Josep Maria Kao: "I met Kubala at my father's restaurant; we've had Johan Cruyff at ours, and now Lamine Yamal."

BarcelonaBisbe Sivilla Street, in the Sant Gervasi neighborhood, is known to many as Kao Street. Or, conversely, the Kao family is known as the bishops. The wordplay is imaginative. The two Kao brothers, Lluís (Barcelona, ​​61) and Josep Maria (Barcelona, ​​62), own three restaurants: Shangai, Kao Dim Sum, and Kao Street.

We spoke with both of them one summer day and discussed the current situation of human towers, which Lluís follows because his wife is from Valls, close to the Colla Vella de Valls. The Kao family's history in the restaurant business began when Lluís and Josep Maria's father, Kao Tze Chien, opened the Pekín restaurant on Avinguda Diagonal in 1964. In 1976, he moved it to Calle Obispo Sivilla, and today it is Shanghai, run by the brothers and their family. The two Kao brothers assure me that no Chinese restaurant in Barcelona has been open uninterruptedly for fifty years. Today, each of the three restaurants offers a different menu: one is for takeaway; another for tapas; and the Shanghai, the distinguished one, for tasting menus and celebrating life.

I interview the chef, Josep Maria, and beside him, Lluís, the sommelier, shows me one of his most prized possessions: a personal diary, written in exquisite handwriting, in which he recounts his daily life. Lluís is an expert in grammar and notes on his mobile phone the articles in which he finds spelling and grammatical errors, both in Catalan and Spanish. He says that he then sends the photos to his brother and, if they are known, also to the journalists who wrote the article. In a sports report, Lluís discovered that the word boots It was written with a v, and today he still remembers it as one of the serious errors published. He says he learned precision in language thanks to a very strict language and literature teacher. They both speak excellent Catalan, which is obvious to say about two people born in Catalonia. And best of all: they are passionate about their profession and the city they live in.

To prepare for the interview, I read the Peking duck recipe in several books and I can see that you make it differently.

— There's no one who cooks it like the Kao family does, because we take care of the duck, its fattening, and we also prepare the wafers used to eat the meat. Nowhere in the world will you find anyone who makes wafers like ours, and we make eight hundred of them every two days.

There is a popular legend that Peking duck is difficult to pair with wine.

— It's true because it's a meat with very well-infiltrated fat, as is the case with a high-quality Iberian ham. Many people pair ham with red wine, and Lluís has always done this as well, but with a fresh, not too strong red wine. My brother Luis likes to pair Peking duck with fresh red wine and Corpinnat, because we've made a quality choice, and the Corpinnat brand offers it. We only have Corpinnat on the wine list because it's our way of showing that we're committed to the region that welcomed the Kao family so well. And as for the wines, I assure you that Lluís has a very affordable wine list, with prices ranging from €20 to over €1,000. And they're all top-quality.

I'm back with the Peking duck recipe, focusing on the wafers. You say they're also your own recipe. How do you make them?

— The ingredients are flour, water, star anise, white wine, salt, and maltose, also known as malt sugar. It's a laborious recipe, involving many processes, that results in the wafer becoming a moist, yet ultimately very thin dough, ideal for wrapping the duck meat like a cannelloni.

Those who know Shanghai also tell me that he treats vegetables exceptionally well. What is this treatment, and how does it differ from Catalan cuisine?

— The Chinese cuisine we cook has many similarities with Mediterranean cuisine. Its griddle is our wok, where we cook vegetables like spinach, beans, and eggplant. Chinese street food is a different story, though, and it's a different story. However, all of this is done in a kitchen with fire, because I like to cook over open fire, with iron utensils, not on a ceramic or induction stove. Pregnant women are prescribed iron supplements because Teflon cooking prevents them from ingesting iron, which is maintained when you cook with iron utensils or with the same tea from an iron teapot.

By Chinese street food, you mean spring rolls?

— It's one of the stereotypes. So is rice with three delicacies. These dishes have nothing to do with Chinese restaurants. It's not like that. I also have to tell you that I've never been to China; my brother Luis has.

Everyone tells me you two are very hard workers.

— In the obituary we wrote to our father, we wrote that he had passed on to us the culture of hard work. He taught us. And we're still the same. Look, here behind us is the book we wrote, published in Planeta Gastro, because when we're gone, it'll be good to keep it for posterity.

It will be prominent. I saw your daughters in the living room, Josep Maria.

— I have three daughters (Meilan, Nayan, and Yenlin), two of whom are dedicated to the restaurant business. The way food is currently going, it's a small business, meaning it doesn't generate much profit, but it is a way of life, which is ours. Of my three daughters, the eldest, Meilan, is adept in the kitchen; all three are masters of the wok, because it's a technique I wanted to teach them.

There was a time when many of us bought a wok for our home.

— It's probably the most widely used utensil in Chinese cooking, and it's not easy because it requires maintenance. The wok must be purged with fire, as this is how any burnt iron that may have become embedded is removed. The food should slide off, and if it doesn't, it's because of the burnt iron embedded in it. Then it's purged with fire, then a lot of salt is added, and finally, a little oil is added to keep it well preserved.

Josep Maria, when you were little you knew FC Barcelona player Ladislau Kubala, and now, at Shanghai, I saw Lamine Yamal coming in for lunch.

— Oh, what a time! I remember Kubala at my father's restaurant in Beijing. I could even tell you the table he was sitting at. When he came, he was already famous, and I was very young. Lamine comes to eat, yes, and so do many Barça players. We also had Johan Cruyff, and we'd gone to Camp Nou to get him to sign a ball for us. I think our Chinese cuisine, the respect we have for the product, is what people like.

You've never been to China, you say.

— No, I learned about the country and its cuisine through my parents and, more recently, through the internet. There's no need to travel physically; I watch a lot of recipes, videos, and books. I also interact with Catalan chefs, from whom I'm always learning and asking them about their techniques and sofritos. Since I didn't go to cooking school, it's how I learned to make my own. And Luis has done the same; everything he's learned about wines, he's done it on his own, and also thanks to Quim Vila of Vila Viniteca, who is very generous and allowed him to taste wines at no cost. Plus, Lluís has a great memory, and he remembers everything.

Finally, are the dining room and kitchen staff you have hired Chinese?

— No. They're from Bangladesh, because it's very difficult to find Chinese staff these days. However, Bangladeshis find it easy to learn our cuisine because there are connections between the two. The basis of both is rice, and important ingredients include soy sauce, which is always on the table, and ginger, which is like garlic in Catalan cuisine.