everywhere. It was a little bit crazy, but this is there is in the same time is respect, no? From
the animal and for the product, no? It's the best way how you can kill the fish and how you can
process and prepare the fish. It was amazing, amazing experience. And what about Aponiente?
Does the work of Angel Leon has had some influence in your own work or not so much?
Yes, yes. In Aponiente, we just worked a short time, less than three months. Yes,
have some influence. I think Angel Leon is a very innovative chef. You have some products like
Placton. I mean, the taste of Placton is amazing. It's not really a Placton, no? It's just a few
types of seaweeds. Of a microalgae, right? Exactly. Microalgae and tastes amazing. Tastes like
you eat oyster or Perseves and have amazing seafood taste. And also the botchery, how they do
chorizo with mullet. Mullet is, I think, not appreciated fish, no? Where you see the mullet
in the port, no? Where is the boat? It's always the people associate the mullet with the dirty
waters, no? But it's a wild mullet, amazing fish. And this fish, first he don't eat another fish.
He just eat like a wild, just by filtration. And second is one of the fish have a lot of
percent of fat. So it was amazing to make a botchery or chorizo with this. And I remember we
take the belly part caught in cubes and make like, you know, when you open chorizo and you get
this cube of fat, no? Yeah, the white parts, right? Exactly. The same with this thing. It's
not Japanese. It's not Japanese kitchen, but I think I learned a lot how to use local fish and seafood,
no? This is one of the challenge always for me, no? Mix Japanese technique with the local seafood
and vegetable without change the tradition and the Japanese philosophy, no? So try to
don't make a huge fusion, no? To change the tradition. For me, what I do is very simple,
very focused in the quality of the products and the quality of the technique. And it's nothing else,
no? I think it's the most complicated. Make something easy, nice, no? This is the
complicated part for me. Absolutely. Yeah. You were also like involved in fishing, if I'm not
wrong. I love to fishing, yes. And I have more into kayak fishing, but I have free time, not
too many. And I try to fish. Now it's the squid season here in Ibiza. So I love to want to catch
the squid and this kind of thing. But you use your own catch product for your restaurant or is it
only for self-consumed? It's just self-consumed. Yes, self-consumed. Also first, because I think
it's not legal, I need to pass from the costradia first to make it legal. But you catch and sell to
the restaurant. And second, because when I start the restaurant, I don't have more time to
go fishing. That was the end of the whole thing. Exactly. Okay. Okay. So that's why.
I wanted to jump into the more technical questions. Okay, let's start with, let's go into rice.
What would you say are the key things like a chef should pay attention when cooking sushi rice?
It's like the most key element, right? In sushi. It's the protagonist. It's the most important part
of the sushi, of course. Sushi is rice and vinegar. For me, the most important to make a nice rice is
to know your rice. Practice a lot with your rice. I think every rice is very different. It can be
koshihikari. It can be koshihikari rice, but koshihikari grown in California or koshihikari
grown in Niigata in Japan or koshihikari grown here in Delta Del Ebro in Spain. What makes
koshihikari special compared to other rice varieties? I think for me, the koshihikari,
first I love the aroma of the rice, the side of the grain, the texture of the grain, and also
the, I don't know how to say, how malleable can be in your hands when you work with this rice
to make sushi. Okay. And what I mean, all the rice are different, so you just need to practice,
you know, because it's not the same you cook a rice when it's just less than one year this rice was
picked from the ground. And normally it's in autumn season, in October when they pick the rice,
it's not the same. This rice cook in December and the same rice you cook in July because it's
getting in your storage, getting more dry. So we need more water. And also it depends what type of
fish you use. So you change your seasoning, you know, for example, when it's winter time,
most of the fish are more fat, so you increase the acidity in your seasoning, you know, to
make the balance with the fat. And when it's summertime, you try to make more sweet your
seasoning with a little bit more mirin. And all these minimal details on your rice, I think,
affect in the good results in the end. So you first, you need to know your rice, where it's
coming from, how long is the storage, this rice and all these things after is the way how you cook,
the instrument or the pot you use, the type of water you use, the time you soak in the water,
with what type of water you soak this rice and how many time you wash. Some rice need to wash less,
because we, for the beginning, we think you need to wash more, more, more rice, more wash is better.
