Víctor Ródenas: "There are diners who book three different places at once and decide at the last minute where they will go."

BarcelonaI interview chef Víctor Ródenas (Barcelona, ​​1991) on a Friday with just a few hours left until lunchtime. Maleducat has turned five, and in a short time has become a benchmark. I tell him about my favorite table, a central one, next to the kitchen door, and he tells me that it's precisely the one he likes the most. "We chefs must have these obsessions with tables, but it's true that we also have favorites," he says. In addition to celebrating its five-year anniversary, Maleducat is in luck because the three restaurant partners will soon expand the brand with a second location in Barcelona, ​​serving Catalan cuisine, which still hasn't been named. It won't be a wine bar with dishes, a formula that has spread in just a few days, considering them to be more classic. They're not quite classic in name, but it's a name that has created a following, and the anecdote is that some diners have asked to buy napkins with their names embroidered in green thread. I'd like to buy them to give as gifts to family members.

Since we're talking about the name, Maleducat, I have to say that I've always really liked the image indicating where the restrooms are. It's a black and white image of a child with his pants down peeing on the tire of a police truck.

— [Laughs] The name is a joke I've always had with the friends who founded the restaurant. Ignacio, Marc Garcia's younger brother, and I've been friends since childhood, always used to tell each other that name. We were seventeen when we dreamed of one day owning a restaurant. Finally, when we grew up, and the three of us decided to open it, the name came to us. It could only be this one. Right now, Ignacio has taken a break from the day-to-day business. He's still a partner, but he's gone to live in Brazil.

Maleducat opened in 2020, but before that, you worked in high-end restaurants. Your career has focused primarily on prestigious restaurants and hotels.

— I studied the degree in dining room and kitchen at the CETT School of Hospitality and Tourism, and with the scholarship I won I started as an intern, stagier, at David Muñoz's DiverXo. From Madrid, I went to Asturias, then to Barcelona, ​​where I worked at Via Veneto with chef Sergio Humada; Caelis, by Romain Fornell; and the Roca Moo restaurant at the late Hotel Omm, when it was run by the Roca brothers, alongside chefs Juan Bretel and Rafa Panatieri. Then I wanted to learn about hotel management, so I worked at the Hotel Gallery, at the Serras as executive chef.

What was the trigger that made you, Ignacio, and Marc decide to open a restaurant?

— I was working at the Hotel Serras when the three of us met one summer. Ignacio and I were 28; Marc, 31. The two brothers had traveled together and came with the idea of changing what they'd been doing. In December 2019, we were already signing the paperwork for the premises where we are located, on Manso Street, next to the Sant Antoni market.

And the pandemic catches him.

— When we were renovating, the three of us went into lockdown together, and it went well because we were able to keep working. We opened in June 2020, and we did everything we could. Now I see that we were somewhat reckless, but it went well because we worked hard. We did takeout because there weren't many other options.

I remember napkins used to be paper; now they're cloth and embroidered. The average receipt has also changed.

— When we opened, with paper napkins, the average bill was thirty-five euros; now, it's fifty-five. We haven't lost our essence: friendly service, a relaxed atmosphere, cooking with seasonal produce, dishes that come and go on the menu based on the quality of the ingredients, and Catalan cuisine as a benchmark.

Tell me what dishes you cook today.

— Peas with cod pil-pil and Cal Rovira black sausage. Morels, artichokes. And I'm already looking forward to the tomatoes and blue fish. It's Catalan cuisine brought up to date, if we must put it more precisely.

You don't serve raw peas, even if they're teardrop peas. And I saw that the dish costs thirty-six euros.

— No, we blanch them for two minutes, maximum, and we do it just before serving them along with the cod pil-pil and the black sausage. And, yes, they're priced that way, because we buy them for over a hundred euros a kilo.

The sea and the mountains are a reference for the Rude.

— We like them a lot. Right now I have a tendon stew with longline hake. And a herd with a stock of chicken and Iberian ham. And also garden and sea, like the pickled artichokes with an Atlantic scallop, served with bone marrow juice and artichoke chips.

Catalan cuisine is experiencing a moment of prestige, and the fact that this year it is the World Region of Gastronomy only underlines this.

— I think Catalan cuisine is at its best. We reclaim its tradition, which is the way to ensure that our recipes endure. But this doesn't mean everything should remain unchanged, because fricandó must evolve. This is what chef Jordi Vilà is doing with recipes like escudella, which he makes from seafood and game. We're fortunate that we have such a rich tradition, because then we can make it evolve.

What does it mean to make it evolve?

— Everyone can interpret and execute it in one way or another. For example, by making it lighter, less heavy.

Victor, I'm asking you about the new premises you're already working on, and where the Maleducat brand took off.

— It will be located in the Eixample district, and we want to create a different concept from Maleducat, because there's only one Maleducat. We believe that if we grow as a business, it will be more sustainable over time. Let me explain: I have a head chef who's been working with us since we opened. She's Marina Solanes. We've known each other since we worked at the Hotel Gallery, and we understand each other, and in the new project, she'll be able to have a bigger role than she did at Maleducat.

What dishes will be available?

— Catalan cuisine, with local produce, because it's the only thing I know how to do. We won't serve dishes and natural wines, because we're more traditional. We want to position ourselves by renewing the classic dishes of Catalan cuisine. And above all, we want it to be a place where people will return, where it's comfortable, and where you'll want to come back because the flavors of the dishes will be pleasant.

What does it mean that the flavors will be kind?

— These are the sofritos, the broths, the stocks, the stews. These are profound flavors, the simmering cuisine, all brought up to date. This is true, traditional cooking, and these flavors are what you remember and keep coming back to a place again and again.

Can we say that the Maleducado is about to become a group?

— It's our professional dream: to create a small group, which will be our life project, that of four friends, because now there are four of us, Xavi added. We're in no rush to achieve it; we're taking small steps, and it's just the four of us and the bank.

Given your age, you should know other chefs who are running restaurants in Barcelona. Which ones do you recommend?

— Barcelona is very rich in the Catalan cuisine restaurant scene, with chefs who are passionate and eager to do it well. However, Madrid doesn't have all of this. In Barcelona, ​​I'd say Berbena, Gigante, Mesa Lobo, Cruix, Mantis, Teórico, and La Sosenga.

Victor, finally, I've sometimes had difficulty finding a table for the app on your website. I mean, it's not easy to find a table.

— We use Covermanager, and the reservation issue keeps us talking for hours longer than we have now. The program allows us to detect people who have reservations for the same day and time at other restaurants, because some people do that. They book three different places at once and decide at the last minute where they'll go. With the system, we can detect this, and then we call them to ask if they'll come or not. Imagine: we have a small dining room, and if they reserve for us and don't show up, it's a shame and a loss in service. And it also means other diners are left out of the room who could have come. For all these reasons, I understand why restaurants like DiverXo in Madrid and Etxebarri in the Basque Country charge for the entire menu as soon as the reservation is made. I completely understand, because people will surely end up going to the restaurant. In fact, with airplanes, we're used to paying for the ticket in advance, right?