The chef of Bo.Tic (Corçà, Girona) receives the highest recognition in the 20th edition of the awards given by the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition
Albert Sastregener, chef and owner of the restaurant Bo.Tic (Corçà, Girona), has been honored with the National Gastronomy Award 2022. Who was going to tell him when he was a young man with a vocation as a cook, since his family did not see his aspirations with good eyes. But his vocation prevailed and he trained at the Escola d’Hosteleria de Girona, where he learned from great masters such as Salvador Brugués or Joan Roca, among others, in addition to studying for a year at the Espai Sucre restaurant-pastry school in Barcelona.
He also made stays in France and Belgium, passing through restaurants such as Mas Pau (Avinyonet de Puigventós), L’Aliança (Anglès), Àbac (Barcelona), Roser II, Molí de L’Escala and Cuina de Can Pipes (Mont-ras ), where he served as head chef.
In 2007, he met Cristina Torrent, his wife. At 28 and 25 years old, respectively, they decided on their own restaurant, Bo.Tic. Your gastronomic offer Catalan roots, creative and product, complemented by an excellent service and wine cellardeserved a Michelin star when they hadn’t been open for even two years. A star they kept for 11 years.
in 2017 decided to make changes moved the business to a new location that combines the charm of an old restored stone house with a more modern construction to offer, in his own words, “more surprises, draw wider smiles and excite, even more, those who come to the Bo.TiC experience.” The recognition of the excellence that she had achieved with the changes came in 2020 with the second Michelin star.
They have not been the only distinctions that have been awarded this Wednesday at the Roca Mas Marroch restaurant, owned by the Roca brothers, during the gala of the 20th edition of the awards given by the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutritionwhich has gathered 425 guests.
Revelation Award: Elisabet Farrero (El Ventador)
Elisabet Farrero (chef and owner of El Ventador -Barruera, Lleida-) has been awarded the Revelation Award for its gastronomic proposal of local and seasonal products from the Alt Pirineu treated from a personal point of view. What began as a wine and tapas bar opened with his mother has become a high-class restaurant in which his partner, Pierre Cosnard, now participates. Interestingly, Farrero, a graduate in Humanities from Pompeu Fabra University with a postgraduate degree in documentary filmmaking, began working for a few years in the cultural sector of Barcelona. On a trip to Canada she met her partner and there she began to change her destiny.
Head of Room Award: Joan Junyent (Windsor)
Joan Junyent, from the restaurant Windsor (Barcelona), has been recognized with the Sala Chief Award. He forged his will for constant improvement, dedication and passion for a profession that he began to learn at Café Roy in his Sitges of origin, in the summer. From there he took values such as punctuality, willpower, commitment and the physical resistance to endure a whole summer. He also learned the importance of customer service. In the 90’s he went through the Gran Casino de Barcelona, in Sant Pere de Ribes, the Hotel Arts and finally settled in Windsor, where he grew professionally until he was the head of the room.
Carla Simón, Special Prize
Screenwriter and film director Carla Simón has won the Special Prize for his contribution to the gastronomic culture of Catalonia. With ‘Alcarràs’ (Berlin Festival’s Golden Bear), he manages to convey the delicate balance between cultivating the land and the families that depend on it. A balance that the relentless transformation of the world has altered. “A sector, agriculture, that has a lot to do with gastronomy and that is currently suffering the impact of the transformation in the origin of the food that we later cook and serve”, in the words of the president of the Academy, Carles Vilarrubí.
Nestor Lujan Award: Joan Esculies
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The Nestor Lujan Awardwhich was born this year to recognize the work of outreach and support for the gastronomic sector by specialized journalism, has been awarded to Joan Esculies, journalist and historian. The article for which the author receives this recognition is ‘The Catalan star of the Aztec restoration’, in which he follows the trajectory of Dalmau Costa, former head of protocol of the Generalitat and the Parliament of Catalonia during the Second Republic, in exile Mexican. Published in the ‘Cultures’ supplement of ‘La Vanguardia’, he prepared the report based on the biography of the character written by Lluís Burillo and articles from the gastronomic press of the time.
Vilarrubí has underlined “the importance of recognizing all the actors that make gastronomy one of the economic engines in the whole world”. “These are awards that were born to preserve the identity of a heritage as intimate and unique as the cuisine of our country and that we established to help safeguard such a noble and ancient dedication as the profession of cooking. Cooking and eating constitute an activity endearing to share. Time passes and the world changes, but the purposes that have brought us here as an Academy will remain immutable alongside, and at the service of our gastronomy”.