The Cocina Hermanos Torres restaurant entered the Olympus of gastronomy this Tuesday night by achieving its third Michelin star. This was announced at the gala of the prestigious red guide held in Toledo. The proposal by Sergio and Javier Torres, located in Les Corts and inaugurated only four years ago, thus joins the select group of three-starred Catalan establishments, until now consisting of the Girona-based Celler de Can Roca and the Barcelona-based AbaC and Lasarte.
However, this is not the only distinction for Catalan gastronomy in the Michelin 2023 constellation, as Joan Roca has been recognized as the best Michelin mentor chef and the front-of-house manager and sommelier Toni Gerez, from Castell de Peralada, has received the new award for best service, reports Guillem Roset for the ACN agency.
Next year, the Spain and Portugal guide will feature thirteen three-starred restaurants, as, after a few years of drought, Atrio, by chef Toño Pérez, in Cáceres, has also received the third distinction. Three establishments move from one to two stars, a category that swells to 41 establishments (34 in Spain and 7 in Portugal).
Deessa, Quique Dacosta's luxurious restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Ritz in Madrid, moves up a category, an ascent also achieved by Pepe Vieira restaurant, by chef Xosé T. Cannas in Serpe (Galicia). Finally, in the two-star group is also El Rincón de Juan Carlos, located within the Canary Islands hotel Royal Hideaway Corales Beach, by the Padrón brothers (Juan Carlos and Jonathan). In Catalonia, there are eight gastronomic spaces with two stars: Angle, Cinc Sentits, Disfrutar, Enoteca Paco Pérez, Moments, Bo.TiC, Miramar and Les Cols.
The Michelin guide has awarded five new restaurants in Barcelona with their first star: Aleia, COME by Paco Méndez, Enigma, Mont Bar, Slow & Low, while Estany Clar de Cercs loses the distinction it had. In total, the 2023 guide includes 1401 restaurants in Spain, Portugal, and Andorra. Catalonia has 64 stars in total.
14 new green stars are incorporated (recognizing sustainability strategy), two of them in Catalonia: Les Moles de Ulldecona (Montsià) and Casa Nova de Sant Martí Sarroca (Alt Penedès).
Blazing ascent of the restaurant Cocina Hermanos Torres
The restaurant of the media-savvy Torres twins opened in 2018 in an industrial warehouse of an old 800-meter tire workshop on Calle del Taquígraf Serra, in Barcelona's Les Corts neighborhood. After their time at Dos Cielos, the chefs offer a space for about sixty diners at an average price of 130 euros. In the 2019 Michelin guide, the restaurant obtained two stars, retaining the rating achieved by their first restaurant, which closed in 2018.
In statements to ACN, the Torres brothers expressed themselves very satisfied with news that is "very big" for them "and also for Barcelona". Both brothers recalled how they embarked on the adventure of this restaurant four years ago, one of them during the pandemic, emphasizing that they "risked everything" to create a "very well-rounded" restaurant with which they have been able to "reach three stars in just over three years."
Recognition for Toni Gerez's 40 years of craft
For his part, Toni Gerez, maître d', sommelier, and cheese expert at Castell de Peralada, expressed great satisfaction with the award, recalling that he has been in this profession for 40 years, "always trying to learn from the elders," as he did when he worked at El Bulli restaurant. He also considered that the award "motivates a lot" and "encourages young people" to continue in the profession.
Gerez also opined that the gastronomic experience "is the whole package, from the moment you walk through the door, the first moment, the welcome, the table, the service, the close treatment, the smiles, which sometimes we don't give the importance they have...". And in this whole, he opined that the dining room is a "fundamental" part of that whole.
The new Michelin Guide gala was held this Tuesday in Toledo.©Violeta Gumà
THE NEW MICHELIN-STARRED RESTAURANTS
Three stars
- Cocina Hermanos Torres (Barcelona)
- Atrio (Cáceres)
- Deessa (Madrid)
- Pepe Vieira (Serpe, Galicia)
- El Rincón de Juan Carlos (Tenerife)
- Ababol (Albacete)
- Aleia (Barcelona)
- COME by Paco Méndez (Barcelona)
- Enigma (Barcelona)
- Mont Bar (Barcelona)
- Slow & Low (Barcelona)
- Cobo Evolución (Burgos)
- CCódigo de Barra (Cádiz)
- Oba (Casas-Ibáñez. Castilla-La Mancha)
- Tabaiba (Gran Canaria)
- Etxeko Ibiza (Ibiza)
- Ancestral (Illescas. Castilla-La Mancha)
- Ajonegro (Logroño)
- La Finca (Loja. Andalucía)
- RavioXO (Madrid)
- Ugo Chan (Madrid)
- Zuara Sushi (Madrid)
- Kaleja (Málaga)
- Fusion19 (Mallorca)
- AlmaMater (Murcia)
- Ferpel (Ortiguera)
- Ceibe (Ourense)
- O'Pazo (Padrón. Galicia)
- Monte (San Feliz. Asturias)
- Montia (San Lorenzo de El Escorial)
- ARREA! (Santa Cruz de Campezo. País Vasco)
- San-Hô (Tenerife)
- Alquimia - Laboratorio (Valladolid)
- Gente Rara (Zaragoza)
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