Ángel León—
Serving the Sea

Maison Ë Señor León, where does your fascination with the sea come from? Or would you rather call it an obsession?

Ángel León It’s not fascination, it’s a necessity. I always say that I didn’t choose the sea; the sea chose me. That curiosity was born in my childhood when I used to go sailing with my father. Over time, it became an obsession, yes, but a beautiful one: The desire to discover, to respect, and to show that the sea has much more to offer than we realize.

M.Ë Was there a turning point that led you to cook only with fish—and to reject commercial varieties entirely?

Á.L. I had reached a point when I realized I had to stay true to what I really wanted to do: A restaurant serving only products from the sea—especially the ones that were of little value to the world and therefore thrown back into the ocean, a huge waste. The early days were difficult, it was years of swimming against the tide.

M.Ë How did people react in 2007 when you opened your first restaurant? Is it true that you weren’t making any money at first?

Á.L. The tax advisor and accountant told us to shut up shop. We were losing money every day and people didn’t understand a thing. They would ask me: “Why are you serving me this when there are sea bass and prawns?” Customers would come in, look at the menu, and leave. We tried our best to explain our ideas to them, to defend our concept with plenty of arguments. But it took time, patience, and effort for us to be understood. Back then, nobody was talking about sustainability, or about making the most of what others didn’t want or looked down upon, simply because it wasn’t fashionable.

M.Ë Your now famous seafood sausages marked a turning point. How did they come about?

Á.L. The sausages ironically changed everything. People tend to mistrust the sea because it is the unknown; everything from the land has been tried and tested. And just as we make use of every part of the pig, we turned our attention to the sea, driven by the need to do something with the offcuts. That is how the idea of developing seafood sausages was born, it was a project that has evolved just like Aponiente. We started with a couple of products, then diversified, also making use of fish from the estuaries. Today, we even have “ham from the sea,” which we developed using the tuna bellies from the Almadraba de Petaca Chico.

M.Ë For the non-Spanish speaker: What does the name Aponiente mean?

Á.L. It refers to the restaurant’s location in Puerto de Santa Maria, to the west. Poniente is traditionally the cardinal point west, and gives its name to the wind that blows from the west. This direction is symbolically shown on the left of the compass rose.

M.Ë Many talk about overfishing; you say the sea is the solution. In what way?

Á.L. The real problem is that we are a selective species. We are used to selecting fish from the sea, rather than accepting them all. We must learn that we cannot continue to be selective, but must start accepting all fish as food for humans. This is the great paradigm shift: if you want a kilo of monkfish, you have to take into account three kilos of other fish that come with the monkfish and which are not sold. We are not aware of the huge ecological cost of our selection.

M.Ë When did you realize that the sea can provide the entire food pyramid?

Á.L. When we stopped focusing solely on fish. When you look at seaweed, phytoplankton, marine plants, that’s when it clicks that there are proteins, carbohydrates, fats, everything. That was the real “aha” moment.

M.Ë You also serve ‘live salt’—the way it melts and actually cooks a fish on the table seems like magic. How does it work?

Á.L. It’s a mixture of four salts. When mixed, sodium chloride (common salt), potassium chloride (sodium-free), calcium salt, and sodium acetate (vinegar salt) create an exothermic reaction that generates intense heat without a direct heat source.

M.Ë Fittingly you call your staff “the crew.” How many people in total work at Aponiente?

Á.L. There are over 65 of us across the kitchen, front of house, cleaning, admin, bookings, reception, and Research & Development—not many restaurants have biologists on staff.

M.Ë You have gained three Michelin stars in recent years. Pride or pressure?

Á.L. Above all, great satisfaction from the constant hard work of a team that is also passionate about this project. The pressure comes from the pursuit of excellence, but we take pleasure in a job well done.

M.Ë You worked for months on the new menu that was introduced in March. Can you tell us what to expect?

Á.L. I am very happy and satisfied with the work carried out alongside my head chef Alan Iglesias and the entire kitchen team. This year, the first part of the menu is cooked and served directly in the marshlands, featuring freshly caught produce from our estuary: crabs, sea bass, gilt-head seabream, prawns. They are the true stars of that first course.

The second part continues in the dining room, where it concludes with desserts and our “souk trolley” featuring petit fours that pay homage to the “Andalusia Across the Sea”—Morocco. The experience in the salt marsh is designed as a time dedicated to observing and listening. We seek not only to teach, but to facilitate and understand. To feel the mud, the scent of the brackish water, the sounds of the creatures that inhabit Aponiente’s natural environment: it is an experience that transforms one’s perception even before the dish arrives. The entire trip lasts approximately three hours and is subject to weather conditions such as light and tide levels, which form part of the concept itself.

The marshland cannot be tamed, and that is what makes it so beautiful. For many years, I was obsessed with getting the world to see the sea in a different light. I wanted us to listen to the species that had no name, to taste the flavors that the market had decided to erase.

M.Ë So guests really sit and eat outside in the salt marsh?

Á.L. I have always said that we must look at nature with a hunger for it. This season, with the new Aponiente, our diners are immersed in it. In this new phase, Aponiente stops observing nature from the outside and instead immerses itself in it, alongside the diner.

The project is evolving into a concept where territory, science, the natural cycle of time, and gastronomy intertwine in a single language. This aesthetic and conceptual shift is not isolated; it is the logical consequence of a progression over the years, during which we have been thinking about how to reconcile human beings with the origins of food and with the natural cycles that sustain life. The salt flat is an incredible, edible ecosystem.

M.Ë How do you work with your on-staff biologists? Do you set them tasks?

Á.L. We work together. I ask questions like: “Can this be eaten?” or “Can this be cultivated?” and then they start investigating. The research and development work in our kitchen is very multidisciplinary; we feed off each other’s ideas.

M.Ë Tell us about the “sea cereal” that you invented together.

Á.L. “Sea cereal” is the seed of Zostera marina, a marine flowering plant (a higher plant, not seaweed). It’s a grain that can be grown in salt water, and that is rich in protein, fiber, and Omega-3 and 6, with a salty flavor and a firm texture, similar to rice or quinoa. It has amazing potential.

M.Ë You say you’ve never eaten bad fish but many children turn their noses up at it after being fed fish in the school canteen.

Á.L. The problem isn’t the fish, it’s how it’s prepared. If you give a child a well-prepared dish, it makes all the difference. Everything is processed these days; I always thought it would help taking children to the market so they can see the whole fish, know its origin. But sadly, at many market stalls, there are only fillets of fish now.

M.Ë You also grow vegetables using salt water.

Á.L. We grow halophytic plants—plant species capable of growing and thriving in soil or water with high salt concentrations, such as in our salt marshes. This includes glasswort, purslane, and sea fennel, and we incorporate them into various dishes on the menu.

M.Ë One last question: You have a turtle tattoo on your left arm and another one that looks like… an eel? What do they mean?

Á.L. The turtle represents the journey, patience, the sea as home. And the other one is the Zostera marina. It is a symbol that there are still things to discover. It is hope. My hope.