Lydia del Olmo and Xosé Magalhaes
This 2020 has had many daring, but today we will talk about those who faced fear or pessimism and ignored the doomsayers: they are Lydia and Xosé, Mónica and Dieter, Naji, Carlijn and Yalcin, Clara and Adrián or Carla , but there are hundreds. Perhaps thousands: of people, of stories, of projects that one day were just a dream and today are a reality, despite 2020... but also thanks to him. Here your voice and our tribute, brave.
Lettuce hearts with roasted chicken pilpil and duxelle
LYDIA AND XOSÉ, FROM CEIBE (OURENSE)
They wanted to open in April and in the end they opened on August 15 . They had to close on November 5 but reopened a month later.
Two thirty-year-olds although amply prepared: Lydia del Olmo and Xosé Magalhaes They met working at Casa Solla (Soio, Pontevedra) in 2016. Then Lydia went to Culler de Pau (O Grove). Both spent their vacations doing internships in other restaurants: Xosé at Yayo Daporta, at Etxanobe by Fernando Canales, at Azurmendi with Eneko or at Mugaritz by Aduriz and Euskalduna Studio by Vasco Coelho Santos. Lydia, in Trigo (in her native Valladolid), in Enjoy and in LÚ Kitchen and Soul . After that tour of the Michelin firmament, how could they not dream of setting up something of their own?
“Ceibe, which in Galician means free, freedom, began to take shape in our heads two years ago. It all started with a question that Xosé asked me: 'If one day you have a restaurant, what color will the aprons be?', which led to 'If you ever built something, what would you call it?' There we realized that we had a common dream and we agreed on the vast majority of things. And from that moment we couldn't stop thinking about it: it became a necessity. We started looking at places online in November 2018, in Orense, because we were clear about the place. In September 2019 we saw one, the first we had seen on the internet months ago, that a priori we had ruled out because in that street everything was restaurants. And as soon as we entered, we looked at each other: it was that one. We signed in December 2019.”
Celtic pork bacon with mole poblano and smoked beets
They started the reform, because they wanted to open in April. But the pandemic came and everything came to a standstill. “The company that was doing the work made an ERTE, the materials were slow to arrive… And people became pessimistic. You start to doubt. A thousand things go through your head.”
But they were mutual support, once again: “Lydia is the one who always has her feet on the ground, the one who motivates. She is a warrior. She is a great cook but she also has an incredible ability to manage the team, the restaurant and myself. She gives me tranquility and peace. Without her I wouldn't have been able to. I am more insecure." But Lydia interrupts him: "He is extremely creative and he brings the romantic cook part."
They balance. And they knew how to turn the negative into a positive. That is why they have never repented. “Although undertaking is hard, it is also very beautiful. Life is learning: if you have enthusiasm and have made numbers, you have to dare”.
They opened their restaurant with eight tables and three tasting menus on August 15. Although they had to close on November 5 (so they started cooking ramen or dumplings with red curry to pick up on the premises). And they reopened a month later, on December 5. "We have had another dream opening, we are already full practically the whole month." How many first times?
Ear with cod guts, brava sauce and pesto
The best thing, they say, has been fulfilling a dream, doing it together, and seeing that it works. The worst, the situation of the hotel. “You don't have to blame one sector. We are not the problem." And, in his specific case, all cancellations due to restrictions (when non-cohabiting groups could not go to the restaurant, for example).
In Ceibe it smells like home. "We want customers to feel at home." The magic recipe is its Choco en caldeirada, a fusion between Galicia and Japan, its Celtic pork bacon with mole poblano and smoked beetroot or its Mos Chicken Coop Ecosystem: stewed Galician rooster with cured egg yolk, corn and wheat sabayon puffed up But, above all, his desire. Here it is easy to forget everything that happens out there.
MÓNICA AND DIETER, FROM NOMAD HOTEL (JÁVEA, ALICANTE)
They were going to open on March 15, but they opened on June 19.
The hotel that everyone talks about in the area was going to welcome spring: the opening was scheduled for March 15, Monica's birthday, but in the end it arrived two days before summer, at the right time.
Monica and Dieter started dreaming about it 10 years ago. Five years ago, they bought the building facing the sea that he now lives its boutique hotel with a restaurant, a rooftop cocktail bar (its Sky Bar) and even its own decoration line, Nomad Living. Everything has gone very fast.
