Sergio Sanz Blanco, Ametsa with Arzak Instruction, London
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Sergio Sanz Blanco is head chef at Ametsa with Arzak instruction based in London’s The Halkin hotel. The restaurant opened earlier this year and has already gained its first Michelin star. Sergio grew up in Barcelona and has had a rich career working for top Spanish chefs including the legendary Ferran Adria and Michelin-starred Fermi Puig. At Ametsa Sergio cooks traditional Basque cuisine with modern, surprising twists with some rather good chefs to turn to for advice in the shape of the Arzak Instruction team including Juan Mari and Elena Arzak themselves. The Staff Canteen caught up with him to find out how he is coping with the whirlwind journey of the last few months.
You won your first Michelin star in September in your first year of opening; where were you when you heard the news and how did you react?
It was seven in the morning and I was in the kitchen with the breakfast chef. The general manager came to me and said: “Put down what you have in your hands and hug me.” I didn’t really understand what he meant. I was very busy but I hugged him and then I suddenly understood – we had won a Michelin star. After that I was very emotional; I was looking for somewhere where I could cry; I tried to send a text message but I couldn’t because I was too excited. It was a crazy day; the telephone was ringing all day and in the Spanish press it was a really big thing.
Did it feel especially good because initially you’d had some negative reviews?
These kinds of awards give us the confidence to keep doing the things we want to do. Sometimes people don’t like it – okay, we try to learn from each review and each critic but I want to keep doing it my way. I want to improve and fit into the British atmosphere and style of eating better, but in general we want to stick to our own style, because otherwise it doesn’t make sense; you have to be true to yourself.
It depends, normally if I want to change something on the menu, I prepare the dish, I call them, we meet and together we decide if it’s good enough. They might suggest adding another ingredient or doing something another way. I will try it and if I’m happy, I do it; if I’m not happy, I stay with my idea; that’s how it works.
Some people might get the idea that it’s just the Arzak team writing menus in Spain and getting you to cook them, but it’s not like that?
No, I’m free to do what I want and they respect this, and they want it to be that way. They want to just keep an eye on what’s happening here and to help me develop if I have any problems because of course they are very good and very experienced chefs and they can always teach me about a lot of things. For example I had a few problems with the mallard because people were complaining that the meat was too tough and the flavour was too gamey, so I asked them what I could do to soften the flavour and they sent me a special marinade to help.
You grew up in Barcelona in the Catalan region of Spain; is the food you grew up with very similar to the Basque-style cooking you do now at Ametsa?
My parents didn’t come from Barcelona. My father is from the centre of Spain and my mother is from the Galician coast, but when they arrived in Catalonia, they adapted; they learned the most important dishes. It’s something that I noticed from a young age: that I was eating Galician food but, for example, at Christmas we would have the typical Catalan main course which is a kind of broth with pork and cabbage. It was a mix of styles: the best from each region.
What’s it like running a restaurant in a country where you’re still learning the language?
I’ve had a few problems with the language so far. For example in Catalonia we used to make a broth with small crabs from the coast. I tried to do it here but I couldn’t find these crabs because I didn’t know the name in English. I also spent one month ordering ‘blue duck’ because in Spain it’s called ‘pato azul’ which literally translates as ‘blue duck’, but no one was supplying it. After one month a supplier called me and said: “Stop ordering ‘blue duck’ because it’s called mallard here!
Before Ametsa opened you looked around the UK to source the best possible produce for the restaurant; were you surprised by what you found?
The fish changes a lot with the weather; sometimes it’s very good; other times it’s not good enough, but generally I’m very happy and I always try to adapt – if the sea bass is not very good, we’ll switch to cod.
Spanish and particularly Basque cuisine is at the top of the world at the moment; is there a time you could envisage the UK restaurant scene being in the same league?
The UK scene is in very good shape. Just in London you have around 60 Michelin star restaurants; in Spain no city has more than 20 Michelin star restaurants. In Madrid there are, I think, 12 or 15. Also in London you have such a huge mix; you have Spanish Michelin star restaurants, Indian Michelin star restaurants. In Spain most of them are just Spanish restaurants. The variety of good quality food you have in London is impossible in another city.
What’s your next goal, to retain the star?
Always thinking of the next star will make you keep your first star – that’s my way of thinking. I want to keep improving and grow a stronger team; it takes a lot of time to make a team and to grow a restaurant, especially with a young team but I want to keep going in the same way and just keep becoming stronger.
View Sergio's recipe for Mackerel with green and black sauce here
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