Conscientiously, he chose the most difficult path. One that led him to work 18-hour days in restaurants where he did not understand the language, far from any affection. One in which he had to learn to read, write and speak Japanese in a self-taught way. One in which he often wondered what he was doing and thought about going back. But he didn’t, and that constancy made the difference for him.
When the vast majority of Argentine chefs who decide to experience abroad choose Europe, Agustin Ferrando Balbi He set his sights on Asia. Thus, he passed through Tokyo and several restaurants with Michelin stars and was named among the top 10 young chefs in Japan. He then arrived in Hong Kong, where he ran HAKU restaurant, named one of the top 20 restaurants by Hong Kong Tatler magazine. Awarded in 2019 as the Best Young Talent in the World, it was not long before investors took notice of him: in 2020 all the effort paid off and he was able to open his own restaurant, Andō. A haute cuisine project that reflects everything learned in Asia, but at the same time brings its Argentine tradition and Spanish roots to the table. And that just six months after its opening it earned its own Michelin star, which this year it has just claimed and maintained. “I learned that success is what comes after frustration; failure is part of the journey. Those difficult times generated an enormous mettle and mental strength. And that is the difference between the one who turns and the one who follows, ”she reasons.
News: Does the Michelin star give you more freedom or put more pressure on you?
Agustin Ferrando Balbi: I think the freedom is there, because it’s my own restaurant and I can do whatever I want. Yes, there is pressure all the time, but I have been working in this environment for many years and that is natural, one lives with that rigor of always being on the limit and doing everything perfectly. The difficult thing is the human factor, because one day we are happy, another angry… It is about how one adapts to these changes and continues to maintain consistency and a standard.
News: Was it difficult for you to impose your creativity in Japan?
Fernando Balbi: No, because at this level of cooking the food becomes an expression of the personality of the chef. It’s a bit more artistic, it’s not just cooking a dish, it tells a story. Everything is always focused on the extreme quality of the product.
News: There is also a lot of emotional memory on your plates…
Ferrando Balbi: A lot, because I like to feel that strangers come to my restaurant and friends leave. Eating they know that I like to play soccer, that I went fishing with my dad in Mar del Plata… It almost becomes a dialogue. We don’t have a menu here, they are cards drawn by an artist who tells the story of each dish. And it creates a feeling of trust, you come to a place without knowing what you are going to eat and you leave everything in my hands. That was how I learned to eat at my grandmother’s, where I never knew what was going to be there. I want to transfer that to the restaurant, because it is the art of hospitality, since the only objective is that the other is happy. This level of gastronomy is not a business in itself. Because if you focus only on money, on costs, and then quality is lost. And by losing quality, people don’t come back. The key is to focus on the person and make them feel extremely good.
News: How are you as a boss?
Ferrando Balbi: It’s true that I worked in super aggressive kitchens, even with physical violence, but that doesn’t work for me. If the dishes are the expression of our personality, we have to be happy. I have the same team since I opened, and that is very rare in Hong Kong, where every two or three months they rotate, because there are many restaurants. The boys have three days off, I always try to have an important work-life balance, because this profession is very demanding. I have worked 18 hours a day, six days a week, and my life was a mess. Although from the trade you become a machine, because you dominate what you do after so much practice, you have no friends, partner, nothing.
News: At what point did the focus change?
Fernando Balbi: I always thought so, my idea was to work in all these restaurants to see the good and the bad, and to know what to do when I had mine. Today my team works focused but relaxed, and they are paid well, because the job is nice and there is romance, but you work for money. And in general, the better the restaurant, the worse it pays, because the name is used as an attraction and many want to be there.
News: What flavors of Argentina did you bring?
Fernando Balbi: Everyone. In the restaurant I brought some, but I am also a cultural ambassador outside. I use Argentine meat, wines, a rice that my grandmother used to make me, chimichurri, chorizo… And at the same time, when I go out I educate myself, in the bars here they know that they have to make me fernet with Coca, and the other day I got 40 cases of Havanna and I began to distribute. They went crazy!
News: Why did you choose Japan?
Fernando Balbi: I always wanted to learn how to cook fish and shellfish, because I think it requires a special elegance. And for me there were two places to do it: Spain or Japan. In Spain he spoke the same language and knew many people, but many had gone. If I had gone and won my star in Spain, we wouldn’t be talking today, because it wouldn’t be news. In Argentina we look at Europe, but they look at Japan. Because it has been doing this for a long time, there is a restaurant in Japan that is 450 years old, twice as old as Argentina as a country!
News: Many chefs make a career outside and then return to practice. Can you imagine doing that?
Ferrando Balbi: I couldn’t go back to Argentina and charge the prices I charge knowing that there are people who don’t have enough to eat. Yes, I would like to return one day to teach what I learned abroad. But for now I feel that my place as an Argentine is to show the Asian world what we do, are and live..
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