Roland Trettl meets top chef Gastón Acurio

Roland Trettl meets Gastón Acurio

Star chef “sans frontières”

In South America, Gastón Acurio is the leading figure in the gastronomic revival. He has a restaurant in Madrid, and now this ambitious and versatile chef is coming to cook in Salzburg.

I should have had my suspicions back in Salzburg. Whenever I tried to get Peru’s star chef Gastón Acurio on the telephone, I got managers, personal assistants and chief secretaries by the dozen – but never Gastón Acurio. At the same time I could be quite sure that the man from Lima is not a phantom. Acurio had given many highly regarded talks at the culinary arts convention in San Sebastián and Madrid, and whenever I was doing research on South America, his name cropped up.

Immediately after I landed in Lima everything became a lot clearer. Acurio’s head chef and right hand man Victoriano López introduced himself and gave me the key facts: Gastón Acurio, Peruvian Entrepreneur of the Year 2005, creator of a number of very different restaurant chains, operator of a steadily increasing number of restaurants with around 1000 employees, located all over South America. In addition Gastón also has a TV programme, and writes cookery books and articles for newspapers. Quite logical, therefore, that he is impossible to get on the telephone. And then suddenly the super-entrepreneur was standing before me, in shorts and flip-flops, with the friendliest of smiles.

Of course, Gastón Acurio is no longer a chef in the traditional sense. The fervent patriot is rather a visionary who develops concepts in his workshop and who, together with farmers, breeders and fishermen, wants to put his country on the culinary world map. In this field he has already become a significant figure in South America. The ambitious Peruvian has achieved this status for himself by creating four different types of restaurant. First of all there is the “fine dining” concept “Astrid & Gaston”, with its branches in Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Spain. These are exclusive and expensive restaurants.

No wonder that it is mainly foreigners who dine there. Classic cuisine is to be found in the “La Mar” chain, which now has branches in almost every South American country. Next we should mention the chain managed by Gastón’s wife Astrid, known as “T’anta”, which serves mainly sandwiches and confectionery. The fourth chain also fascinates me. It is called “Pasquale” and is a kind of “Peruvian Macdonald’s”: instead of hamburgers there are nachos, instead of ketchup and mayo there is chilli sauce, everything perfectly styled throughout and standardised – like its big American brother, but far exceeding it in terms of quality.

In Lima, I concentrated on the “Astrid & Gastón” and “La Mar” restaurants, constantly oscillating between the two. I was particularly impressed by Gastón’s ceviche dishes using raw marinated fish. This is Peru’s contribution to international gastronomy. Sweet lime juice is used in the marinade, indeed so much of it that in each of Gastón’s restaurants there is an employee who spends the whole day pressing limes. To the juice is added celery, chilli, coriander leaves. And then the improvisation starts. With tamarind sauce, sesame, soya, paprika and chilli pastes. In any event the marinade should be poured on “à la minute”, because the acid takes effect quickly. And of course the fish must be of perfect sushi quality. Sweet potatoes and sweet corn are served with it to balance the acidity, and everything is perfect.

Just to make sure that there are no wrong impressions: Gastón, who underwent part of his training in the Paris “Cordon Bleu” school, and who initially only cooked in the French style in Lima, does not just cook ceviche. His scallops with veal jus are a revelation. And his sucking pig with peach and black pudding is one of those dishes for which I only need to hear the list of ingredients to know immediately that this is something really special. It is annoying that I have to refuse him one request. I asked him if he wanted to put a favourite Peruvian dish on the menu at “Hangar-7”. Guinea pigs with crispy skin. A delicious dish, but hardly one that could be served here.

Recorded by Christoph Schulte • Photos: Red Bull Photofiles / Valeria Figallo