Interview with Javier de Bordons, Farala´s chef

I’ve been cooking since I was a child. He tells us. My parents wanted me to study cooking, but I’ve always liked to cook for myself and cook for my people. I never saw it as something to dedicate myself to. When I turned 26 (Now he is 34), I decided to start studying cooking. Go figure. 26 years old, a mortgage, two children and working. I prepared the free tests and I examined myself at the IEFP Hurtado de Mendoza. I became cooker oficially at 28. It could be said that I am passionate cooker of late profession, I had to leave my job in a commercial multinational to dedicate myself body and soul to this. After much effort, sacrifice and perseverance we have managed to reach this point, nobody has given me anything.

I started to do my practices in the Saffron with David Reyes and Chechu González. I was with them for 6 months and then I started moving. I was in El Claustro, with Juan Andrés Morilla, as head of fish parties. From there I went to Azurmendi, with Eneko Atxa, then I was in Alejandro de Roquetas, as head of cold and practically second cook. After this period I left, I was in Geneva for a while and then I went to Barcelona. There I was in the Espai Kru and in the Ría de Galicia and later I started working in La Cabra with Javier Aranda, with a michelin star.

I am a lover of my land. I was growing up as a cook and there came a point when I decided to go back to where I really brelong. So we came back to Granada. Once here I started working as a second for Javier Feixas in San Nicolás. And there I continued until the project of Faralā arrived.

We have opted to do something different, creative, up to the quality of the show. Behind all this concept, Faralā and Casa del Arte Flamenco, there is a whole philosophy of great projections. The very concept of Faralā is decomposed in two ideas. On the one hand there is Faralā, the concept as it whole is based on Granada, in all its latitudes and spaces. It has a lot to do with craftsmanship. The role of the craftsman is present in Faralā, from the design of the crockery and dishes, handmade, playing with materials such as wood, marble and stone, to food. It seeks to be an experience for the five senses.

We look for the client to feel unique, special and for that we have to offer something completely different to what there is.

On the other hand we have the menu designed for the Flamenco show. It is a fun, different offer. The basis of this menu is Granada, but it contains a bit of everywhere, each dish is unique and proposes a trip to a different place. I really like to experiment. French dishes, molecular cuisine… I like to cook thinking about representing landscapes, different places with each dish. Each dish has his own art and none has waste. There is a bridge between flamenco and the gastronomic offer that we propose. That manifests itself in art and passion. It is these two words, art and passion, these two adjectives, those that unite flamenco with gastronomy.

The customers that come, leave very satisfied. The menu is exceeding all expectations. People come and realize that it is something very different from what is there, everything is taken care of and designed for enjoyment. We invite both visitors and locals to come, without thinking twice. It is a quiet, relaxing and totally recommendable experience.

As a kitchen, I am undoubtedly left with the grenadine, a garlic-oil-parsley is a very old, traditional base, but it works wonderfull in many things.