Winners’ dinners

Home

Winners’ dinners

Westbury-on-Trym’s Casamia is the best restaurant in the country according to Gordon Ramsay – and Tony Benjamin isn’t going to argue.

It’s just after 10am and Peter Sanchez-Iglesias looks fazed: “It’s been a bit surreal,” he explains. Brother Jonray agrees. “It was like living it again – quite nerve-racking, really.” It’s the morning after, and as far as the rest of the world is concerned, last night was when their restaurant Casamia won the finals of Gordon Ramsay’s Best Restaurant on Channel 4. There’s been five weeks of enforced secrecy since the programme was filmed so it’s a relief for the brothers that the news is out. Naturally there’s been a party and champagne was definitely involved but they’ve already been up since the early hours clearing up the mess. Now they’re thinking about preparing for their evening’s work, with only a little less than their usual ebullient energy.

Their matter-of-fact reception of what is undoubtedly a fantastic achievement would almost be arrogant if it so obviously wasn’t. It’s not as though they haven’t every right to be arrogant, anyway. These two self-taught chefs took the neighbourhood trattoria set-up in Westbury-on-Trym by parents Paco and Susan and used it to launch their own cuisine, a kind of ‘classic Italian by way of England with a touch of Heston Blumenthal’. With their radical imagination, meticulous skill and a flair for the dramatic, it soon became evident that this was no ordinary eaterie and national recognition was soon to follow. Two years ago Casamia received a first Michelin star, becoming the only restaurant in Bristol to earn that accolade, this year they got three AA rosettes and now the aforementioned potty-mouthed superchef has named it the best restaurant in the country. And the brothers are still only 26 and 27 years old.

What they do have is confidence by the bucketload, as viewers will have seen in that final programme. Up against the clock they nevertheless decided to go with a mushroom risotto made from tiny, hand-cut diced potato instead of rice. Unhappy with their panacotta desserts they simply melted them down and started again. Small wonder that Gordon was moved to declare (with typical lyricism) that “you fucking two do my fucking head in, swear to god!” Having tasted both dishes, however, he also dubbed them “culinary alchemists from Bristol” and went on to give them the prize.

“That business with the potato,” Peter explains, “People thought we were mad – it’s a typical Italian dish but nobody’d thought of that idea. We thought we’d be different. We seem to have an eye for it – we see things other people don’t notice. We set our standards high, but that’s for ourselves, really.” And they certainly do set their sights high, having quite publicly said they’re aiming for three-star Michelin status – an accolade Mr Ramsay is one of the few British chefs ever to have achieved. According to Jonray, the man was pretty encouraging on that score, too. “He said our cooking at Petrus (Ramsay’s London restaurant and base for the competition final) was three-star standard, and he made it clear that we’re not that far from two-stars here in Casamia.” “It’s going to take years,” Peter adds, “but if we can get this restaurant to capture what’s in our minds it can definitely be a three-star place. You’ve got to know what you want or you won’t get it, will you?”

Such ambition is admirable and no doubt the key to the amazing success they’ve already had, but more surprising is their realism about the implications. Jonray: “You need to keep your head, though – stars don’t necessarily lead to customers and you could go bust trying to achieve them. The exposure from this programme will be better for business than any stars, but you really need to be in catering for the passion, not to make your first million. Hopefully we’ll inspire other young people to think ‘well, if these guys can do it without spending a fortune…’”

Crucial to the whole story has been the support of their parents and the trust they showed in handing over the family business to sons barely out of their teens and full of weird ideas. One of the TV programme’s big hanky moments was a touching speech from Jonray acknowledging this, and Peter recalls how the local response in Westbury was less than favourable at first: “People said we were stupid – old ladies were giving us stick ‘You’ve ruined that restaurant!’ They didn’t understand why we painted out the sign but we were sick of people coming in thinking we were a standard Italian place, asking for lasagne and then walking off in disgust. Now it’s like a secret garden, people who know us know it’s Italian but on our terms. The thing is – if you go to three-star places in Rome or Milan they’re doing wild stuff there. You think ‘that’s not Italian’ but of course it is, it’s just new as well.”

At this point there’s a delivery to deal with, and then the phone rings. Whatever fun was had the night before, there’s obviously a restaurant to run today and the boys are ready for that. As Venue gets up to leave Peter shakes his head slightly: “Well, I suppose we have achieved a lot so far.” He pauses and grins. “But what’s in our heads – now that will be really amazing!”