Tom Powell
ONE of Spain’s best restaurants and the bearer of two Michelin stars has found a new, but very old home.
Angel Leon’s legendary Aponiente has relocated by less than a kilometre to a beautiful, 17th century mill on the shores of Puerto de Santa Maria, near Cadiz.
The mill sits at the foot of swampland, where the tide gently ebbs and flows, and is now decorated inside with polished shells, sea horses and sculptures of deep-sea creatures.
Andalucia’s wild boy of the kitchen, and known around Spain as ‘the chef of the sea’, Leon has single-handedly revolutionised the eating of fish.
In fact, Aponiente was the only restaurant in Spain to be awarded a Michelin star in 2014.
Leading the drive to sustainable eating, the chef has deliberately eschewed popular – and largely endangered – fish to seek out unfashionable, little-known breeds instead.