I remember working in Novo Tokyo, my rice never was the same for them, for the Itamae, for the
head chef. And I say, I asked, look, watching me, what I do wrong. And he watched me and he said,
you wash too much the rice, wash less. Yeah, he was true. So I think the most important is know,
know your rice, know everything about your rice and try to make better every time.
That's super interesting what you mentioned. We also talk about that on the sushi episode we made,
that the seasoning is not, I mean, it depends on the fish and the season. So you, it can vary,
like depending on what you want to achieve. This is something a lot of people don't know.
Well, I guess it's also difficult to learn how to calibrate that, right?
It's very, it's very complicated. So nowadays they, they're using a lot around the world. It's
a Akasu. It's a red rice vinegar. It's made with a, with a lease of produce sake, with sakekasu.
And it's a little bit more, more complex taste or aromas. But this vinegar,
it's not match really well with white fish. So nowadays it's a few restaurants you can find the
two type of vinegar, white vinegar with some fish and Akasu, the red vinegar with another fish.
So every, the vinegar for me also is very, the seasoning is very important to the sushi.
I went to, to Anomakase in Singapore recently and it impressed me because I had never seen that,
the nigiri's like the rice was already like seasoned with soy sauce. So it was kind of,
you know, gray or brown. And I was like, Oh, I've never seen this. Like, is that common or
something super modern? Like, I don't know. You mean without soy sauce, right? No, with, it was
like, you know, like a light brown rice, like the ones you would find like on a Chinese stir fried.
Yeah. I think it's the Akasu, the red rice vinegar. You use a hundred percent Akasu and the
color is more like brown, more like brown color. That was probably it. Yes. It's very tasty,
very complex. I've seen a lot of chefs also experiment with the, with the sugar. Okay.
As in like not, you know, like using sweetener or like a different sort of rock sugar to give it
like a little bit more complexity. And I personally, I saw a few times where that,
where they were using white rice vinegar with like a little bit of like a darker sugar. Okay. And
that would give the rice this like light brown color. And I thought it was quite nice. Like I
went to one sushi place and they said they only use like, almost like Stevia or like, not Stevia,
but like an artificial sweetener because they thought it was like more subtle. Okay. I thought
it was quite interesting also. Yeah. You know, Stevia, you can find Stevia in its natural form,
which is a leaf. And if you powder the leaf, it's a sweetener. It's amazing. I don't know. It depends.
Every chef is a different world though. And some chef now recently we travel to Japan and we eat
in some, in many of Akasu place. Some of the chefs even don't use sugar. They use vinegar and salt.
And the sushi is very sour. No, it's a very salty mold in Tokyo. Tokyo cuisine is more salty. And
in Kansai area, like Osaka, Kyoto is more sweet. And some chef even doesn't use sugar, just added
mirin. So mirin is like a type of sweet sake. And the whole mirin, the sweetness is coming from the
fermentation process. No, it's not. It's no added sugar in the process. And so every chef is different
and it depends also where they come in from and the style of sushi they serve. It's the small
details now. Your sushi ingredients like let's say rice, mirin, soy sauce, and so on. Is it always
Japanese or do you use also Spanish products? I try to be more local possible. I think in the fresh
products like fish and vegetables and all the other products I bring from Japan. Yes, the soy
sauce, the vinegar, the rice. Yes, I bring from Japan because here we have amazing rice. It's
Akita komachi is the second variety of rice more used in Japan to make sushi. And they grow in Delta
del Ebro. And it's very good, but still not good as Koscihikari from Niigata, for example, or
something like. I wish the future maybe we get amazing product too and be the most local possible.
