How Spain’s Restaurante Aponiente Is Reimagining Seafood
Spain has one of the best culinary scenes in Europe. The southern region of Andalucia has an especially vibrant culinary tradition, along with creative young chefs who are redefining how we see food.
One such example is chef Ángel León of Restaurante Aponiente in Cadiz. The concept behind the Michelin three-star restaurant is unique, as León creates spectacular dishes using dozens of ingredients and types of marine life.
My wife and I dined at Aponiente during our tour of Spain’s Sherry Triangle, and it was one of the best culinary experiences of our lives. During our visit, León came out to meet all of the diners. Here is a closer look at what makes Aponiente so special.
Creating world-class cuisine
León first began developing the concept of Aponiente in 2006 while working as a fishing trawler in his native Andalucia. This experience opened his eyes to just how much fish goes to waste. Between 30 and 40 percent of the fish caught each day were thrown away.
These fish species are known as moralla in Spanish, and there are between 20 and 30 different species within this group. These fish are sold for as little as 20 cents per kilo and are typically used to make flour.
Seeing this amount of waste firsthand inspired León to find new ways to use moralla, and he opened Aponiente to make this idea a reality. The first few years were challenging. He soon realized that the concept of a restaurant based on moralla was too foreign to become widely popular.
Then León was struck with a brilliant idea—to transform these lesser-known fish into easily recognizable dishes, such as chorizo, sausages, ham, and black pudding, among others. The new menu eventually became a hit, and Aponiente would soon garner a reputation as one of Spain’s best and more innovative new restaurants.
Restaurante Aponiente’s menu
Restaurante Aponiente is located in a tide mall dating back to 1815. The glass floors in the entrance reveal the retired tide mill underneath. Aponiente features a diverse menu of unique seafood dishes, but the specialty is chef León’s marine charcuterie. Highlights include ham carved from the belly of Almadraba red tuna, crunchy bites of moray eel skin, marine cheese made from typically discarded tuna roe, and a sweet, tart filling made from fermented seaweed.
León says that one day, he would like to offer a marine menu without any fish at all. Sixty percent of the restaurant’s tasting menu already consists of non-fish products, so he is already well on the way to achieving this goal.
The chef discovered an edible type of phytoplankton in 2009 and has been growing and developing it since then. The restaurant has added several types of plankton to the menu, and each has its own taste, texture, and colors.
Algae is also on the menu, with seaweeds in flavors of lemon, garlic, oysters, and potato. When my wife I visited Aponiente, one dish the tasting menu featured was phosphorescent algae. The dish was brought out in the dark, and the waiters swirled it to make it light up, which produced a magical light show.
Some dishes also feature marsh plants, which have the flavors of coriander and juniper.
Underwater culinary discoveries
León has spent most of his life exploring the sea and discovering new ingredients. He made one of his most noteworthy discoveries in 2018—a “marine grain” or “sea rice” that is a product of an aquatic grass called zostera marina.
One day while on a diving expedition, León saw a plant with a spike at the top, which reminded him of a wheat plant. He picked the plant and brought it to a lab for analysis, discovering that the seagrass had a grain. He cooked the grain and found that it had a good taste and texture, similar to rice and quinoa.
His team returned to the same diving site and discovered entire underwater meadows of the sea rice. They brought the plants to an estuary and planted two acres of them.
The rice is a staple at Aponiente, but León has bigger plans for his discovery. The marine grain is packed with nutrients, including twice as many amino acids as rice, along with high levels of vitamins B and C. It’s also gluten-free. León envisions a future where grains are planted under the sea on a mass scale and sees these plants as a possible solution to future food shortages.
Aponiente honored with Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award
In 2022, chef León was honored with the Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award. The restaurant has an environmentally conscious ethos that emphasizes sustainable fishing practices and the conservation of water and marshlands. It received a score of 88% on a Sustainable Restaurant Award survey.
The team at Aponiente cares for the environment outside of work, as well. They have led beach cleanups throughout Cádiz, run programs that encourage healthy eating in schools, and led a charity feeding project during the pandemic.