Ladies and gentlemen, it has happened! We’ve landed a full-time job in Spain! After almost two months of handing out curriculums and applying on online websites, I have found a place that’s willing to give me a place in their kitchen. The best part is, everything happened within less than 5 minutes.
Welcome back to Foodistory, the online notebook of a chef in training working abroad. For the past two months, I’ve had the honor of working at the iconic Londres y Inglaterra Hotel here in San Sebastian as a ‘cocinero ayudante.’ That meant I was getting notifications whenever they needed extra hands. In the first few weeks, they had plenty of work for me. However, as time passed and the many festivities of this city came to an end, my working shifts at Londres became slimmer and slimmer. And so, we kept looking for something consistent.
Why so late?
Before we begin on that story, I would like to say sorry for being very late with this Edit. This is partly because in the weeks before working not a lot happened and getting used to working more than 40 hours again. Working in a restaurant means working when everybody else is off. My weekends are on Monday and Tuesday instead of the normal Saturday and Sunday. This makes publishing consistently on a Friday very difficult.
Next to that, I’m still struggling with finding a balance between work and free time. In my current rotation, I find it difficult to find time to write. I’m sure this will improve in the upcoming weeks but for now, I’m adjusting the publishing agenda of Foodistory to the schedule of a chef. The goal is to publish the Edits on a Tuesday instead of Friday, but don’t be surprised if it’s a day earlier or later! With that being said, let’s get back to the story of how I got this job!
How I got the job
Things began being set in motion with the visit of Borja, my former chef in the Netherlands. Almost two weeks ago Borja came to visit, here in San Sebastian. This was not just an ordinary visit, there was a reason behind it. But first, let me tell you a little bit about Borja himself.
The story of Borja
Borja was born in Bilbao but quickly left with his parents for Zaragoza. However, the love he has for Bilbao stays throughout the years. After finishing secondary school, he attended the culinary school in Bilbao and became part of the famous IXO Grupo. This is a traineeship founded by none else than Andoni Luis Aduriz (Founder and chef of Mugaritz**) for young chefs with talent.
Borja worked in multiple restaurants in Bilbao including the Michelin-starred restaurant Zortziko and the famous Guggenheim restaurant Nerua which currently also holds a Michelin-star. After working in multiple kitchens for 7 years in Bilbao, a possibility came up to move to the Netherlands and start working over there. Borja exchanged his beloved Bilbao for the city of Rotterdam and started working in the ‘Markthal’ at a just-opened Spanish place. This turned out to be a bit different than expected and he quickly changed restaurants eventually ending up at the recently opened ‘Berta aan Tafel.’
This is where we met eachother and worked together for roughly 2 years. Once I told him I was planning to leave for Spain and move to San Sebastian he was very supportive and hints of jealousy came off in his reaction. Things like; ‘Ostia tio, que bueno no? I want to go as well, good food, good weather, and the people… I miss Spain.’
During his time in the Guggenheim, he became friends with Unai Paulis. Unai is currently one of the two owners of the locally famous Maun Grill Bar here in San Sebastian. So when I told Borja about the definitive plans of going to San Sebastian, this was the first place on the list to visit to get a job. I met the two chefs, Unai and Mateus and we talked for a bit. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to start working for them because the restaurant would close for a couple of months due to renovations.
Back to the Netherlands where Borja was still working in the kitchen of Berta aan Tafel. But not for much longer… He filed his resignation with the motivation of going back to Spain as well! After 5 years of living in the Netherlands, it became time to head back to Spain where his whole family lived, and continue his cooking career here.
Full-circle
He got a job offer to work as head chef at a restaurant in Madrid which was also a big motivator for him. However, this option unfortunately became unavailable due to the financial struggle of the restaurant. And so having filed his resignation and his promised job being gone there was no prospect of a job or income. Until he got a call from San Sebastian, this was not me but his old friend Unai!
