He was born in Coimbra (Portugal) 35 years ago, into a family of professionals with higher education. Nuno Matos studied physics and, once he finished a master’s degree specializing in solid states and condensed matter, he realized that nothing he was doing would have a direct impact on people. He then decided to change the course of his story. He trained at the Estoril Hospitality School, held internships at The Fat Duck (London), at Rodrigo de la Calle in Aranjuez, at Relae (Copenhagen) and at Saturne (Paris), was head chef at Zaranda, within the Son Claret hotel, in Mallorca, and was executive chef at the Six Senses and Aethos hotel chains. For a year he has been directing the culinary offer of the legendary Palace Hotel in Madrid, inaugurated in 1912 and recently renovated, with 470 rooms.
Ask. Do you feel more important in the kitchen?
Answer. Cooking didn’t save anyone’s life. It is an act of hospitality. What I asked myself was what I wanted to do with my life. At my house they cooked very well. The cook was there, they made sausages… It wasn’t adventurous cooking, but there was interest. My mother, who is a lawyer, also cooks well. And my grandfather was part of the World Health Organization.
Q. How did your family react to the fact that you wanted to be a chef?
R. Very bad at first. They wondered what I wanted to do with my life and told me that if I wanted to be a chef it was because it made me happy. I knew I had to train, because no one is born taught, and I have always believed that if you work hard, you can get somewhere. I had the money I inherited from my father and I didn’t have to ask permission. Now like it and my mother came to visit me at the Palace.
Q. Do you feel comfortable in the role of a hotel chef?
R. YES. And if I ever return to a restaurant, I will do so with a great experience. Working in hotels helps with the weight of management and the relationships between departments. You are not an island: you need others. You learn to relate to very different teams. It must be kept in mind that a hotel does not close any day of the week and you must equip yourself with different equipment. Here we consume, for example, 300 kilos of meat per week. We have to anticipate everything. Having the ability to know how to navigate the chaos is important. Being a chef is not just cooking and I think I am much more complete after having lived the hotel experience. However, I don’t want to settle.
Q. What does it mean?
R. That the day I feel comfortable it will be time to change. I don’t want to stagnate, I want to continue gaining knowledge. People believe that if you work in a hotel you are a worse cook. And it’s not true. Being a hotel chef doesn’t mean you’re a bad cook.
Q. You play many styles, cover all meals of the day.
R. In a hotel you have a larger audience. We have guests who come from all over the world, local customers, and we have to please everyone: those who order a Caesar Salad, those who want to enjoy a more formal meal or those who celebrate a banquet. I have just added lamb to the menu whose recipe my paternal grandfather prepared – with a bed of spinach puree, garlic, olive oil and red wine; a shoulder pickled for a day, marinated for 24 hours in white wine, onion, garlic, bay leaves, sweet paprika, thyme, black pepper and cloves; prepared at low temperature and finished in the oven; and covered with a sauce demi-glace of its juices, red wine and port, a black garlic puree, sautéed beets with chestnuts and apples cooked in water, sugar, salt, vinegar and bay leaves, which I think you might like. I don’t cook for my ego, but for others, and what we offer must be liked.
Q. Why are people reluctant to go to hotels to eat?
R. Maybe there isn’t as much visibility and there are more barriers to entry. Maybe people think that the price will be too high or that they will have to be well dressed. In the hotel we eat well and here I am committed to making this happen. We are preparing the Christmas Eve menu and reservations are going very well. We have 160 seats and there are few places left.
Q. What will you prepare for that evening?
R. To begin with, the starters: a poultry consommé, a nice toast with Galician spider crab, Atlantic lobster and foie gras terrine with brioche; sea bass with almond and cauliflower pilpil; and duck breast with chestnut puree and carcass juice with Madeira wine. We finish with a creamy soft nougat from Jijona, raw milk ice cream, chocolate truffle and cherry brandy.
Q. What is your favorite meal of the day?
R. I learned this at the Six Senses chain, where I had my first work experience in a hotel: breakfast is the first impact of the day, the first impression a guest has of the food and drinks department. If the breakfast in the hotel is terrible, I doubt that dinner will be good. A lot of love must be put into breakfasts, but also into banquets, since they represent a very important source of income for a hotel.
Q. Feed lots of people for breakfast.
R. Breakfast isn’t heating things up, it’s cooking. Here we give away up to 700 breakfasts a day. It’s a big responsibility. Dinner is not more important than breakfast and anyone who eats in their room is entitled to quality room service. I want anyone who orders a hamburger in the dining room to eat the best one of their life.
Q. Do many prefer to dine in their room?
R. There are people who, after a day of work, want to have their privacy and have dinner while watching a film. It’s a moment of happiness and you have to eat well. We must care for and serve the experiences of all people. As for me, when I come home, many times I don’t feel like cooking and I order food delivered. It’s a nice time to order a burger and receive it good.
Q. There are hotels that have a clear commitment to Michelin-starred food consultants.
R. It’s a statement. It can attract people and increase the hotel’s reputation, even if that also means raising prices. These are strategies that usually work well. For example, what Quique Dacosta is doing at the Ritz is spectacular.
Q. This year it presents itself in the swimming pools as a candidate for the third Michelin star.
R. Oh really? I hope you understand this. This would be great news for everyone, it has an impact on other businesses too. Each site has its own style.
Q. Do you aspire to enter the Michelin universe?
R. It would be dishonest to say that I wouldn’t like to have it in the future, but I will never be a frustrated cook if I don’t have it. This chain you may want to have. I really appreciate that they chose me and I feel the pressure, but because I’m in a much loved space in the city. This hotel is very Madrid and I want the people of Madrid to come to have tea, to have dinner, to have fun, and for this it is not necessary to have a star. There are many places without stars that are beautiful. It is not the measure of the quality of a restaurant.
I always look at the dishes coming back to the kitchen. It makes me sad when people leave food on their plates because it goes straight into the trash.
Nuno Matos
Q. What would you like to contribute to the Palace?
R. I want it not to be a boring place. A classic place, but not boring, where people eat well, are well served, leave happy and repeat themselves. It’s what I aspire to. I’m not looking for signature cuisine, but I want it to have my influence and reflect what I’ve learned in the places I’ve been and in my country. That there is an international cuisine that uses Iberian products. At the Palace we make a potato omelette, yes, with onion.
Q. Where did you learn to do this?
R. It’s a curious story: I did the internship with Rodrigo de la Calle, when I was in Aranjuez, and he told me that he wouldn’t approve me if I didn’t make the tortilla the way he liked it. I took it seriously and made many until I could make it with the level of juiciness he wanted.
Q. Do you want to have your own restaurant?
R. In the future I would like to have it. Every cook wants it, but I won’t be frustrated if I don’t have it. What I would like is for it to be a responsible restaurant, where food is not thrown away. It’s a lack of respect towards those who prepare it.
Q. Do you throw away a lot of food in a hotel?
R. Unfortunately yes. For food security we cannot benefit from what people do not serve. I always look at the dishes coming back to the kitchen. It makes me sad when people leave food on their plates because it goes straight into the trash. If what you do is give pleasure with food, it leaves you quite sad. It’s like I wrote a book and no one read it.