Monica and Dieter started dreaming about their Nomad Hotel 10 years ago
"Not even in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the balance of this year would be so positive." Worst? “The lack of control, the uncertainty… and that not everything depended on us. But along the way we have learned to accept that there are things we cannot control. And thanks to our team, which is young and agile, we have been able to adapt because We have made quick decisions.” Monica brings out the positive side of everything. “And the best thing about this year has been spending time and working together. Dieter and I have been together for 20 years, but this has helped us get to know each other better.”
If there is a magic wand to undertake, Monica and Dieter have it: "To someone who wants to fulfill her dream, we would say that he has confidence, that he goes ahead and that he prepares very well. Planning is important. Fundamental: to surround yourself with very good people, because to execute any project you need a good team that believes in you and responds to you. And of course, passion, desire and the certainty that it will turn out well”.
And how do you visualize your 2021? “The pandemic has opened our eyes to many realities. New needs have been created and this is an opportunity for entrepreneurs”.
NOMAD Hotel: when the hotel is the trip (and it is in Jávea)
NAJI, FROM NAJI SPECIALTY COFFEE (MADRID)
It opened on January 28 and 44 days later it had to close; reopened in May, takeout only. In July it opened with 30% capacity. Now it is at 50%.
Naji Specialty Coffee was a former greengrocer of 56 square meters. Now, there they fit Naji seven tables, a bar with four stools, a strong smell of coffee and his devotion to customers. Live for them: it opens every day from 9 in the morning to 9 at night, except on Mondays, when it starts at 4 in the afternoon.
“I am very tired but very happy. My dream has come true." And he has done it at the age of 48, after many years working for others. “I accumulated experience, which made me advance. I wanted something of mine to do with a lot of love, to show that things can be done differently, to give the client, who sometimes feels abandoned, that something that is always missing”. Naji is a master of hospitality. “I always ask the client how everything is going, to get to know him better. If you don't like something, he'll change it for you.”
You can tell that it doesn't want to be just any specialty coffee shop: “I am not going to allow it to become a trendy place, because I am going to continue to maintain the treatment and quality as well as affordable prices.” His coffee roaster is Caravan and his secret, “have faith and trust in what I do”.
On weekends it gets crowded and there is a queue out the door. “The crisis passes, but the coffee stays”. And he will continue to serve his espresso, as he had always dreamed of.
the magic of coffee
CARLIJN AND YALCIN, FROM CASA ALBA (BENISSA, ALICANTE)
They opened in mid-February, had to close a month later, and started up again in July.
Alba House It has a lot of utopia: two dutch that, tired of their frenetic life in Amsterdam and after a trip to the south of Spain that caught up with them, They decide to look for the place to create their own rural hotel. After five years of dreaming it, they find it in Benissa (Alicante), very close to the sea.
Carlijn and Yalcin left everything to build a new life in a country they didn't know, with a language they didn't know either. It was May 2019. And since they live here, they carry the Mediterranean light, the one that pours in through the windows of their four rooms, also anchored to their pupils.
Along the way, they have had to reinvent themselves, since this year they could no longer count on the client from northern Europe (Holland, Belgium, Germany or the United Kingdom), which in the initial business plan was their main asset. Carlijn and Yalcin planned to focus on the Spanish client in the second year, but in the end that Madrilenian, Valencian or Alicante has accounted for 95% this 2020.
Carlijn and Yalcin, from Casa Alba
Sometimes, life surprises you... if you have an open mind and open arms. “We do everything from the heart. That good vibe attracts the type of guest we want to have at Casa Alba.” Almost everyone comes back.
It is difficult to imagine Casa Alba without them, because, as almost always happens, more than the place, it is the people... and their way of seeing life. “Our main goal is to be happy. We love what we do". Did anyone have any doubts?
CLARA AND ADRIÁN, TRAINING (MADRID)
They wanted to open at the end of February but the work was delayed, the pandemic arrived... And the day was May 26. The online store, in September.
It has been one of the openings of the year in Madrid. training is the project, in the form of physical and virtual space, of Clara and Adrián: a woman from Valladolid and a man from Palencia who have been working in the world of cheese since 2014.
"We want to connect the final consumer with artisan cheese, as a culture and a portrait of the different territories from the perspective of well-argued productive excellence”.
