Roland Trettl meets top chef Dani García

Roland Trettl meets Dani García

Tomato in the Space-Lab

Upholding the tradition of Andalusian vegetable cookery and simultaneously juggling with liquid nitrogen is what Dani García from Marbella does... and in February he'll be doing it at Ikarus.

Just don't mention the word "molecular" to Dani García. As far as the 33-year old Andalusian is concerned, it smacks of artifice and chemistry – and that is the exact opposite of what the head chef at "Restaurante Calima" in Marbella intends. No, Dani García thinks of himself as a patriotic, local traditionalist. At the same time, amongst avant-garde chefs, the hospitable southern Spaniard is regarded as the leading specialist in the culinary use of liquid nitrogen. Clearly, in this exciting field, a guest can expect any number of surprises.

Let's start with the premises. Dani has the nicest kitchen I've ever seen. As part of the freshly renovated "Hotel Gran Melía Don Pepe", located right beside the sea, García's place of work is a glass cube with a sensational 360 degree view of beach, sea and palm trees. If I have to work rather than lounging on the beach, please can I work here? What would be even better, though, would be to sit in the extremely tastefully decorated, 70-seater restaurant. Or on the wonderful terrace, which offers the same splendid view as the kitchen.

Dani García, who cooked up his first star at "El Tragabuches" in nearby Ronda, is part of the second generation of Spanish avant-garde chefs. He and his trailblazers, such as Ferran Adrià or Martin Berasateguia, have been commemorated by influential food critic José Carlos Capel in his book "Spain's Avant-Garde Cuisine". And it is this critic who calls Dani García the "best professional Andalusian chef of all time". The things I immediately like about Dani are his cosmopolitan point of view and broad intellectual horizon. It's pleasing because nowadays many Spanish chefs and gastronomes. in their self-awareness, do what was formerly peculiar to the French – they think they're the centre of the culinary world. The typically Spanish thing about the man from Marbella, though, is his constant mobile 'phone mania. Dani's in a constant communications crisis. The media in Spain are much, much more demanding than we are used to in the German-speaking area.

At the same time – and this is something else that makes the Spanish scene so special – there are extremely close links between the chefs. They chat to each other almost constantly, and plan joint campaigns, wherever they might be based. When we met, Dani had just returned from a food event in Argentina, and immediately afterwards he was returning to South America, this time to cook in Brazil.

What he demonstrates worldwide is an ultra-modern take on traditional Andalusian cuisine. Classic soup gazpacho, for example, which he catapults into the 21st century with cherries, fresh, cold goat's cheese "snow" and sardines, in a great combination of sweet, salt, fresh and cold. Or his ajoblanco, also originally a rustic soup, with caramelised sweet pepper juice and lychee popcorn. He tops the usual cream of almond and garlic soup with a juice drawn from roasted red peppers, which he then tops with "popcorn". This consists of lychee purée from an aerosol, squirted into nitrogen. A great combination which, despite all the technical trickery, tastes comfortingly down to earth. Likewise his fish soup – Andalusian classics such as peppers, tomatoes and garlic marinated for 24 hours in a dashi broth, the broth then bound with mayonnaise and served with classic grilled fish.

Dani would not be Marbella-bred if he didn't pay particular attention to olives. His purée of black and green olives, with "stones" made from olive oil dipped in nitrogen, is precisely what he, as a chef, absolutely loves – a surprise. What I find very impressive about such an avant-garde chef is that he has the courage to take a step back and rely absolutely on the product. A sea bass, farmed, surprisingly, cooked in its own oils, accompanied by purple garlic, stuffed with herring roe. Simple, really, but very impressive.

The father of two is one of the group of chefs who shut their restaurants for a couple of months in winter in order to create the next season's set menu in complete peace. This menu and this menu only, will then be served throughout the following year. It's evident that this can then be served, day after day, with unbelievable precision. Such precision is an enormous challenge to someone like me, who cooks something completely different every month.

Recorded Christoph Schulte • Photos: Red Bull Photofiles / Jesus Chacon