Remember the renovation that was going on at his restaurant? That will be finished around July and with this renovation, they are expanding the kitchen and restaurant. In addition to that, they’ve recently opened a pop-up at another restaurant. After 5 years of managing everything with the two of them, they’re looking for somebody trustworthy to add to the team. Who better than one of your former colleagues and friends?
The man with connections
And so Borja came to San Sebastian to talk with Mathues and Unai about working together and to see the city itself of course. Since I wasn’t yet working full-time at that time I had plenty of time to meet with him and show him around. But just before Borja arrived I also got a call from our friend Unai with the news one of his friends was looking for new cooks and asked if I was interested.
Por supuesto! Just like that, I had an interview the day after. After speaking with the chef for a brief 5 minutes I was told to start the following day. I thought this would be a trial day and they would offer me a contract afterwards. The opposite happened, during my walk to the restaurant I checked my inbox and the contract was already sitting there. And so, without actually realizing it I landed a full-time job in San Sebastian!
The job
The restaurant is called Azoka and it’s one of the newest restaurant additions for the Basque city. The restaurant is divided into two sections. Upstairs is a restaurant where we work with big Josper grills and make ‘pollo a la brasa’ and hamburgesas. Downstairs offers a space for 4 restaurants to do a pop-up, kind of like a mercado or foodcourt. These are more refined dishes and the focus is on serving the guests plates they’ve never had before.
Currently, there are two restaurants downstairs each providing 4 plates for the restaurant. The first restaurant is Doppelgänger, a gourmet bar based in Madrid founded by Michelin-starred chef Samy Ali Rando. As a matter of fact, he gave up his Michelin star to open this Spanish-Asian fusion bar in Madrid and now San Sebastian. The plates Chef Samy provided for Azoka are:
Bittersweet Pork, pork-based meatballs in tempura with a sweet and sour bisque sauce
Aki Maki, a fried spring roll filled with ‘callos a la madrileña’ and kimchi
Tamal Rabo, a tamal filled with oxtail stew served with a salsa criollia and a spume of oxtail stock.
Kare de platano, a banana from the grill with a spicy yellow curry and pickled fennel
Donut de tomillo y limon, freshly made donut with a sugar glaze of thyme and lemon
The other restaurant that provides four more plates are our friends from Maun Grill Bar. This has become a favorite amongst the Donostiarra and so during their renovating process, Azoka offers the perfect opportunity for guests to still enjoy the flavors of Mateus and Unai. The plates we serve are:
Bolandeira citrica, a small coquille from the grill with a salsa citrica, agua de habanero, and salt.
Bikini de centollo thai, a brioche filled with crabmeat and salsa chili crab.
Misoshiro de trompetas, charred trompetas in a misoshiro stock with tofu, spring union and black truffle.
Prese iberica Carrasco, cured presa iberica served as a nigiri.
I primarily work downstairs because this suits my style of cooking more and I feel like there is more to learn here. But during the past week, I’ve also picked up some shifts upstairs which is great, working with open fires and learning how to be insanely quick is great fun. I honestly thought I was quick back in NL but coming here showed me I’m incredibly slow compared to Spanish chefs. But, if I had to choose I’d prefer the cooking downstairs.
Downstairs I work with Micheal, he is the chef downstairs. He is responsible for serving the plates in the way the creators wanted it, quality has to be consistent. For the past 2/3 weeks, I’ve been the right hand of Micheal. Together we do the prep on Tuesday and Wednesday and on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we do service twice a day.
The amount of new things I’ve learned in the past few weeks has been insane and I realize I’m very lucky with the chef I got. Not only is he very patient with the language barrier, but he also knows a great deal about cooking since he has worked at quite some famous places. Think of names like Martín Berasategui and Andoni Luis Aduriz.
I’m already at almost 1500 words…. Let’s save the rest for the next Edit where I will go a bit more in-depth about the new things and techniques I’ve learned. In the meantime I’ll strengthen my friendship with Micheal and who knows he’d be willing to share a couple of his cooking lessons. Thank you for reading and see you very soon! Agur!
Nice to read you’re learning a lot. Hopefully also the language! Proud of you anyway!💝