There are about 100 kilometers that separate the Alejandro Serrano restaurant, in the Burgos municipality of Miranda de Ebro, one of the closest beaches. We are talking about the coasts of Deva, Ondarroa or Getxo itself, on the Biscayan coast. However, this young chef is clear that, in this muga that Castilla y León marks with the Basque Country, the sea can be felt and savored.
From caste comes being a cook (His family has run a restaurant in Miranda itself for more than two decades), but this restless young man of barely 25 years of age is splashed by the sound of the sea on all four sides.
From cleaning fish with her grandmother Juana at home with just seven years to know the marine excellence in Michelin star kitchens like Coque or Azurmendi, until reaching several crowns – prizes by means of – with the red tuna or the red shrimp as protagonists.
However, this nautical devotion is not exempt from nonconformity, from leaving the comfort zone and, now mature, despite his young age. vindicate Miranda de Ebro in an unusual gastronomic profile.
Without fear there is no passion, Begoña Rodrigo, La Salita
From ignoring the father to praising the grandmother
At the age of 16 he entered the Bilbao Cooking School and on weekends and days off he returned to Miranda to work in the family business, a restaurant on the outskirts of Miranda specializing in menu of the day that has served him as a seasoned cook.
“My father told me many times not to study cooking and that he did not work on this “, he is sincere, but it seemed obvious that the path of the kitchen was going to mark his life and also that the sea was going to be important.
“To me I was scared to see him at home when I was little cleaning the fish, but he was very good at it, “explains Juana, who comes to see her grandson after helping Gustavo, her other son, also a hotelier in a Miranda cafeteria, from where she brings a freshly made potato omelette.
“I accompanied my grandmother to the fishmonger to buy fish when I was a child and when I started to grow up and I left for Bilbao I put it aside a bit”, admits Alejandro. Now, recovering his roots, he continues betting on your trusted fishmonger (Angel García, to be exact) who is in charge of supplying you with the best of the Cantabrian ports.
The bet ‘on red’
Little given to the spotlights, Alejandro began to tanning in Michelin star kitchens as a stage in Azurmendi, and also passes through DiverXo, Coque or Gaytán, the last three in Madrid. “They have always been short periods because I was very clear that my place was here, in Miranda,” he confesses.
However, he knew that part of the show business of haute cuisine too forces to leave the shelters and to hide behind the stove. Reason for which it began to appear to contests and gastronomic contests.
“I was a bit antisocial until they made me see reason and a teacher told me ‘introduce yourself, that even if you don’t win, you get out in the newspapers’ and I did, “he clarifies.
“In 2016, in my second contest [la final del VII Eusko Label] I won with a potato from Álava stuffed with egg yolk and zancarrón “, he explains, a jump that would later help him discover the notoriety that the world contest offered.
From there it jumped to 2019, the year of hatching, first with the triumph in the Gastronomic Contest of the Red Gamba de Dénia and then with the award to Chef Balfegó 2019, based on bluefin tuna, and that he ended up being placed in a arena that he has not abandoned since then.
Prophet in his land
“The truth is that delivery It saved our lives in 2020 because every weekend we made a themed takeaway kitchen. Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Italian … so The Mirandés also began to know us more“, he indicates. That is how they touched 17 countries or different cuisines that they put on the map and that helped the local lose their fear of the restaurant.
All with a fairly neat average ticket and that now displayed in three menus: Miranda [el más accesible], Where [guiños más castellanos y una pincelada de mar] and Allende [el más largo, por 72 euros, y que es la mejor forma de hacerse una idea de su cocina].
“Aquende is more traditional but based on products not so well known from the north of Burgos, especially from small producers “, he indicates. Although there is also concern in getting out of that framework.” I think that few people of this generation have undertaken and I believe that we can renew the cuisine of Castilla y León as well, “he indicates.
“In Castilla y León we were very comfortable with the products we had here, but we can look further. That is why I work with a lot of Basque and marine product from the Cantabrian Sea because they are very powerful areas and we can value that experience of the trip and take it to our land “, he clarifies.
The Sea of Castile
Thus it makes room for prawns, carril clams, tripe -but cod-, the marinades but with monkfish or to that reference that puts you on the map based on bluefin tuna.
“The prawn has to be white because with the red one they don’t give me the numbers“, she indicates with a smile, but lets see that there is familiar residue on the plate.” We make a broth with a ravioli based on the recipe for garlic prawns that my grandmother makes, “she explains.
A mime that combines with other marine flavors such as sea urchins, such as anchovy musse or a liquid gilda served with fat olive juice, piparra and the anchovy itself.
“Are very clear flavors that allow me a lot of expressiveness. In the ravioli, in fact, it is accompanied by a shrimp tartare and the legs are fried. It is the same that happens with Carril clams, which we put in two sauces, one with garlic and parsley and the other in a cava beurre blanc. Although it is a marine dish, the point of the thyme in the sauce takes you down to earth, “he says.
That fidelity to classic recipes that is evident in a cod tripe stew which he assembles with an Alava potato foam or, with that British nod, making a hake fish & chips that has previously been marinated in sake.
Creatives that combine with an oenological offer directed by Sergio Ariño, head of room and sommelier and whom he met in DiverXo, responsible for the pairing with wines of all kinds. Rioja, of course, and also the famous chacolí de Miranda, but without neglecting insular winks (he is from the Canary Islands) such as Tamerán or Bimbache, as well as some Balearic wines.
What to ask for: the best option to explore the Sea of Castile is go to the menu Aquende, that for a standard that will hover around the Michelin star in the short term is affordable.
Practical data.
Where: Calle de Alfonso VI, 49, 09200 Miranda de Ebro, Burgos.
Half price: € 50.
Bookings: 947 31 26 87 and on its website.
Schedules: From Wednesday to Sunday from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday also from 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
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