Highlights
- El Tinto, a restaurant owned by the Spanish Nacho Castells, employs a team of Peruvian, Venezuelan and Colombian chefs.
- Castells survived the COVID-19 lockdowns with the takeout sales model and has now launched a more sophisticated menu in search of a hat.
- Many Melbourne businesses collapsed during the lockdowns, despite government aid.
El Tinto is a Spanish restaurant in the inner Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, which has managed to survive despite the two very harsh COVID-19 lockdowns that were enforced across the city this year.
With the end of the most recent lockdown on October 28, the restaurant has hit the ground running and is booked out for the next four weeks.
Owner and head chef Nacho Castells is not just relieved for getting back to business, he has his eye set on moving to the next level, by attaining the Australian gastronomic sector’s highest accolade.
For restaurants and chefs in Australia, getting a ‘hat’ is the highest honour. Decided by the Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat Awards, to score a hat, a restaurant needs a minimum grade of 15 out of 20, which takes into account several factors like taste, ingredients, presentation, technique and consistency.
"We are looking for at least one hat with this new gastronomic bet," says the Catalan chef, who works alongside a team of Peruvian, Venezuelan and Colombian chefs.
The new menu at El Tinto brings home-made bread, a barramundi that replaces the Suquet that was served before with some Sicilian candied tomatoes and includes a black olive and garlic paste, scarlett prawns with a version of garlic sauce and although not It is clearly Spanish, it also offers a scallop ceviche with corn puree and roasted sweet potato, as a tribute to the restaurant's Peruvian sous chef.
“This menu is going to have a new complexity at the station level and at the time of purchase,” Castells points out, referring to the fact that in addition to seasonal and quality products, fresh and non-frozen products will be served.
His new menu moves away from the typical Spanish fryer and rustic cuisine, which gives him and his team the opportunity to seek elegance and something more sophisticated.
Castells says he feels fortunate to have survived the crisis with the support of his neighbours who came to the restaurant to buy takeout, something his business was not used to.
Chef Nacho Castells and his scallop ceviche. Source: chef Nacho Castells
Source: Chef Nacho Castells
He also praised government aid programs, JobKeeper and JobSeeker, that enabled various businesses to survive.
With these avenues, he was able to achieve income to cover expenses and maintain his staff.
Source: Chef Nacho Castells
“If this had happened in Spain or in Europe, we would have closed months ago,” he says, noting that in his country of origin, a Spaniard without income cannot afford to buy take-out.
