One of the essential Asturians? the beans
The flagship restaurant of Chef Nacho Manzano , ** Casa Marcial **, recognized with two Michelin stars and three Repsol suns turns a quarter of a century this year.
To celebrate, the Manzano family presents a program of twelve unique pop-up dinners in which the house cooks are accompanied by other renowned chefs.
After the visits of members of the Spanish gastronomic 'royalty' such as Martin Berasategui or Angel Leon in spring, the second phase of these unrepeatable banquets begins in September, and among the invited chefs will be Paco Roncero, Macarena de Castro, Andoni Luis Aduriz or Joan Roca.
Chef Nacho Manzano
The asturian gastronomy owes a lot to the Manzano family. With Nacho at the helm, together they have defended like few others the sometimes undervalued Asturian product, elevating the humble corn cake , elevating the meaning of the words **'pitu de caleya' (free-range hen) ** or making anyone who has tasted their exquisite home-made croquettes.
Its dishes exude freshness and allow the diner to guess the tradition , show the roots while exploring the innovation of the technique, which they dominate to perfection and which allows them to play with creativity at will.
And all this betting on local and seasonal products , in creations such as clams with their sauce and granita with algae puree; hake with blended salad, hollandaise and dry roe; either grilled endive, buttermilk and arugula pesto.
"When I look back, in these twenty-five years I remain with the fact that have valued everyday dishes. Perhaps today Asturian cuisine is not understood without them, but a few years ago they were dishes that were not seen in restaurants, they were dishes that were in the houses ”says Nacho on the other end of the phone.
The little village of The Salgar , in pairs , was the place chosen 25 years ago by the Asturian chef to open his first restaurant, ** Casa Marcial ** Run by his family since 1898 , Nacho and his sisters -Esther, Sandra and Olga- reformed the old family bar and gave it a new life.
rice with pitu
from the center of Asturias There are two ways to get to Casa Marcial. The easiest and fastest is by following the motorway in the direction of Santander and turning off at Arriondas. From there the stretch of narrow track that leads to the restaurant is only five kilometers.
The other, more suitable for dreamers and romantics than for pragmatists, is the Fitu road , a mountain road (AS-260) with a spectacular viewpoint from which you can see both ** the Sierra del Sueve and the Picos de Europa ** as well as the beautiful beaches from Vega or La Isla.
Casa Marcial's kitchen has managed to look both at the imposing mountains that surround it and at the Cantabrian Sea that hides behind them, making the local product shine and creating exquisite dishes.
For some people, the experience of enjoy haute cuisine , like the one the Manzanos offer at Casa Marcial, only begins when they walk through the door of the restaurant. Others, on the other hand, allow the surrounding landscape offers them a preview of what they will later find on their plate. If you are one of the latter, your road to get to this charming restaurant is the AS-260.
Its famous croquettes, a delight
Casa Marcial has been a restaurant since 1898. In the hands of the same family since then, Nacho decided to launch his restaurant in 1993 , with 22 years.
After seven years in the kitchen of Victor House , a restaurant in ** Gijón ** specializing in fish, Nacho, together with his sister Esther, sought to shape his own voice as chef in the family village , in eastern Asturias, and from the same house where His parents , who had a store bar, they had been offering homemade food to order since their childhood.
“When I look back I see that my cuisine has not changed that much, in philosophy and in forms I follow the same direction as 25 years ago. When I started I was very young I hadn't traveled, I hadn't been in restaurants with important chefs… ", he says.
"That made me notice what I had seen at my mother's house, in the Gijón of the fish kitchen. It was all like very much from my environment, I always did what was close because I didn't have many more arguments to cling to" says the chef, who adds "I always paid a lot of attention to things from Asturias with a somewhat more modern, more personal vision, and those principles are the ones I follow today."
The first Michelin star came in 1999 , six years after the opening of martial house , only 28 years old. The second has been kept since 2009 , and to date it remains the only restaurant in Asturias to hold this recognition.
Fish is one of their specialties
Planting a restaurant of this level in such a remote village, in a region with a rural heart where tourism did not stand out at the time, sounds complicated and at the same time is one of the many reasons why this restaurant is so special.
“Where I am happiest is in the kitchen, I really want to continue cooking” says Nacho. He believes that there are still many indigenous ingredients with which more could be done, such as green wheat (spelt) or the wonderful hazelnuts of the land . “Asturian cuisine has a lot of personality, because of its geography it can be said that there are many Asturias. The ancient seafood cuisine, that of the rivers, the vegetable garden, the cheeses…”.
If you don't have time to visit Casa Marcial or you are simply looking for a cheaper option, you can try the Manzano cuisine at Glory , its more informal restaurants in Oviedo and Gijón. Likewise, Esther Manzano offers her exquisite good work in the kitchen in The Salgar , her Gijon restaurant that has a Michelin star.
martial house