If you search on the internet to find the smallest Michelin star restaurant in the world, there are dozens of articles that point to the restaurant. Seed, in New York, which measures exactly 465 square feet. That is, 43.2 m2. But the truth is that Bagá, in Jaén, is even smaller. “42 square meters In terms of plans, I think there are fewer tools,” his cook confirms to DAP, Pedro Sánchez.
Although from the outside Bagá looks like just another tavern of the ones that there are so many (and so good) in the center of Jaen, it is impossible to end up there by chance. The waiting list to be one of the eight lucky diners served per service is usually months long. Surely one has already read about how tiny the restaurant is and how original its cuisine is. But, as difficult as it is to overcome preconceived expectations, Bagá seems even smaller. And its bigger kitchen.
“I always imagined that we wouldn’t last or that it would be very complex to move forward,” Sánchez acknowledges. “Because it is so small, in Jaén, with a tasting menu difficult to defend economically… But the proposal has been growing, removing us from the usual corsets, moving away from what we understand as a restaurant.”
Without fear there is no passion, Begoña Rodrigo, La Salita
extreme minimalism
In a world, that of haute cuisine, where clones abound and trends last decades, Bagá is a haven of radicalism.
Sánchez’s cuisine has a very marked line due to its extreme minimalism. Dishes made up of only two or three ingredients, that no one has made before anywhere and that, in addition, have to comply with two key limitations: the need to work in a kitchen of about 10 m2 and maintain a menu that does not go away from mother in price – currently, 95 euros–.
“One of the mental processes I have is that I think about the product much more than on the plate,” explains Sánchez. “The chefs think much more about the dish, with everything very defined, even in the tasting menus, which should be personal and have been copied, they are standardized. It is cooked for many purposes: always get Michelin stars, get recognition. And here I think is where the error of the profession lies.”
As in all kitchens, in Bagá there are creative processes that work in different directions – and many try and failure–, but one of the keys to the dishes that Sánchez serves, perhaps his great merit, is that he starts from complex approaches to arrive at seemingly simple results.
“When you make a cook with few ingredientsa bit minimalist, there must be complexity in the brain when you are eating textures, but it does not make the customer think either, but rather enjoy it,” explains the chef.
“Many times I mix ingredients by textures or by counterpoint or temperature”
On our menu we were able to try, for example, a roasted beet accompanied by a seaweed sauce. This is what you see, but you know as soon as you put the interfect in your mouth that there is much more behind it. Specifically, Sánchez tells us, a roasted beet wrapped in codium algae for two days, at 180º during service and at 60º when no one is there. The result is a tuber with a texture reminiscent of meat, but with a marine flavor. One last.
“I don’t mix ingredients just for the flavor, that’s where people are also surprised,” explains Sánchez. “Many times I mix ingredients for textures or by counterpoint or temperature. Gastronomy has many parameters, even if you change the order of the menu, taking the same dishes, it could be horrible.”
Tradition and territory, but in other ways
In other cases, Sánchez’s inspiration comes from traditional recipes. It is the case of nori seaweed a la meunièrewhich is cooked with butter, lemon and capers, as if it were a sole.
“I am a lover of sole and turbot on the grill, like they do in the north, with that little fat juice,” he explains. “I love it and I wanted to do something like that, but I had to look for something that would give you the sensation of eating the skin of a fish. I tried other algae. With kombu seaweed It was horrible. The nori seaweed is very delicate in texture, but in the end I managed to get it to come out. And that is the process sometimes of creativity. “Base on something traditional and do something new.”
In a somewhat gastronomic panorama reactionary, in which the words “territory” and “tradition” seem sacred, Sánchez goes off on a tangent: “I will never dare to make rice, because there are millions better than mine, or a croquette. We are always comparing and we have already eaten the best.”
“All the plant world we use is from Jaén”
On the menu, explains the chef, are present the products from Jaén, but in unexpected ways: “There are products from Jaén that do not identify Jaén, which is curious, because all the plant world we use is from Jaén.”
Sánchez works side by side with the horticulturist Juan Carlos Roldanwho cultivates a garden in the nearby municipality of Otiñar, from which he supplies all types of vegetables and aromatic herbs.
“In the end the restaurant creates a very important economic, social and cultural circle and “We must support the producers.”, explained Sánchez recently at the Gastrollar congress. “Value the people who insist that Spain not be emptied. We are taking steps to stop being a producing country to being a country that buys. You have to put value on it, pay for it, and name things.”
And this, explains the chef, does not necessarily imply working with what is closest to home, but know how to choose: “I see the km 0 thing as a bit absurd because there are companies that would not be able to sustain themselves with the public at km 0. If I can buy butter in a town in Huelva, why shouldn’t I buy it if I’m helping them?”
The luck of living in Jaén
Sánchez has been offered gold and silver to open the restaurant in another city or, at least, change location, but he intends to continue cooking in his tiny restaurant: “I have had many siren songs and I still have them, but I always say no. I don’t even listen. I am happy where we are and in the future what I want is for Bagá to continue as it is now. Yes, they tell me and tell me that Bagá can’t get anything else for the space, but I’m not ambitious in the sense of wanting to get anything else.”
“I have had many siren songs, but I always say no”
While many restaurants with Michelin stars or Repsol soles (Bagá has two) struggle to make ends meet, Sánchez manages to make everything fit with five people on staff – including his wife and head waiter. Mari Paz Cano– and eight diners per service. It seems like a miracle.
“It works out for me, it doesn’t work for others,” says the cook. “But you also have to have a point of generosity and sustainability in that sense. I’m never going to buy a house in Marbella and I live very well without a car. The kitchen is now experiencing a moment of readjustment. I think that the whole world is going through a moment of readjustment and in the world of gastronomy we need to put values on top more than sustainability, I think we must put more kindness.”
Unlike the majority of hoteliers, who continually complain about the lack of staff, Sánchez has managed to have a fixed teamwith hardly any turnover, thanks to offering them good conditions.
“It’s not that people don’t want to work, it’s that they want to work with dignity”
“I have worked 16 hours,” Sánchez acknowledges. “I know what the hard working world is like. I know that you have to make an effort, but I also know that people have lives and need to feel that their effort is rewarded. What is excellence and what is perfection? In the end, a restaurant with three Michelin stars is still a elite restaurant, but you also spend 16 hours in a restaurant that sells flamenquines and croquettes. And if a beer cannot cost one euro and has to cost two to be able to rest, then we must raise awareness in that sense. Also the client, because it is not that people do not want to work, it is that There is a lack of professionals in the sector. It’s not that people don’t want to work, it’s that they want to work with dignity.”
Sánchez will continue in Jaén, showing that things can be done differentlyboth from inside doors and from doors out.
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
“A lot of people come to see us and it is beautiful to see how someone who has visited many restaurants and a couple from Jaén who have given their son the food and have never been to a restaurant of this type sit in the same service,” concludes Sánchez. “I like that they don’t have so many prejudices, because as we get older we pick up quirks. It’s nice, too, when people come who come to restaurants a lot and You will find a kitchen that cannot compare. If you make risky and personal cuisine you have to know that not everyone will like it. “I’m surprised that so many people like us.”
Baga
- Where: C. Chapel Grille, 3. Jaén.
- Half price: 95 euros tasting menu.
- Schedule: Closed Mondays and Sundays for dinner.
- Bookings: 953 04 74 50 and on their website.
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