He is one of the most low profile chefs in the country. With his restaurant part of the Latin American 50 Best Restaurants on several occasions, among the 10 best in the world according to Trip Advisor and recently consecrated by the seal Relais & Châteauxnevertheless Gonzalo Aramburu it takes a few seconds to recognize that “he is good in the kitchen”. Faced with the question of when he realized that he was him, he hesitates, he thinks, and finally answers that he was a few years ago. “But I always knew he wanted to put together dishes of this quality and style,” he notes. Aramburu, his many-time award-winning restaurant of the same name, is a true reflection that he succeeded. With an 18-step menu that is visited by tourists, neighbors and not so much in procession, his search to exalt the product and his love for the combination of flavors and textures is praised throughout the world. While Bis, its bistro-style restaurant located opposite (both in the beautiful Pasaje del Correo, in Recoleta), proves that it can also shine in the most everyday.
News: They made many notes to him, and yet he never told how he started cooking…
Gonzalo Aramburu: I am not to tell. I notice that many cooks have a history of grandmother and family tradition. I lost my mother when I was 9 years old, and the kitchen was born in me from that lack. Later I studied Law, like my old man, but at the same time I enrolled in a cooking school with a great friend, and since I set foot there I felt very comfortable. Later I entered an internship at the Hotel Alvear and I felt in another world. From that day I thought I wanted to have my own restaurant.
News: How was the search for your imprint?
Aramburu: I went to live in Miami, and looking for work in kitchens, I entered one that was good, but where I didn’t see things that motivated me. In the many hours in there I began to listen to talks about restaurants with Michelin stars, and I began to find out what it was. It was a world unknown to him. At the time I got an internship in a restaurant in San Sebastián that had three stars, Martín Berasategui. From then on I understood that this was the school I wanted. The crockery, the dishes, the combinations. Later I was in New York and Chicago in award-winning restaurants, and in 2007 I returned to Argentina.
News: Already with the idea of opening your own restaurant?
Aramburu: Yes, and we opened in Constitución, in a place where I knew I was going to be able to pay the rent, understanding that I had to do work. From the beginning it was a step menu.
News: It was one of the first to offer a step menu, why did that format seduce you?
Aramburu: Because it was something I liked to do. I didn’t think so much about the client. Neither today (laughs). But I know that I am going to give him the best I can with my experience. The one who comes trusts and surrenders, and I love that this happens.
News: Was it difficult for you to gain that confidence?
Aramburu: Yes, the first three years of the restaurant no one came. We were in a not so gourmet area and he could never get up. He had returned to Argentina at a time when Buenos Aires was spoken of well abroad. I opened the restaurant when I was 29 years old, purely on my own investment. My dad helped me with the chairs and tables, we even sold a car…
News: They were 10 years in Constitution. Why did you decide to move to Recoleta?
Aramburu: I am a friend of Agustina Numer, who was part of the society that the locals had in the Passage and they were a bit tired. So we made a transfer. And we came here and the operation changed a lot, we moved both Bis and Aramburu. The public has changed, the neighborhood is friendlier. People from Recoleta come to Bis a lot, it is a super picturesque passage and it works very well, especially on nice days. We have a very nice local public, from the neighborhood, and we are also in a tourist pole, surrounded by many hotels. And those from Constitution keep coming!
News: How is your creative process?
Aramburu: There are restaurants that I see abroad that have their R&D, Research and Development, but many are turned off, they have it just to say. I don’t know if I have R&D, but I have my refrigerators, stoves, an oven, and everything is working all day. We see what comes in and rethink the menu all the time. We are always testing.
News: Does the issue of food shortages affect you?
Aramburu: I don’t give him a lot of money, if necessary I change some things. The missing items are often oil or flour, and they are things that I am trying to eliminate from the menu. Aramburu is 90% gluten free. We are lowering everything that is dairy as well, and years ago we started with the vegetarian proposal. The client is marking the way for you.
News: Is vegetarian haute cuisine possible?
Aramburu: Yes, because haute cuisine does not mean that everything has to be caviar, foie gras and white truffle. There are many fine dining vegetarian restaurants in the world. In our proposal there are animal proteins, because we are interested, I like to cook duck breast or serve a deer, but it does not mean that I cannot make haute cuisine from the plant world.
News: Your wife, Silvina Trouilh, is also a cook, how do they complement each other?
Aramburu: The good thing is that he understands my schedules and obligations. These days I take Isabel, our daughter, to school, I spend the afternoon at home and then I am in the restaurant until late. At home she always cooks, and I love her.
News: Do you usually go out to eat?
Aramburu: Yes, I love it. We explore the new and we also go to the usual ones, like El Preferido or Roux. I like to go eat a piece of meat too.
News: What is your favorite dish?
Aramburu: My wife’s Milanese. But at the same time, I recently went to a two-star hotel in Paris, David Toutain, and I can’t get it out of my head. The simplicity, the well done…
News: What dreams for Aramburu?
Aramburu: I have a dream that the Michelin guide will be published in Argentina. I think it is needed at the regional level, because it would give visibility. It would be something that would position us within the globe and improve the industry from start to finish. he
