To get to the Benasque valley you have to cross the gorge that winds through the Aragonese Pyrenees, making that from Graus to the Eriste reservoir. Its peaks and ski slopes are the reason for many to enter these curves. Others, from now on, will climb the stairs of the discreet restaurant that is located on the main street of Anciles and try their dish of hanging cabbages.
Ansils has been feeding meals for almost 40 years. Pilarín Ferrer opened in 1984 the doors of the restaurant that today run, hand in hand, his two grandchildren, Iris and Bruno Jordán. The brothers, after leaving the village, studying and working abroad – Iris went to school in Nakeima and Lakasa, and her brother, after going through photography and editorial editing, focused on the world of wine and the dining room – decided to return home and work together on a project of their own.
More informationGranja Elena, the food house that has revolutionized an industrial estate in Barcelona
For a couple of years, several generations coexisted in the family business, until the summer of 2022, when after the retirement of their grandmother, Bruno and Iris remained in charge. They wanted to do something different, closer to their own values, closer to the earth, but to get there you had to break with what was being done so far.
Facade of the Ansils restaurant in Anciles, Huesca.Bruno Jordán
"When we arrived I was 24 years old and we started fooling around. It was a lot of fun and enriching for me and my grandmother. At first she would short-circuit: "How do you spend so much gas on making a demi-glace?—. She was also discovering a new kitchen. Until now he made his stews, as he knew and could, so that exchange did us all very good." The transition had to be made little by little, since the client was very accustomed to the usual – grill, beef and some simple stew. They were proposing dishes off the menu, then Iris proposed a tasting menu, and so little by little the menu was transformed. "When my grandmother retired, we closed two months in winter to think about the final proposal and the idea we wanted to present."
Today Ansils is a regression to the cuisine of the valley, which existed before beef and the boom of snow tourism. A proposal based on the cuisine of yesteryear, which subsisted thanks to a rich garden in summer, but very poor in winter and that had to endure based on preserving food and looking for sustenance in what was in the mountain.
As a result of a search work, Bruno tells the beauty of this process: "We do a constant job of talking to the elderly people of the town, gradually extracting those memories and those flavors. Go out into the field, look at the ground, collect, test, learn from the passing of the seasons..." Ansils' letter talks about the landscape around him, but also about his history and cultural context. Its "local cuisine" has memory and collects the techniques and dishes used in the area, giving them a value not always evident.
Pigeon breast from Ansils restaurant, in Huesca.Bruno Jordán
The fresh product is not common in the area, beyond the game and the vegetables provided by the garden in summer. That is why among its dishes there are different preserves: cured fish, salted meats, pickles, legumes and stews, pickles ... With a very updated look, young and careful. "Take what was there, understand it, respect it and then evolve all that," Bruno says. "We are learning every day from the trees and edible plants in the area." Many of these products are ephemeral and have managed to extend them throughout the year with fermented flowers, elderberry or currant wines or meads with herbs from the valley.
Whoever goes to eat at Ansils will find different dishes that come and go according to the time of year. From my last visit I remember some that exemplify very well the solidity of your proposal. The salad of candied artichokes and pickled boar tongue, the honeyed Farsiu rabbit rice —The Farsiu rabbit is a typical preparation of the area that consists of filling it with a farce of its livers, meat, bread and egg. In this case, the rabbit rice is accompanied by a "chop" made with the round of its interiors—or the cabbages hung with romescu and grilled sardines, a version of the hanging trumfes, potatoes that were made with peppers and sardines leaving them overnight on the grill. Kimchis and assorted pickles are common in all their dishes. "Taking advantage of everything is not a value proposition, simply our way of working. We make kimchi from everything left over. We are always thinking of a way to cook all the products in their entirety." The whole foundation does not mask the most important thing: whatever you ask, it is good, tasty, with careful technique and elegant intention.
The wine offer is no less interesting, although finding wineries doing different things is not easy in Aragon. Bruno insists on looking for smaller wineries, with philosophy, with history, with more careful things. "Small projects, very intimate, that are more unique and that match the type of cuisine we do."
Bruno and Iris Jordán at the door of their orchard in Anciles, Huesca.Bruno Jordán
The work has not only been internal, but they have also had to convince the external client of the value of their proposal. "It's not being easy. The tourist comes to the usual, to ask for an entrecôte and a tomato salad, even if it is February. When they arrive they find something totally different there are two types of reactions: there are those who get up after taking a look at the letter and those who sit down, let themselves be advised and return the next day. " Locating in a tourist site is what you have. People come and want to eat the typical thing. Ansils is the perfect example to talk about how the perception of "typical" created by tourism often does not correspond to the food really typical of the place.
Little by little, Iris and Bruno have carved out their niche in the Benasque Valley. Not by molding the space to enter it, but by adapting to its shape and fitting perfectly into its contour. It excites when a restaurant is what it is thanks to the people who make it up and Ansils transmits that transparency because the way of life of its team is based on those values. "There is no other way to do things. What you are on the street, when you get to your club, you do it the same."
The tasting menu consists of fourteen passes, which change as the seasons pass, and is priced at 80 euros without drink included. The prices of the menu are around 20 euros, with the average ticket of 40 and 50 euros.
Detail of the room of the restaurant Ansils, in Anciles (Huesca). Bruno Jordan
Ansils
- Address: General Ferraz Street, number 6. Casa Sastre, Anciles, Huesca
- Telephone: 974 55 11 50
- Timetable: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday meals only. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, lunch and dinner. July and August, Monday to Sunday, lunch and dinner (closed on Tuesdays).
Website: restauranteansils.com