Paulo Airaudo: Smaller, pricier and busier than ever at Amelia

With his experience and knowledge at the sharp end of fine dining, Paulo Airaudo made a conscious decision with his restaurant Amelia to focus on cornering the luxury market of iconic food city San Sebastián.

And it has worked, holding two Michelin stars for more than four years and, following its recent relocation and downsizing, demand for bookings has grown even more.

“Restaurants are becoming a bit like jewellery now - you choose to go and visit a place,” he explained.

“Making it smaller makes it harder to book, and that's the important part - it creates a desire.”

Paulo, born in Argentina to Italian parents, built his career across the world, working through kitchens in Mexico and Peru before arriving in Europe, where formative stints included Arzak in San Sebastián, The Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal's three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, and Magnolia in Italy.

In 2015 he opened his first restaurant, La Bottega, in Geneva, which won a Michelin star within a few months of opening. Amelia, named after his daughter, was launched in 2017 and the Paulo Airaudo Group now has a portfolio of 10 restaurants across four countries.

“I was born in Argentina, I come from an Italian family, and I cook in the Basque Country, in San Sebastián, one of the most iconic cities in the world,” Paulo said.

“We bring a small piece of Japan here too, which is the precision and the obsession over how we do things.

“Amelia is all of that: an Italian-soul restaurant with a Japanese accent, and the best ingredients we can get from the Basque Country.”

Further explaining what Amelia offers, Paulo explained: "Amelia is a place where you eat very well. We do something which has not too many words to describe it - we buy the best for all our guests. That's exactly what we want to drive: the journey.

"Amelia turns 10 next year, which is a lot of time when you look back. How I'd describe it is: we make Italian food with a Japanese accent. I think we found something really in common between Italian food and Japanese, in the way you build the menu, the way you treat the ingredients and the seasons.

“That's something really important, and it's what we put on our plates.

"It's more similar than people think, honestly. Italian food is based on the seasons - what you get, and when. Japanese food and culture is very similar about that. It's about the craftsmanship."

Paulo Airaudo's 'Italian omakase'

Paulo’s offering is ‘Italian omakase’, where there is no printed menu and guests opt for a ‘seasonal menu’, priced at over £300 per person.

“We are like an expensive bag in a shop,” Paulo said.

“To turn Amelia into a profitable business, we realised now is not the moment to build big restaurants, for many reasons – investment, staff, fixed costs etcetera.

“The future for me, in my opinion, was making something unique, smaller, more expensive for sure, but for those who want to come and visit us, we are ready.

“In my vision of what's going on in the restaurant industry, I think smaller restaurants are the best way to survive and succeed.

“Being smaller, we need to optimise, so we created the counter, and we decided not to have a printed menu - so we're free to change things when the product changes.

“That's the freedom omakase gives you - it's a form of blind menu. This has existed in France for a long time, they call it carte blanche. We're not inventing anything, we've just chosen the name, and that's led us to this.”

He added: “Given the economic situation generally, being smaller is more functional today - it makes things easier in some ways, and the restaurant is fully booked every day.

“We're not cheap, it's an expensive restaurant, but in terms of the business, it's a lot easier to find 20 people to spend €600 than 100 people to spend €150. That's the reality of how luxury works. That's our niche, and that's where we're going.

"We make everything fresh, every single day, for our guests - we cook for the people who've booked, no more, no less. We don't have margin for error, so that's tough, and that's probably the pressure.

"Getting a second Michelin star changed the business side. Once you get one star, you are in a book. When you get a second star, you get a slightly bigger pin and you're near the top of the list, for people following the book.

"For us, the pressure is exactly the same as when we opened.

“It's not about stars or no stars - we need to give the best and cook the best for every single guest, every day. That's the pressure, because it's only one chance - we have one chance to give the meal of their life to a person. I think that’s the pressure.

“Who doesn’t want a third star? It's obviously the biggest reward we can get for all the hours and all the work, but I don't know what I need to cook to get three stars.

“So what we do is what we do every day, but better than yesterday, and we keep pushing."

San Sebastián: "Everyone is special in their own way"

As Paulo mentioned, San Sebastián is considered a culinary hotspot. But the chef sees that more as an opportunity than a barrier to stand out.

"We're in the Basque Country and the approach to food here is very important,” he said.

“It is a style of life, a big part of your life - the bars, the pintxos.

“I always say I chose the right place when I moved here to open Amelia, because you don't open somewhere where there's nothing - you should open where there's plenty already.

“It's a lot easier for the business, because more people are coming. It is a different approach, because normally people say about the competition, but it is not competition when what you do is different - everyone is special in their own way."

The discipline that built Paulo Airaudo's career

The foundation of Paulo’s success has been built on what he learnt early in his career.

“I still remember, from that short period of time I spent at The Fat Duck, that what I learned was discipline and organisation,” he said.

“That's ultimately what we teach in our restaurant now. I always say, I don't teach you to cook, I teach you discipline and organisation. I teach you how you need to work and develop as a chef.

“The palate, you either have it or you don't. Then I can teach you some recipes, but that's not really the point.

"I remember The Fat Duck was that, the discipline of the place, and how important that was.”

He continued: “Arzak is an eminence of food, a unique place you can't replicate. Another one cannot exist.”

And Paulo feels there is no substitute for hard work.

"Excellence is made by hours,” he insisted.

“It doesn't matter what you do - if you want to be a great painter, make clothes, you’re a great architect or lawyer, whatever, that's hours and hours of training your skills and making them better.

“Everything is about long hours, long days. The great chefs of the past were built on hours, and they passed that on to us, and I think we need to keep transmitting like this. “You can't make a great sauce in 20 minutes - it takes time. That's what people are paying for: the guest is paying for the best, and they want and appreciate the best.

"Everybody is free to choose and do whatever they want, but not in my house. In my house, I'm the owner.

“Believe in what you're doing, believe in your dreams, dream so big that people think you're crazy. That's the only way - but to build your dreams, you need to work hard.”