Francis Paniego: “Pyrenees gastronomy exists”

Francis Paniego will be one of the main features at Andorra Taste as gastronomy adviser to the Sport Hotel Hermitage & Spa there, with the Ibaya restaurant which earned its "macaroon" in 2021, still the Principality's only Michelin star. This is the man from La Rioja's first venture outside his native soil, where he certainly has diversified his business (in addition to his twice-starred Portal, on his own turf he runs Echaurren Tradición, El Cuartito and La Arboleda del Sur; Tondeluna in Logroño, and Marqués de Riscal in Elciego), "because otherwise it's difficult to go on living where I want to live”.

We talked to Paniego about the "unique" moment in Andorra's gastronomy, about management of teams at seasonal destinations or the culinary heritage of the country of the Pyrenees. And also about the takeover Nandu Jubany suggested for the Hermitage: “The first thing I did was call him. I wanted to know the state of play because I realise that we don't want to be stepping on each other's toes". 

You opened Ibaya at the Hermitage just before the pandemic. How have the last few years been? 

We opened in November 2019 and were working for four months, a full-snow season, as if by magic. It was a great season. Work was great.  And in 2021 we survived and went on working. We tried to keep all the businesses operating, and we held out. We were lucky. And then we got the Michelin star, something the establishment had been seeking for many years. And this year has been a fine season. So, yes, very happy.

What kind of response have you had in Andorra? Better after the star?

Last night I had a table in Ezcaray with people from Andorra. Now I have many more customers from Andorra than before. I think they believe that we're like an extension of the country, and they visit us more. But I must say that, from the very beginning, I've felt very welcome.

What kind of cuisine do you have at Ibaya? High-mountain cuisine? Echaurren cuisine? 

We realise that we're not talking about very different scenarios. Ezcaray is at an altitude of 900 metres, and Soldeu at 1,800 metres. Ezcaray is a small ski resort; Andorra is a very big ski resort. There are some considerable similarities. And we were at an advantage because we knew what people liked to eat in a mountain location. First of all, we wanted to advertise ourselves and make the menu a trip around Ezcaray and its surroundings. That was a safe bet. I also think it's honest to do it like that because we didn't know the area. We couldn't just arrive and run amok. The pandemic didn't help either. So the menu just evolved, and it will continue to evolve.

What will you be inventing?

I keep a record of my recipes programme, and I already have about 700. My mother earned a living with about 35. Sometimes, we chefs feel the need to change our clothes all the time. Couldn't we just work harder on a good idea and fine-tune it instead of creating from scratch all the time? Some good ideas, viewed from another perspective over time, are much better. And that doesn't mean stagnation, but rather the urge for continuous improvement. Nobody expects the man at the Tokyo metro station to make sushi all the time. They all praise him for seeking perfection in a recipe. Why can't we chefs do the same without it being seen as stagnation or lack of ambition?

All this to explain the initial menu in Andorra to me, which has definitely changed now ...

This year we were able to get out and about more around the country, to find out more about it, and discover more of what Andorra's about. We visited museums and suppliers, and most of all we discovered concepts, which we felt were most important. Tobacco, slaughtering, how the country has held out without good roads ... This year we'd like to go on with that, with a menu to show all those concepts somehow. There's no good network of suppliers in Andorra, no cows, I think there's only one cheese producer in the whole country, and they can't have a proper plantation if it's not summer ... That's the way things are, but potatoes, ratafia liqueur, dairy products and derivatives, bees and the forge are important concepts. We're going to show them off.

What is your view of Andorra's gastronomy?

The fact that Vocento's going to stage a congress in Andorra simply shows what's going on in the country. A unique gastronomic trend is emerging. A lot of chefs are arriving to push up standards, chefs who are observing the country. And I realise that the Government wants to make gastronomy a tool to convey Andorra's qualities, and also its culture, which may have lost its way slightly with the explosion of tourism, as has been the case in all tourist areas. And we'll be helping out in this search for the country's gastronomic identity.

I see that your menu is also based on the Principality's traditional "borda" farmhouses ...

Yes, but that's a concept all over the Pyrenees, not just in Andorra. You find them in the Pyrenees in Aragón, in Catalonia ... I think there's a Pyrenees culture that goes beyond just one country. I've talked about this a lot with my right-hand man, Pol Contreras.

How do you manage staffing at the Hermitage?

The main problem in Andorra is that we're tremendously seasonal, although our work in recent years means the summer season is better each year, and it's getting longer. The workload in winter is also increasing, and the advantage there is that we bring in staff who work the summer season in Ibiza, and come to Andorra for the winter season. It's a profile of young people. Some of them, in fact, are now with us permanently, because they see that kind of life is to their detriment ... 

More corporate issues. You've now replaced Nandu Jubany in Andorra as the gastronomy adviser to the hotel you work in. How did the changeover work out?

When I arrived in Andorra I was well aware of the fact that I was taking up a project that had been handled by Nandu Jubany. So the first thing I did was call him. I wanted to know the state of play because I realise that we don't want to be stepping on each other's toes ... He told me to go ahead. He'd been here for many years, but nothing is forever in these kinds of projects. I also realise I'm not going to be here all my life either. That's the way things are.

You chefs-entrepreneurs simply love to move around ...

That may be so, but I can also tell you that sometimes I think I'd be happier with just my Echaurren ... I don't know. It all depends on the phases of life. At the beginning, when we started out, we wanted to turn Echaurren into a great restaurant, and there you have it. The El Portal idea came later, thanks to the caution of my parents, who told me that if I wanted to play at being a chef I should keep on the sidelines, but not at the same old restaurant. Then I had the chance of a small business, and El Cuartito arrived. After that the banquets, and Marqués de Riscal ... 

Is it for the money? 

Well, I don't think they pay me too much at Marqués de Riscal, but I can't complain either. I'm happy. And I'm sure there's some ego in this business of enlarging projects, why deny it? ... You want to stand out, or try new things. And I think this is typical of a generation like mine. We wanted to try our hand at a lot of things. I think today's generation is calmer, with small projects.