Portugal has improved a lot in the last 15 to 20 years. Leaving Lisbon, not just about Lisbon, there’s so much good stuff happening—projects, independent initiatives—and they’re taking the focus out of the main cities. You can go into the countryside and find really good food. I think this has been really beautiful to see.

It’s a constant evolving journey. I’m never completely satisfied. I like to be always in the mix and keep looking for new things. That’s what I find so cool about this job.

Barbela is a restaurant that we tend to think of as a space for creative people, not just in general. There are many of us working here, and everyone has a creative mind at some stage—Martin Luis, Alejandro, the guys in the kitchen, the guys in the bar. It’s a bubbling space for creativity. But also, our main goal is to introduce something new to the Portuguese crowd. Fish is huge in Portugal; we have a huge coastline and a strong culture of fish consumption, maybe third or fourth per capita in the world. We wanted to approach it in a contemporary way.

For me, I like to see different projects on the menu. I like to see different cooking methods, not just everything from the grill. I like textures. Sometimes you read something and think it might not work, but a combination of these elements is key. The easy part is to create five or six dishes, put them on the menu, and not change them—you could be successful for a few years. But we want to observe, adapt, and reach out to different markets.

As long as your ego doesn’t take over, ambition is good.

Consistency. You might have an idea and eventually figure out how to make it work. But keeping a constant level of excellence and quality is really difficult. That’s where big chains succeed—they can systematically deliver the same quality. Portugal has become more disciplined in this sense. The traditional approach was always there, but now in this modern era, you can see a clear line of cooking, which is really nice.

A lot of people. When I was younger, I studied in Paris. Classic Michel Bras is an icon for me. Over the last 20 years, many others have played important roles—the Nordic scene, Spain, some Italy, and Japan, which I’ve always looked to deeply.

My team, hopefully. Feedback from the team and family is key. This style of cooking takes time for people to understand, but once they do, it can be quite cool.

People sometimes think dry aging is Japanese. It’s not. Fish have been aged in different methods. The “new” dry-age techniques are relatively recent—about the last 15 years. We don’t just do dry-age; we apply these techniques to fish and seafood. Sometimes it’s for preservation, sometimes to improve quality, texture, or longevity. For example, drying fish for a month or month and a half loses moisture but firms the texture, and the enzymes improve the quality.

A little bit. Not all dishes are like that, but having something more challenging or different sets the tone.

I’m from Argentina and we work a lot with meat. Seven years ago, I opened a restaurant with a colleague. Dry aging meat is another process, another protein, another animal. It’s a control chamber where we develop bacteria to break down protein. My friend says he’s really happy—working in a kitchen is a passion, almost the same way of working with colleagues, developing flavors, and teamwork, which is really important.

We are a restaurant that has always aimed to use everything possible, minimal waste. For example, when we buy fish, we use all of it.

We’re just starting, so I don’t know. Many people are returning to traditional cooking methods and bringing them to modern restaurants. Lots of fire-based cooking. I hope more people will focus on the product itself rather than just the idea. For example, wels are difficult to work with because of strong muscles—they can be chewy. Getting a good result takes a lot of work, four days for two portions, but the product is amazing and unique.

Yes, definitely. We always try to bring different species over and over.

We tend to look at things within the season, but within the seasons there are micro-seasons. Sometimes, if you don’t talk to the right people, you don’t get them. That’s a fine line I really like. We have an amazing chain of suppliers, bringing products from different parts of the country, from sea to land. I think supermarkets should be fined for selling food out of season. Why have strawberries in November or December? Restaurants should work more seasonally.

I had a dish in London I worked on for weeks and it never worked. I was upset, left it in the dehydrator, and it dried out. Then I threw it into a pot of oil and it expanded.

Knowing that the focus was on fish, and hearing about Leo joining as chef, was super interesting and challenging. I already had an idea of who he was.

This dish is small, made with a bone. We make a stock, set it with an agent, dry it, and then when you fry it, it puffs up like a churro. One mistake turned into something interesting. Sometimes mistakes can lead to experiments. I give enough room to everyone to try new things.

Sometimes it’s hard. I find it difficult to go somewhere and not think about the food. I decompose textures in my mind. Even for casual dining, I’m always thinking about the food. It’s inevitable, probably in every profession. You always think, “Maybe this could be done differently.” But I enjoy it.