Onza: a restaurant in Banyoles born from a beautiful friendship

BanyolesAlba Hugas and Quim Bover have always been a part of each other's lives. They're friends and have known each other forever. Who would have told these easygoing young people, one from Parets del Empordà and the other from Bàscara, that today they would have a restaurant of the magnitude that is Unça? And this story has only just begun.

The new restaurant opened this November in the Plaça Major of Banyoles. It catches the eye of everyone who passes by. Some people even come in to take a look. It's beautiful. "It's gorgeous, now we have to go full throttle," says Quim. Even Alba is impressed. The cuisine has to be up to par. Within these four walls, there are large doses of talent and a touch of recklessness that make it special. Alba studied art and design at the Escola Massana, Quim is an environmental engineer, carpenter, and blacksmith. They first worked together at the Bàscara town festival. But the job that made them realize they wanted to own a restaurant was working at the poolside bar in Pontós. There, they served dishes of a level no one expected in such an informal setting. Life is about managing expectations. At that moment, they saw that Alba had a great cook inside her, one that was just beginning to blossom. The hospitality industry wasn't far removed from her: her family runs the Santa Anna restaurant in Pontós.

This is serious.

The moment they decide to get serious, Alba goes to study cooking in Bilbao. She believes there will be fewer distractions away from home. Then she falls in love with a restaurant she describes as "mystical." It's Mugaritz. She ends up working there. Meanwhile, Quim isn't idle. He gets the idea to apply for a job at Compartir in Cadaqués. Mateu Casañas looks at his resume and finds it intriguing. An engineer, carpenter, and blacksmith, he wants to work in the dining room. They don't have a spot available, but he opens the doors of another restaurant for him: Disfrutar. So, we find them spread across two large establishments, before they return to their true home, their own restaurant.

They did most of the work themselves. They're penniless, they say. They seem to embody the "they did it because they didn't know it was impossible" mentality. The restaurant is welcoming. The kitchen is open. The dishes are original and delicious. They serve traditional Catalan cuisine. "We decided to make Catalan food because there was no other option," says Alba. They champion the cuisine of those who didn't have a penny to their name. One of their most successful examples is the Cazuela del Seny, a surf and turf dish. "We take old recipes that nobody wants to eat, but we turn them into something that makes sense to serve," Alba explains. Not a crumb was left in our casserole. Just like not a single grain was left of the Arroz de Paraigüero. This recipe is the brainchild of someone with a different mindset. It belongs to Alba Santané from Tossa de Mar, whom Alba Hugas met at Mugaritz. Santané contributed this wonderful dish with a local history linked to the Roma people of the Tossa promenade. If you ask, Quim will explain it to you. In the kitchen, we also find, by the way, João Fontes, a young Portuguese chef who has worked at Barro in Ávila and Las Magnolias in Arbúcies.

They're a playful bunch. You can see it in the names of the dishes, and they quote Espinàs, referring to the minister's feet. They've "invented" Martí, a dessert Alba created in honor of the Martís in her life: her grandfather, father, and brother. They like to blend traditional cuisine with modern techniques. "People don't go to a restaurant to eat bread with tomato, as Francesc Fortí of Rincón de Can Binu says," Alba explains. They're young people full of influences, which they use to create their own unique approach.

Besides the à la carte menu, they also serve set lunch menus from Wednesday to Friday. It costs 25 euros and changes weekly. They're excited about it. They enjoy hosting and adapt to their clientele. The welcome has been wonderful; they were confident it would go well, but they haven't forgotten that we wouldn't be here without "the army of friends" who "support them."