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Rodolfo Guzmán is speaking into a distant phone mic, as he races races along the tarmac, a long way away, somewhere in Santiago. “We’re very excited," he says. "We’ve never done something like this before.”
The new location of Guzmán in Madrid
The countdown is on, and in just over a month the Chilean chef will be relocating half of his team, kit and ingredients from Boragó, in Santiago, some 10,000 km across the Atlantic, to Madrid, Spain. From 14 November to 3 December, twenty of his team will be stationed at hotel NH Collection Madrid Eurobuilding for a three-week pop-up, as part of the In Residence annual guest chef dinner series. It's a huge logistical and economic challenge, with an impending deadline. No wonder he has his foot on the gas.
What made the chef take on the enormity of such a major operation? “It would have almost been too easy not to do it," he laughs. "We love to be out of our comfort zone, that’s how you learn in life, especially in the cooking world.”
The pop-up idea is nothing new, and something he's been mulling over for the past five to six years. And now, post-pandemic, the dream has become a reality and his excitement is palpable. So what can European diners expect of a chef whose cooking captures the personality of the Chilean ecosystem?
"I think it’s going to be something very different,” he explains. He's been working on the menu for a long time, including investigative trips to meet producers and refamiliarise himself with some of Spain's finest ingredients. The team will also arrive two weeks before opening night to settle into the new menu.
"We decided to bring part of the Chilean native spring and attach it to the Spanish autumn," he says. "On the menu, you will see lots of wild fruit and mushrooms, from both worlds, but you will see a lot of Chilean seaweed, a lot of things from both seas, and rock plants from both countries."
With some help from the Chilean government, and a "special diplomatic suitcase", as he calls it, he'll be bringing over native and protected Chilean produce never seen before in Spain. And of course, along the way, there will be "some surprises". He'll also be saving some luggage space for some special tools and "crazy ideas".
A team of talented young Boragó chefs will prepare the unique nightly tasting menu, an experience that he believes will be life-changing for them. Some old faces from the Boragó family, now stationed in Europe, will also return especially for the occasion, which Guzman is "doubly excited" about. "For us, it’s a great opportunity for a whole new experience for us as a team, which makes it very, very special, " he says.
"Our team is stronger than ever, and I am 100% sure that we can manage this. We’ll come back to Chile with a whole new way of thinking, and doing things will be different." The most important thing is that "we have to cook in the style that defines Boragó," he says. "We’re going to do a different menu to Boragó, it’s going to be our way of thinking, our way of feeling, with Madrid terroir."
Back home, Boragó will remain open for business as usual. "We also have to be responsible for ourselves and our business. We cannot close the restaurant, plus we can’t compromise people who’ve booked from far away to come to our restaurant," he says. But he is confident the challenge will be worth the hard work.
"When we opened the doors 16 years ago, we never dreamed we would discover all these native ingredients. We are literally living in a renaissance. It’s a whole new world shaping the way we live."
Boragó sits at no.43 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, is known globally, and is almost unrecognisable from the small restaurant he opened with big dreams a long time ago. This pop-up marks a new adventure in a new chapter for the restaurant.
In this sixth edition of the annual dinner series, Guzmán will follow a trail blazed by chefs like Grant Achatz, Mauro Colagreco and Ana Ros, whose main advice has been to "go for it", and "enjoy it", while amiably ribbing him that the distance will be his biggest challenge.
Guzmán hopes that Europeans will be able to mobilise to make it to Madrid, for what will be a unique one-off experience, with ingredients never seen before in Spain. "There’s one thing I’ll promise," he says. "I’ll treat everyone like a king.”
Reservations can be made online at http://inresidence.es/. The cost of the menu is €190 or €270 with wine pairing.
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