Even the wasabi. Now they start to grow wasabi here in Catalonia. Yeah, the Sebastian was
also getting he's getting fresh wasabi here from Getaria. Yeah, so it's nice. Of course, it's not
the asumino wasabi with sweets in the end. Very aromatic, but going the good way, maybe for some
other preparation I use to the Spanish wasabi. I like to be local as much as possible. We talk
about everything in the restaurant except for desserts. What do you offer to close the meal?
OK, for the beginning, the restaurant is very complicated part because the dessert in Japan
are very minimalist, simple and very elegant. No, in the same in the same way. And for a sushi
omakase place, sometimes only dashi, dashi maki or atu yaki tamago or the tamago is the dessert.
But for the finish, that's like a like a flan, like a sweet omelet, something like that.
It's like a like an omelet, not like a flan, more like omelet. And if the pen every chef
have different. So when they do they wrap in like a dashi maki, they roll it like many crepes.
Or sometimes they do atu yaki tamago is more like and I say like a cake and is if the pen,
every chef have different different way with the with the with the tamago. And also many restaurant,
they offer in the end fruits, some seasonal fruit like a pear or piece of melon. Amazing, of course.
I think the taste of the fruit. Yeah, I guess if you have to do that, if you do that, you have to
have like an incredible melon. Amazing, amazing. I remember this last trip to Japan, I tried a
grape. They say, wow, how they can make a grape so sweet. Yeah, I know in Japan is also very common.
Like there are these trees where where they cut all the flowers. So it grows just one fruit per tree.
Exactly. So it's super strong. And it's very common to use this as a business present. So like
you close a business, you bring someone like a melon or something. Exactly. Omiyage.
Omiyage. Exactly. So nice. It's a one melon can be sometimes a hundred euros, three hundred euros.
Yeah. Super amazing. Famous melons. Yeah. So in here and in this in my restaurant, I sometimes
we make something simple like only tamago. Sometimes we make mochi. We start to make some
melon and made mochi with a glutinous rice flour dots. And we fill with the atzuki for the beginning
with anko with red red bean sweet paste. But this is complicated. Not all the guests finish this
this in the sets. Like the cultural acceptance, right? Exactly. After we mix with
with white beans and matcha. It was a little bit more acceptable. And after we made we
inside with mousse, green tea mousse. That was OK. Now everyone finished the third. They enjoy.
Yeah. I love desserts with with matcha. There is this place in Barcelona,
something OK. OK. I mean, pastry shop, right? Like, yeah. OK. OK. Is there is a family name.
OK. Pastry. Yeah. They are one of the famous. Yeah. My style of mochi is very similar. Like
OK. Mochi. They have this matcha tea croissants that are amazing. Yeah. Yeah. And nowadays we just
we bang out to ice cream with, for example, as a spring, we take a sakura leaf sakura leaf tree.
And we make ice cream with almond because it's the almond season here as well. And we mix sakura
tree leaf season with almond tree here in Ibiza. We make ice cream and wow, was amazing because
it reminded me like a tonka tonka beans a little bit. Sounds amazing. Yeah. Nowadays,
nowadays, we do something like very simple. It's a very thin line being in the Japanese dessert
and Western style dessert. So I try to go so far with this. But it's nice that you also have the
representation of the of the like the area where you're in and the season and stuff. And I like
that there's like an overlap of sort of like, you know, this what you were saying earlier,
this like Japanese very strong idea of representing the seasons and like some of my favorite
restaurants, Japanese restaurants that I've seen outside of Japan, they were doing the same thing
where they were, for example, in London, you know, where they were doing very Japanese food,
but with local seasonal influence, you know, and I was always like, yeah, that's really,
really true Japanese like mentality and spirits, you know, yeah, really representing the where they
are in the time of the year, you know, super nice. It's very important in the Japanese cuisine. Yeah.