The complexity of simplicity

With tattoos on his arms, three Harley Davidson motorcycles (all single-seaters) and a rock-star demeanour, it’s hard to believe Sergi Arola is a chef. It’s even tougher to believe that he doesn’t like exhibitionism. At a time when showbiz chefs clamour for attention, this Spanish chef with two Michelin stars claims he believes in keeping things simple. “I don’t need to show off,” he says.

Behind the scenes, however, a lot of thought and hard work can go into what seems in the end to be a simple dish. Take for instance the Patatas Bravas, signature dish at Sergi’s Arola Restaurant and Bar at the JW Marriott Hotel in Mumbai: Fried potatoes with a salsa sauce topped with a sour cream mayonnaise. It sounds simple enough, but not the way Sergi prepares it. The potato is cut into a cylinder and the centre scooped out. The salsa sauce is put into the hollow and topped with the mayonnaise. “Cutting the potatoes in hollow cylinders ensures that they get fried evenly all around,” explains Sergi.

Sergi finds subtle ways to change a dish just enough to bring out new flavours, but not so much that the dish changes in its basic character. This can involve months of thinking and planning, hit and trial, but he doesn’t like to make a big deal out of it. “I could say that I got my expertise while travelling around the Pyrenees, but that’s not true. I could also sign a cooking TV show deal like Jamie Oliver, but that will be fake too. What I do is inspired by traditional, classical recipes. Some innovations I make are in cooking techniques, and sometimes its more philosophical than that,” he says. 

After some persuasion, he elaborates on how he came up with a different way to prepare his favourite dish: sardines and bread rubbed with tomatoes. “I went out with my friends on motorbikes and arrived at a bar. We ordered sardines with bread and tomatoes, along with our drinks. When I got home, I thought about what it takes to achieve that taste in a different form. I tried various ways of putting the ingredients together, and kept failing to find what I had in mind. Until I got it right,” he says.

His version of the dish is tomato wrapped in sardines, topped with a cracker-thin slice of bread and served in a pool of olive oil. Same ingredients, but the difference between the two dishes, he says, is like the difference between football and cricket: The classic version uses roasted sardines, frozen tomato, whole bread and it’s mixed in olive oil. “My version is with marinated sardines, cubes of tomatoes, raw olive oil and thin slices of bread,” he says. Not only does it look better than the original, but the taste is much richer too. The sardines and tomato blend better, complimented by the thin, crunchy slice of bread and enhanced with a smooth coat of olive oil.

Most diners at Sergi’s restaurants would think they can make his dishes at home, but they’re not really as easy as that to prepare. “I like the fact that customers think they can make this. The simplicity of the food is why people keep coming back for more. But not every dish can be made at home,” he says. “I can’t really explain how I innovate. The process is actually quite long and involves a lot of trial and error. And then suddenly, one idea clicks. But then, that’s what makes me a professional,” he adds.

For someone who wanted to be a professional rock-star, not a chef, Sergi seems to have come a long way, running five restaurants on three continents. “Really, I don’t know why I became a cook rather than a musician. I could tell you that I was playing in a band when I noticed that one flamenco guitarist was strumming a Jimi Hendrix number and I realised that I’d never be able to play like this, so I chose to make a career out of my culinary talents instead. But that would be fake,” he says.

Honesty is what Sergi cares about the most. He doesn’t like pretending to be “cool”, he says. This is also the philosophy that guides his cooking.

As for his Michelin stars, he believes that they shouldn’t define him as a chef or change the way he approaches food. “The stars are a result of opportunities that I’ve had. But that doesn’t make my food better than the food cooked by the guy on the street,” he says.