Chefs on Tour: Visiting Josper HQ in Barcelona [video]

19 Feb

Cooking over fire, a primal instinct we all share, has a special place at Ambiente. We've always favoured traditional Spanish cooking methods, eschewing microwaves and sous vide for pans and flames. It's a style perfectly suited to tapas, where the rapid-fire sizzle of ingredients in hot pans is music to our ears.

In 2016, we took this fiery passion to the next level by introducing our first Josper oven in Leeds. This charcoal-fuelled marvel, born from a collaboration between a chef and a blacksmith in 1969, has become an icon in professional kitchens worldwide. Its simplicity and power align perfectly with our cooking ethos.

After installing our second Josper oven in our Hull restaurant, we decided it was high time to get our team out to Josper’s Headquarters in Spain to learn everything this impressive piece of kit can do!

And what an eye-opening experience it was! The team's dedication to their craft was evident in every detail, and their passion extended beyond meat to include a wide range of vegetables transformed by the Josper's intense heat. From the humble tortilla to majestic artichokes, each ingredient became a star in its own right.

Since then, we've gone from strength-to-strength cooking on flames. We've introduced a Josper Charcoal oven into our Fossgate restaurant, sent a few more chefs over to Spain to become Josper masters, and even dedicated a whole section on our menu to tempting flame-grilled tapas cooked on this fire-breathing piece of kit. It's safe to say, our passion for cooking with fire isn’t going anywhere and we’re excited to share just what our chefs can cook up over flames!