“I talk about cooking all the time,” he clarifies. Paula Mendez Carreras with a smile and a soft and slow saying. And she gets excited when she remembers the happy moments of her childhood related to cooking. The summers at her grandmother’s house in Corrientes and the aromas and flavors that were created there. “I come from a Corrientes-Lebanese family where they cooked all the time. I remember my aunt Marita, my grandmother and my great-grandmother in the kitchen. Duck was made with orange, my grandfather made a salty meat with paprika and paprika that hung in the laundry room, my aunt made the cheeses, my grandmother the fruit chutney, chipá. My great-grandmother made the noodles with her rolling pin, which she still has, sitting in her wheelchair. There were bananas, avocados, mangoes, coffee. Everything was full of aromas. I was very pampered, the first granddaughter and great-granddaughter of the family. She was like a princess from Corrientes. When I was seven years old I asked my aunt: “When am I going to be a cook like you?”. That was my childhood in Corrientes. Pure happiness,” she recalls.
Gastronomic happiness lasted over time. Paula studied at the prestigious school Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where he obtained his diplomas in Cooking and Pastry, and then continued in London, where he obtained the Grand Diplóme “Le Cordon Bleu”. She worked and lived in Paris, London, New York, Lebanon, Singapore, and Australia. She was an executive chef at several French restaurants in Buenos Aires and a consultant for La Bamba de Areco. She had her programs on the El Gourmet channel and twelve years ago she moved with her family to San Antonio de Areco. In April of this year she premiered “Hunch”, his first restaurant, which is open from Wednesday to Saturday at noon and for special events. In addition, he teaches cooking classes.
She is married to businessman Santiago Imbellone and is the mother of Indie (17), Isabella (14) and Irupé (12).
News: When did you decide to be a professional cook?
Paula Mendez Carreras: I went to the French Lyceum, very structured and demanding, and I couldn’t stand that philosophy of life. So, I locked myself in the high school library to see the French magazines that arrived and I kept the recipes for myself. After high school I started History of Art and Decoration, but I didn’t finish. One day they found me a contact at the Hotel Plaza and there I started in the kitchen chopping parsley and peeling potatoes, in ’92. They didn’t pay me, I worked several hours a day, but I wanted to learn to cook. That was my path and I had no doubts. My mom had a boyfriend at the time who was a count and he told me that he was going to send me to the best school in the world. That’s how I got to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.
News: How was that experience?
Mendez Carreras: He had already traveled to France at the age of 16. France is my cradle, since I was four years old I have heard French spoken, and every time I go I feel at home. Before arriving in Paris, I had worked for two years in different kitchens and had seen chefs like Mallman, Beatriz Chomnalez, Dolly, and that was very useful to me. With that base I arrived at Le Cordon Bleu, an impressive and updated school, where I learned the different techniques and values of being a chef. Cooking there was everything to me. In addition, I staged at Le Bristol Hotel and at Gérard Mulot’s patisserie.
News: What is being a chef for you?
Méndez Carreras: It is giving food, giving food, giving health. The kitchen has very nice values.
News: It was also perfected in London
Mendez Carreras: Yes, in 2000 I asked for a scholarship because I wanted to have my chef’s diploma and I went to Le Cordon Bleu in London.
News: This year he opened “Corazonada”, his first restaurant.
Mendez Carreras: “Heart” is the synthesis of my kitchen, of my profession, it is to value everything I learned during thirty years. It is sharing with my daughters, my husband, it is a family project. It is not a business plan, it is a well thought out project that fits in with my life as a mother of three little teenage girls. I feel fulfilled having this place. I am clear that each day is to start over.
News: What type of cuisine is it?
Mendez Carreras: Seasonal, meat, fish and vegetables from my organic garden. It is a simple and exquisite cuisine because I am very detailed, very demanding. I want people to feel the layers of the different flavors.
News: What dishes on the menu would you recommend?
Mendez Carreras: I have candied lemons, almonds in brine, little things that I use in my recipes. For example, I make artichokes with these lemons and black olives. Later, a cold bean and pea soup with elderflowers. I really like using edible flowers. Among the main courses, I make a pasta stuffed with borage and wild herbs with a coulis of tomatoes and sage flowers. And for dessert, the strawberry feuillante, with lavender mousseline cream and macerated strawberries.
News: What inspires you outside of gastronomy?
Mendez Carreras: Art, my friends, swimming, doing outdoor gymnastics, walking, going to my grandmother’s field. It inspires me a lot to go to Corrientes. When I enter my grandmother’s house I hear her voice, although she is no longer there.
News: Twelve years ago he changed city life for San Antonio de Areco.
Mendez Carreras: Yes, we had returned to Buenos Aires with my family after spending five months in Australia, but we no longer wanted to continue living in the city. And one day the possibility of coming to live in San Antonio de Areco arose and we did not hesitate. We were going to come to do an edible flower project, a vegetable garden, and we couldn’t make it, but we stayed anyway. We rented a house that was in a bag and my aunt Marita painted it for me and fixed it up for me. In the background there was a horrible garage and we put it divine and there I made my kitchen. And that little kitchen with a table for eight people was “Corazonada” from 2010 to 2014. In addition, he gave cooking classes. Later we moved house and, in addition, we bought this other incredible house with the idea of putting “Corazonada”. In fact, when we can find a divine fig tree at the bottom of the garden, we find a heart in the center of the branch. It was a hunch to come to San Antonio de Areco. I thank God that we got to know this place that received us so well, that we have such nice neighbors and such good people. It’s very nice, a simple life that connects you with the deepest.
