Cambridge Edition November 2020 - Web

FOOD & DR INK

a lot of issues with it – though, the good thing about it is that it’s independently owned and we weren’t dealing with the university. I felt that we could really negotiate the deal: we had time to do it at a personal level,” adds Dani. “Though, the building was falling down. It took us almost two years to get here.” Mark continues: “It was about a year to find it, and a year to sign the contract. It was just the issues with the place when we got it. It was a hard job to find a place in the centre of Cambridge where you could open up an independent restaurant. We held out for the right place, and this wasn’t perfect, but it was available and we thought we could make it work. “We’d rather have more independent restaurants around us: there are a few on the same street as us, but we’d love more - if there’s a bigger food scene, more people will come out.” Mercado Central’s kitchens are now two flights downstairs, in what used to be Lotus Thai’s lower dining room. Here, the once dark space has been transformed into a bustling, bright white kitchen – packed with chefs from Valencia and San Sebastian preparing an exquisite array of produce from throughout Spain. “Everything is completely and utterly prepared from scratch,” Mark says, as the chefs move between stations. “The beef we get – it sounds a bit hipster-boring – but we always know where it came from, when it was killed and what it ate. The fish: on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, we have an ice display with fresh fish caught off the coast of Cornwall. Whatever our suppliers catch, we take, and we always serve the whole fish, prepared really simply, grilled, with lemon, garlic and olive oil. It’s all very much Spanish and British, the best of both.

the very best version of pretty much any foodstuff you can name. “Dani and I first met getting drunk in The Three Horseshoes,” Mark grins, “having been introduced by a mutual friend because we’d both lived in Madrid. We got on really well, then I moved away, but ended up living back here again because Lee, my twin brother, lives here. Dani was the first person I met up with when I got back, and he suggested we look at doing something together.” Dani had always wanted to have a restaurant of his own. “I have a friend who came to England to play football – Gaizka Mendieta, who used to play for Middlesbrough – and he was interested in investing as well,” Dani explains. Along with Mark’s brother Lee, this quartet formed the main team behind the business. But like most new ventures opening in our city, it took a long time to find the right property. “We looked at this building and thought it was interesting, but there were

“We also do anchovies: most people buy them in tins, in olive oil, but what we do is get them from a place called Santoña in Cantabria, where you get the best anchovies in the world. There, they’d salt them in barrels. Now we can’t get the barrels – logistically it’s a bit difficult – but we get them packed in salt. We clean them, desalinate them, and then put the olive oil on them. When people come and you only get a few anchovies, they think it’s expensive for a little plate of food… but in Spain, this would cost you a fortune. They’re a delicacy.” Explaining the value of their food is a real focus for the Mercado Central team. “Our restaurant is all about education,” Mark says. “It’s hard: on a Friday or Saturday night, you can’t talk to everyone, and staff come and go – so trying to train them is difficult – but our business is all about explaining this,” he gestures to the anchovies. “This is what we do.” Their menu is packed with Spanish classics like paella and tortilla – the word tapas is eschewed in favour of sharing plates, emphasising the welcoming feel to a dining experience – and every single aspect of each dish has been carefully

IMAGES The chefs, including culinary talent from Valencia and San Sebastian, prepare authentic Spanish dishes before your eyes

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