This week chef Iván Valera celebrated the 10th anniversary of his renowned Ivantxu Espacio Bistronómico and I was invited to the party. Normally I don’t go to evening events, especially food related ones, because they always start late and frankly I don’t want to eat at 10.00 pm. BUT… this was Iván and so I really wanted to go. It’s weird to think that I only met Iván just over a year ago, when Reyes Morales and I went to check out recently opened Augurio. I saw him come in and sit down at the far end of the restaurant, clearly waiting for a friend. I recognised him from Instagram. Later on, after a couple of wines or three, I felt emboldened enough to not only go and introduce myself but also shamelessly ask if I could take a photo of what they were eating. Poor Carmen (co-owner of Augurio) was aghast as he was clearly a VIP client but Iván looked up and said “I KNOW WHO YOU ARE”… and we’ve been friends ever since.

Turned out that he was just about to open his new La Carmela restaurant, adjacent to Ivantxu, so Reyes and I went to try it in July and… everything was fabulous. It really was. Plus the space was fun and brightly decorated and we got to sit in front of the open kitchen. A couple of months later we finally tried Ivantxu, which I had never been to because (stupidly on my part) the name “Espacio Bistronómico” had put me off. I thought it would be yet another over-priced uninspired gastrobar, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s safe to say that Iván is one of the best chefs in the city.

Anyhow, back to the party. The place was packed but I was able to score a table away from the crowd (one of the few perks of being on crutches). In fact, it was my favourite table, in front of the open kitchen. So I got to watch Iván and his team meticulously prepping all the delicious bites we were served and towards the end of the evening I realised he wasn’t even able to enjoy his own party. But he was happy with the turnout and I got to meet his wife and see a few old friends… really glad I went.