Axel Smyth and Claudia Merchán keep winning prizes for the Simpar restaurant in Santiago de Compostela. This Galician couple, also winners of the award for the best ham croquette at Madrid Fusion, won another prize on Wednesday, the most important of the gastronomic summit, becoming the new Revelation Chefs of 2025. They were in almost all the pools. After winning the competition for the best ham croquette last Monday, the possibility of winning two Madrid Fusion awards was on the minds of this unique couple. Chef and pastry chef - she was also nominated for the title of Revelation Pastry Chef - they are at the head of Simpar, a very young project in Santiago de Compostela that has burst onto the Galician and Spanish gastronomic scene.

On the stage of this international summit, they established themselves as talented professionals in the last of the events hosted by the Ifema auditorium. Revelation Chef is one of the most desired titles for new chefs and, as demonstrated in the previous 22 editions, it is a real boost for its winners. The winners of the last edition, also a duo, were Sara Peral and Jorge Muñoz, from the restaurant Osa in Madrid, which achieved a Michelin star just a few months after opening its doors. The list of winners of this competition includes figures of the stature of Dabiz Muñoz, Eneko Atxa, Ricard Camarena and Rodrigo de la Calle. The latest one-two – on that occasion a hat-trick, because as well as the revelation Chef award they won for their croquettes and escabeche – was achieved by the team from Cañitas Maite – now with a Michelin star at Oba – and Cebo, with several restaurant projects between Albacete, Madrid and Ibiza. Smyth and Merchán - who won a few months ago in the VII World tripe cooking championship held in San Sebastián Gastronomika - have won with the secret votes of the jury over the rest of the finalists.

Among them were many other couples at the head of restaurants spread throughout Spain: Beatriz Fernández and Rodrigo Fernández from the Arsa restaurant (Logroño); Rita Llanes and Manu Lachica, from Leartá (Seville); Ausiàs Signes and Felicia Guerra, from Ausiàs (Pedreguer, Alicante); Icíar Pérez Cejas and Juan Carlos Pérez, from Moral (Santa Cruz de Tenerife); and, alone , Lucía Gutiérrez, from Lur (Madrid) and Àngel Esteve Restaurante Sisé (Lleida).

Seasonal cuisine

Axel Smyth and Claudia Merchan opened their restaurant in the summer of 2023, after Auga e Sal closed. That establishment, for which the man from Santiago and his pastry chef earned a Michelin star, closed abruptly in May 2022. Their dream of reaching the Olympus of the red guide lasted only five months. That fleeting passage through the firmament vanished after the owner, Albert Ruiz-Gallardón Utrera — son of the former minister, former president of the Community of Madrid and former mayor of the capital — decided to put an end to the project he founded in 2016. That is now history, because this duo, who have forged their own dream in uniqueness, once again achieved that star in the latest Michelin review, last November in Murcia. Not surprisingly, they decided to call their restaurant Simpar because “it is unique”. It is located in the heart of Santiago de Compostela, in Rúa do Vilar, a few meters from the Plaza de la Catedral. There they produce a cuisine that focuses on seasonal produce. On this basis, they pride themselves on applying only the techniques necessary to enhance its quality and flavor.

At the heart of their cuisine beats a love of tradition that they do not hide and which they enhance with nods to Galician-style fish – the best they find that day at the market –, stews such as their award-winning tripe – which they even prepare to take home – and morsels such as the croquette that won an award at the 23rd edition of Madrid Fusion, which will force them to prepare and fry thousands of them this year.

At the moment they have two tasting menus - 'Conocer', with 11 courses for 85 euros and the possibility of adding an extra course with the tripe for 12 euros more, and 'Simpar', 14 courses for 110 euros. Among the dishes they have this season, the highlights are their scallop from Cambados with Iberian meat sauce, their celtic galo royale with chocolate and truffle or their Santiago cake, which is already famous throughout the city of the apostle.