Clara Díez, owner and creative mind behind Formaje
It seemed to them that the term artisan was losing its shine and that is why they approach it from this platform that is so much theirs. “Projects that are so personal are a portrait of the people behind them. For those who have the soul of an entrepreneur or a project soul, it is difficult for them to spend their entire lives in the same place, because they feel, we feel, the need for projects to portray us more and more”.
They had been fantasizing for a long time, but Formaje took shape in November 2019. “We planned to open at the end of February, although due to delays in the work it could not be. Objectively we could have done it in the middle or end of March, but in the end it was May 26.
Worst? “Uncertainty, impotence and lack of control”. But, despite everything, they have succeeded. “If you're thinking about putting something together, you have faith in it and you think it has enough weight to keep you in the market, there's no better time than now. What is really worth, remains and prevails. A crisis situation like this makes a very big sieve and not all projects survive. For this reason, those of us who were born this 2020 do so with double value”.
And in 2021, “we want to consolidate the bases, continue growing and launch all that part that we have not yet been able to work on: events and communication, focused on the dissemination of cheese culture as we understand it, as well as the presence of Formaje in other spaces”.
The tempting counter of the store, in Plaza de Chamberí
At the moment, they have 60 references of artisan cheeses, which you can also discover through their monthly subscription. His thing is love… and art.
CARLA, DE LA BIONDA (BEGUR, GIRONA)
It was going to open in April, but finally it was June 20.
“La Bionda is that hotel that I have always wanted to go to. Although it does not look like a hotel: it is as if it were my house, in which I receive my guests as if I were inviting my friends or family”.
Carla Lloveras had been preparing for two years to open her boutique hotel in a 17th-century building that she bought in July 2018 in Begur (Girona), her summer town. The idea was to open in April, but finally until June 20 it could not be. “Despite everything, the reception has been incredible. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that you forget everything here: this is a refuge for disconnection”.
There are people, like her, who stay afloat even when everything is against them. “If you think about things too much, you don't do them. When you start something, opinions condition you a lot, but if you feel it, you're not wrong”. And she has known how to adapt to the new regulations, to the restrictions, to that generalized pessimism. "The word entrepreneur still costs me, because many people have helped me." But she has been with all the letters, in this rare year.
Carla Lloveras
She had always wanted to ride something. She likes to be a hostess and that her guests are comfortable, of course. “I studied Law, but I couldn't quite find my thing. At 25, I ended up on an island in Vietnam, working as a waitress in a family friend's restaurant for half a year. In the hotel industry, the position of waiter is greatly underestimated, but it is a trade with all the letters”.
And precisely there and during those months, she found inspiration: “I was attracted to the concept of the Southeast Asian hostel as a place where many things happen, where you don't just go to sleep”. And when she came back, she raised it with her family, with an entrepreneurial tradition, who helped her evolve the concept to bring it to the Costa Brava.
“Once we found the building, which was a total crush (the second we saw!), I started looking for hotels that I liked, to investigate who had decorated them and I found a small hotel in Menorca, Casa Telmo, which I immediately fell in love with. I am very indecisive, but when I have something clear, I know it right away”.
That's how she met the interior designers of Quintana Partners Studio , who restored and reformed the building, preserving the original architecture and betting on sustainability.
"La Bionda is that hotel I've always wanted to go to"
And La Bionda was born, which even has its own story (pure fiction... and magic): "It was a great hotel run by a woman who received influential women from all over the world." That is why its eight rooms are called Josephine Baker or Carmen Amaya. “The only one with a male name is Víctor… but Víctor Catalá was a Catalan writer who signed under a pseudonym.”
In this French-style guest house, a concept that did not exist in the area, the reception, which does not seem like it, communicates with the living room and from there, you access the dining conservatory, in an open-air patio. This is where Andreu's fruit is eaten for breakfast; the sausage from the butcher shop in his town, which is now in its fifth generation; Palafrugell bread and organic eggs. Everything about the crockery of his uncle, who is a potter.
In summer, in this same space, Carla recommends us the sunsets on the patio, with a glass of wine, and the outdoor massages. In winter, dinners in the lounge and a drink at her Honesty Bar. Ceramic workshops, yoga and healthy cooking retreats or inspiring talks make Carla's dream come true like being at home... but at La Bionda.