Acclaimed Basque chef Martin Berasategui inaugurated the brand new Fifty Seconds restaurant on Tuesday this week. He heads up a team of 22 culinary professionals, rallied by prominent Portuguese professionals.
The restaurant takes its name from the amount of time it takes for the lift to ascend the 120 metres from the ground floor of the building, which houses the five-star Myriad by Sana hotel, to the top-floor restaurant.
Berasategui, 58, who hails from San Sebastian in the Basque Country, has the greatest number of Michelin stars of all Spanish chefs, having attained his first star at the age of 25 with his eponymous restaurant in Lasarte-Oria.
He currently counts two, three-Michelin-star restaurants (the Martin Berasategui and the Lasarte, in Barcelona) as well as a two-star restaurant, the Ritz-Carlton, in Tenerife, among his feats, along with a string of awards and accolades, including the Grand Prix of the Art of Cooking, in 1997.
By 2019, the Basque chef plans to open two restaurants in Madrid, one of them at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, thus adding 17 units to his management around the world.
A slew of acclaimed Portuguese professionals form the backbone of the Fifty Seconds team, among them executive chef Filipe Carvalho, whose career has taken him through some of the most creative kitchens in Portugal, including the Fortaleza do Guincho and Vila Joya, in the Algarve, and pastry chef Maria João Gonçalves, who has also worked at Vila Joya and the Fortaleza do Guincho.
Head waiter is Inácio Loureiro, an acclaimed Portuguese sommelier who worked at the Fortaleza do Guincho for a decade, while the wine list is the responsibility of Marc Pinto.
“It’s an ambitious project that puts us on the international restaurant map and we have chef Martin Berasategui, the chef with the most Michelin stars in Spain, in Portugal.
“It is the perfect setting, a panoramic kitchen and unique experience with one of the greatest haute cuisine Chefs in the world”, said Pedro Miguel Ramos, Brand Manager of the SANA group.
The tasting menu at the 35-seat Fifty Seconds comprises seven dishes and costs €120. Fifty Seconds is open for lunch and dinner, Tuesday to Saturday.