Run by women, at the entrance to Villarrobledo (Albacete) and with Teresa Gutierrez in front, Saffron opens like the same flower of this unique spice, which serves to demonstrate the winds of change that the Castilian-La Mancha cuisine lives.
In between, a latent devotion that made him deviate from the family path, that of dentistry, arriving to study the race. Having thus parked that well-received inheritance, since her father was a renowned dentist in Albacete and her brothers also trained as dentists, Teresa decided to take another path.
Teresa’s course also passed through molars, tongues and teeth, although understood from the hedonistic side of life, embarking on a solo gastronomic adventure in 2008 when he opened Azafrán, a restaurant where all the staff is female, and almost without intending it.
“When we started making the selection, it came about like this, spontaneously,” he admits. Now, 13 years later, Saffron’s crew not only remains entirely feminine, it is the same.
A culinary family has thus been generated where the singing voice is led by women in a choir where dining room, sommelier and cuisine perform at the same level that has positioned them as Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide, that is, “quality cuisine at reasonable prices”.
From college to cooking school
Teresa Gutiérrez (Albacete, 1980) could have taken the ‘easy’ path of family tradition, with a long dental career, But from a very young age it was clear to him that before reconstructions, Arkansas strawberries and burnishers he preferred to dedicate himself to a world ruled by pots, stoves and flavors.
That did not prevent him from taking his first steps in the educational world of Dentistry, leaving behind the race in fourth while she was studying it at the University of Valencia, determined to make her way through the kitchens.
“He felt bad at home at first, but then they supported me to the fullest“She explained to us by phone a few months ago for another report. From there, the support was convincing and the academic training led her to continue her training in Valencia, but this time at the Cooking School of the Levantine capital.
Flagged by restlessness, she continued her studies by going to France, where he enrolled in the Avignon Cooking School, which would be the prelude to his return to Spain. Riff (Valencia), El Faro de El Puerto (El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz) or Las Rejas (Las Pedroñeras, Cuenca) served as professional blanks for a chef who was clear that her kitchen should lead Castilla-La Mancha as a flag .
Castilla-La Mancha 2.0 and a television emergence
In 2008 Saffron opened the doors, at the beginning with just four tables and focused on giving private tables because “there was no room for more”, which has now become a mature restaurant and one of the gastronomic references of the province.
“I have always been clear that I wanted to cook the gastronomy of this land and its recipes, but adapting them,” he insisted. Thus it is understood that the loin of daggerboard (grandmother’s recipe), the pistos, the asadillo, the morteruelo or the atascaburras remain in a scene that It combines a menu, a tasting menu and an executive menu baptized as Saffron Menu.
Honesty, good product and the certainty that the best is yet to come, but that in the meantime, he does not build castles in the air. “People come from Villarrobledo, the province and all of Castilla-La Mancha, as well as many business people because Villarrobledo has a very powerful industry,” he explains.
Reason why its culinary offer, apart from being faithful to the terroir, is consistent with the place where it is located. “It is a business and we also have to know adapt to all types of clients in case you come one day or in case you want to come twice a week “, he solves sincerely.
With that profile, he continued to grow until he even made a television foray by participating in the second edition of Top Chef (in 2014). “It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot, and I think it helped me to get to know us a little more “, he considers of a program that, for example, consolidated and put award-winning chefs on the map.
We speak thus of Begoña Rodrigo (winner of the first edition and a Michelin star in La Salita, Valencia), Javi Estévez (a Michelin star in La Tasquería), Miguel Cobo (in Cobo Estrato, Burgos) or Sergio Bastard (Michelin star also in La Casona del Judío, in Santander).
A gift for baking and an off-road mother
Without the children’s cookbook that her mother gave her when she was just a child We would certainly not be talking about Teresa Gutiérrez today, but in those children’s pages full of cookies and cakes there was a certain catharsis.
Thus consecrated to confectionery and the world of the masses, essential to understand her proposal, Teresa has also turned her kitchen into a workshop, even during confinement. Looking at his Instagram account was thus a constant of ideas for get started in the world of confectionery, including some recipe that we have replicated in Directo al Paladar like this super easy orange cake.
Thus coexists the life of a chef who could open anywhere in Spain with success, but whose roots lie in Villarrobledo, where he has grown up and where he has everything at hand. That includes her two children (Carmen, four years old, and Manuel, just five months old), clear evidence of the off-road character of a tireless woman who extends her family to the restaurant.
For this reason, the names of Lourdes, Rosa, Oksana, Bianca and Dolo are a constant in the day to day of Saffron, his workers and colleagues, who have turned this corner in perpetual growth on the outskirts of Villarrobledo into a culinary stop on the way. .
Adapted roots
Far from being intimidated by the traditional cookbook, Teresa Gutiérrez lives and reshapes the dishes that have made Castilla-La Mancha famous. “We make a virtue of necessity, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have good ingredients or that we do not know how to take advantage of them, “he claims.
Nor does he doubt lighten the forcefulness of flavors that remain in his memory, such as the atascaburras, which is served in croquette, the lump of orza, the crumbs or the aubergine asadillo. To this must be added the special mention of some vegetable dumplings, present on the menu, which are to be elevated to the altars.
In this healthy coexistence with its tasting menu, the best option (and quite affordable in relation to value for money) to become familiar with the subtlety with which Teresa gives new life to traditional dishes, dispensing with excess fat, frying and giving fundamental importance to the producer and to the proximity of these.
In that wicker is where Teresa’s culinary basket wins whole in a creativity and simplicity test which has also conquered Michelin (at the moment only with Bib Gourmand, but calling for the star) with power. Almost as much as that of saffron, the watchword of the house, and as La Mancha as Teresa.
It is able to give life to it in desserts (such as rice pudding) or in pastries and bakeries, where it slides some strands into the dough. However, it is in the salty part where vegetable lasagna or cod with almonds The ever-evolving Olympus of Teresa Gutiérrez is crowned.
What to ask for: The advantage of Saffron is that it is suitable for all budgets, although the best option if we do not know it is to go to the tasting menu (€ 48 and € 16 optional for pairing), but its menu is complete and also allows you to know its stamp. Essential are the atascaburras croquettes, the torreznos with asadillo and the seafood cannelloni.
Practical data.
Where: Av.de los Reyes Católicos, 71, 02600 Villarrobledo, Albacete.
Half price: € 35 à la carte, although there is a tasting menu and a Saffron menu (daily executive at € 20).
Bookings: 967 14 52 98 and on its website.
Schedules: Tuesday to Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday from 11:00 to 00:00. Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Closed on Monday.
Images | Saffron Restaurant
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