Manzanos returns home with three Michelin stars: “This will not change us”

“We are very happy. Making history. It’s a personal thing, but we also love it for our region. I always say that Asturias deserves quality tourism and I think this is a magnet for it. We have a very beautiful geography and we need it. Sister Esther Manzano It’s nice tourism,” said Nacho Manzano, who had just landed at the airport with his nephew Chus Sánchez Manzano. The three of them gathered stars at a gala in Murcia on Tuesday night in front of an audience that included 15 other chefs who, like them, hold the highest distinction in Spain, and the audience stood up and spent several minutes applauding them intensely and enthusiastically. : “We believe that we are appreciated and this is very important. It was such a great moment to see all our colleagues there, all this talent, and to feel respected by the entire industry. “Exciting.”

However, the Manzanos make it clear that: your feet are well positioned on the ground. “After all, this is still the recognition of a gastronomic guide. The world does not end here,” says Nacho, but he admits that this is no ordinary publication, it has been Michelin for over a hundred years and is a kind of bible. Good food lovers from half the world. “It has prestige, it is independent, it has criteriaSometimes we are not all happy, but that is their criterion. Michelin is meticulousness and seriousness, no one can deny that. And it’s important that they put you up there in the sky.”

Differences in the family are not new. Nacho and Esther opened Casa Marcial in 1993, its first Michelin star arrived in 1999 (for the 2000 guide); the second would do so in 2010This made the restaurant the first to achieve this recognition. Esther also became the first woman to achieve the coveted star in Asturias for La Salgar restaurant, which she ran in Gijón until the pandemic and the restaurant has now reopened its doors. Nacho wins the National Gastronomy Award in 2021One of the highest distinctions in the industry in Spain.

“They won’t change our lives”

They are clear that three stars at Casa Marcial “will not change our lives.” He didn’t replace us with one, he didn’t replace us with two, and he won’t replace us with three.. We are neither more nor less, we must be aware of what we represent.” So now Chus Sánchez Manzano knows what he has to do: “Okay, start cooking. “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about, the cooking.”

But that doesn’t mean they won’t celebrate it at La Salgar with their entire team and, of course, Marcial and Olga, Nacho’s parents, Esther, Sandra – the room manager – and Olga – the offices – and Chus’ grandparents. . The head of the family started to cryEsther explained when she learned that she had entered the most exclusive culinary Olympus thanks to the children of the modest bar and restaurant from which she and her husband earned a living to raise their children in a remote Asturian village. “I was so excited,” Sandra told us over the phone. He and my mom are older, you gotta understand that. “The truth is, when we set off, thanks to both of them, we found that we were already a little bit finished,” explains Esther. “When we set off for Murcia, he said to us: Hey, you’re coming with the third one now, aren’t you?”

And this time they came. The first three Michelin stars awarded to an Asturian restaurant belong to all Manzanos. “It was very difficult, it was not clear, people congratulated us, what if there were pools…”

Yes it came out and Asturia’s gastronomic sky is now much brighter.