The restaurant Aponiente, with three Michelin stars and located in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz), will celebrate a very special day on September 10, where Peruvian chef Gastón Acurio and Anthony Vásquez Díaz, executive chef of La Mar Lima, will meet. It will be a unique lunch that will combine the marine research of Ángel León's team with the gastronomic tradition of Peru.
This will be the first occasion in which an invited chef joins the new culinary experience designed this year by the renowned 'chef of the sea' at Aponiente, a concept launched over the marshes of the Bay of Cádiz, as detailed by the establishment in a note.
In addition, the meeting will mark the debut of Ángel León and Gastón Acurio working side by side in the same kitchen, after having previously coincided in various forums and international congresses.
The experience will begin in the setting of the historic Molino de Mareas. In this natural area, the Aponiente team will explain the research work they have been developing for years in the marsh ecosystem and the products that arise in this environment.
With ingredients native to this habitat —such as halophytes, live shrimp, blue crab meat, sea bream, sea bass, clams, and oysters— Gastón Acurio and Anthony Vásquez Díaz will build a succession of dishes inspired by the culinary proposal of La Mar.
"Welcoming Gastón to Aponiente is a privilege. He is a chef who has managed to teach the world the value of the biodiversity of his country and dignify the work of those who live from the sea and the land. I am especially excited that he can get to know our marsh and cook it from his own perspective," emphasized chef Ángel León.
After this first part outdoors, the activity will continue inside the restaurant, where Aponiente's seasonal menu will be served. The offer will include some of the most representative dishes of its current stage, such as "Sea beans, fine herbs," "Squid, vanilla & pumpkin," and "Seaweed tatin."
Thus, the meeting will bring together for the first time two global references in the defense and enhancement of marine products: on one hand, the culinary R&D work that Ángel León promotes from the Bay of Cádiz and, on the other, the international projection of Peruvian cuisine led by Acurio through La Mar.
Later, the Slovenian chef of Hisa Franko, Ana Ros, will be the second guest of Ángel León in this cycle of meetings, and it will also be the first time she shares the kitchen with the chef from Cádiz on the next September 24.
"Ana and I come from very different landscapes, but we are united by a very similar way of understanding cooking. She has been learning to read her valley for years and we to listen to the marsh. I am excited to see what Ana discovers here and how she reinterprets our live products from her own perspective," Ángel León explained.
For her part, Ana Ros has acknowledged that she is "very eager to return to one of the most magical restaurants in the world, Aponiente." "This time not to enjoy the appetizer on the terrace and an incredible dinner in the dining room, but to cook one of the most exciting four-hand meals I have ever done," she emphasized.