The dream of Lanzarote comes to life in Almansa

There are projects that are born from success and projects that are born from the soul.. Icon, the school restaurant that Luis Benito just opened in Almansa, clearly belongs to the second category. And it shows in every detail, from the first greeting to the last bite.

I came from Madrid taking advantage of the Gourmets Hall, that annual event that turns the capital into a map of the best Spanish product. But I was very clear about taking the leap before leaving Lanzarote.: I wanted to get to know the project up close. Luis Benito has been lifting, with effort and dedication, for a long time now. Why Icon It's not just a new restaurant.. It is the landing on dry land of someone who has been building his name for years with the Atlantic trade winds., salt from Lanzarote and a lot of perseverance.

The man behind the project

Luis Benito is the owner of Chiringuito Tropical, that corner south of Lanzarote that so many travelers have turned into a destination in itself. Someone who knows what it is to win over the public on an island where competition is present, the tourist demands and the resident, even more. It wasn't easy to carve out a place for yourself in the Olympus of island gastronomy.. Until their perseverance – and the quality of their offer – broke down the wall.

Hand in hand with its legendary rice dishes came the Midsummer Night Dinners, that ended up bringing together chefs with suns and stars and shooting up the waiting lists among the island's gourmets. And meanwhile, in your head, that other journey was being woven in silence: the journey inside. Toward Almansa, his town. The house from which it came and which ended up completing with that other half that is Lanzarote.

Almansa, the city that catches you

For those who don't know her, Almansa it may sound like a stop along the way. own Icon It is at the foot of the old road to Valencia, as if wanting to intercept whoever passes by without stopping and convince him to stay.

The city has that serene dignity of places that do not need to boast about anything because they have everything. The castle watches from above as it has done for centuries, imposing on the rock that seems born to support it. And its people - this is immediately perceived, in conversations, in gestures—live with genuine and beautiful pride the memory of their battle, that of 25 April 1707 who decided the fate of Spain. It is not posturing or folklore: it's identity. It is belonging. And here everyone knows each other, which turns any visit into something that is a lot like arriving at someone's house.

walk around Almansa before eating it is almost mandatory. Prepares the mood in a way that no aperitif can match.

The Ikono table

The restaurant—future school—has something that city establishments often lose: intention. Each dish on the menu seems carefully thought out., without unnecessary artifices, betting on the product and the technique without losing sight of the flavor. Behind is Eva Millán, runner-up of the first edition of MasterChef, gastronomic advisor trained in kitchens from Spain and the Caribbean, and the woman to whom Benito entrusted the direction of the project. A choice that, in view of the results, says a lot about your judgment.

For now Icon works as a restaurant, with bright interior dining rooms, sober but elegant, of rested menus; bar area, tapas and quick snacks to follow the path and a large terrace that already aims to become the epicenter of the afternoon and nights in Almansa. But the project has more layers: In the near future, the cooking and dining school will be added – with residence included – and a small hotel with about twenty rooms.. A complete gastronomic ecosystem, planted in the heart of Castilla.

The letter offers a tour. There are nods to the territory, There is technique without stridency and there is that balance between ambition and coherence that distinguishes projects that are born to stay. If the visit serves as a thermometer, Ikono's future looks very good.

The return

I returned to Madrid with the particular satisfaction of someone who has discovered something before everyone talks about it.. That privileged feeling of the gastronomic traveler who arrives early to the party.

Luis Benito has brought something more than a restaurant to Almansa. He has brought a bet for his land, for the training, for the kitchen as a vehicle for the future. He has closed a personal circle that began next to the sea of ​​Lanzarote and has found its fullest form among Castilian castles and vineyards..

May it go well in both halves. May it go very well. He has earned it.