Dani García saw the origins. The chef from Marbella will host Tragabuches, filming the restaurant that gave him command of the kitchen for the first time in 1998. 200 dinners in a family atmosphere, in which there is even a toy library for children. Is one of the challenges with which he wants to recover his essence. The most traditional Andalusian cuisine. "I remember it well. Since 2005 there are things that are not good. The Chamomile Jacket is there so that the bad is not forgotten, ”he recalled from the Workshop.
In Tragabuches he received his first Michelin star at the age of 24.
Its the stove he remembers fondly, after becoming an international chef. Now that gastronomic concept will be recovered. The idea is that it came out in July. "It's going back to cooking, fish, meat, vegetables and products from the area with companies from here," says Dani García. A menu with the Ronda stew, stewed wheat with pigeon, Iberian pork jowls with carabineros… The dishes that elevated that eating house in Ronda. “The best traditional Andalusian restaurant. Tragabuches as it was thought at the time”, says the chef.
Dani García presents the news of the group. -MDD
And to that he adds all the weight of his years in the kitchen. Babette is now open. It is an English restaurant with an Andalusian essence, where some of the creations he made when he studied at La Consula are found. “The past is the new future. It is the evolution of Bibo. There are already millions of places that do that kind of food and we wanted something else”, he explained before saying that “the new restaurants are 'clubbing'”. "Instead of champagne and sparklers, a D'Yquem on some oysters," he adds.
It is going back to the beginning, to the dishes that are least cared for. To the recipes that are being lost. “Some kidneys with sherry or some livers with onions is something that everyone remembers, but that is already being lost. The wellington, the hake with champagne or some artichokes with ham… It is the tradition, but contributing our vision”, points out Dani García.
Tragabuches is one of the great innovations for the future – JJ MADUEÑO
Two restaurants that will have Marbella as a starting point, to later expand. "Tragabuches is going to Madrid," explained the cook. The Dani García Group is constantly changing. An evolution that you see and from the presentation videos, now in English for your international investors. "We want to be a powerful international gastronomic group," he acknowledges. In this experience, Marbella is the main test bench. "It's the pilot for everything, except Smoke Room, which if it came a year later it would have been here too," said the chef, who assured that the media investment for the restaurant is millions of euros.
With Tragabuches and Babette there are four concepts that we are going to take refuge in Marbella. In the cuisine of Andalusian essence there is an Italian restaurant under the name of Alelí. It is a project that was born in 2016, but will see the light in June in Puente Romano. “The group is not Dani García. For an Italian restaurant we hire Italian professionals. They are what make us the greatest of that kitchen. I don't want everything to be personalized to me. 1.400 people work here, ”says García, who says that he flees from egos to provide more quality. "We want the Italian restaurant to serve and cook Italians," he adds.
In the same location, but as a separate restaurant, there will be Kemuri, which is a Japanese restaurant with sushi. “I can't make Japanese without raw fish. It is the kitchen that I like the most in the whole world because of its perfection. It is very difficult to bring Japanese chefs, but the idea is the same as with Alelí”, adds García, who defines it as a Smoke Room –the two-star restaurant in Madrid–, but Japanese. “It has nothing to do with Nobu. It is something of ours”, he asserts while saying that the idea is that Bibo will reopen in Puente Romano in November.
Marbella is the test bed for the group's gastronomic concepts. – DG GROUP
And from Marbella to the world, as the poster that the group has in Puerto Banús says. The goal is for 2022 to end with more than 20 restaurants around the world. “He thinks that gastronomy is much more important than focusing on haute cuisine. I am not against haute cuisine, but there is more”, explained García, who points out that in order to “connect with the masses” there is an ambitious project that includes the opening of Leña in Dubai and Miami, where Bibo is expected to be unblocked. and Lobito de Mar. The advantage now is that they can bring fresh products to the places where they have restaurants from Spain. This facilitates the extrapolation of concepts.
In addition, it is the Blue Room that is going to stop the venues in Europe. First in Paris, where it intends to open in October. Then in Amsterdam, because the partners from Paris have a hotel there and want to carry out the same concept. A nod to Picasso to land in France with a Spanish cuisine with the purest Andalusian essence. “The feeling that people have outside of Spanish gastronomy gives me courage. Let him think that it is something cheap and that there is only gazpacho or paella. The New York Times has put Casa Dani as a tuna museum and there were people who didn't even know that Spain had good bluefin tuna. We want to teach that”, says the cook.
Garcia hopes to end 2022 with more than 20 restaurants around the world. – DG GROUP
An empire that goes from Qatar to the United States, passing through Saudi Arabia, Dubai, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Marbella, Ibiza, Madrid, Tarifa and now Budapest, where the disembarkation is stopped with the entire portfolio that the group has. Thus, the turnover will amount to 47 million euros this year in self-managed restaurants. Not counting La Gran Familia Mediterránea, which already has more than twenty kitchens and functions as a technology company.
