The Nurturing Kitchen: Eliza Parchanska Blends Polish Roots and Mallorcan Soul at Hotel Corazon - Friends of Friends / Freunde von Freunden (FvF)

I moved to Mallorca about three years ago. I was living in Madrid for more than five years before that – but when my twin sister got married and moved to New York, I had the feeling I need to change locations, too – I was even thinking about going back Poland for a minute. And then suddenly, this couple on Instagram contacted me and told me that they were opening a new restaurant in Mallorca, and they asked me to create a menu for them. That was the sign I needed. So they invited me to come over, and we had an amazing weekend. They showed me the best beaches, and generally just the best places on the island. And I was thinking, wow, I want to live here. And so I came and created a beautiful menu for them. It’s a really nice wine bar, actually, with a very simple, easy-going menu. I worked there for a while, and after that, I came to Hotel Corazon. I’m very happy here, and will for sure stay –  not sure if forever, but most definitely for a long while. Whatever has to happen will happen…

I always need creative time for myself, and I often go traveling for inspiration. The goal always is to go away once per month for at least two days. For me it’s clear: With routine only, you stop being creative. 

I love going for walks, picking flowers, going to a farm, to check in with myself and find my creativity again. And then, suddenly, when I’m very relaxed, I create something amazing that my friends, when they try it, they say “we have to put it on the menu”. And we do, you know. It usually happens very naturally, ‘I can’t work under pressure. I have to be very relaxed, calm, happy, you know. And then I create the best dishes. I never set off with an intention to create. The best way for me are spontaneous, accidental discoveries.

Last winter I went to Uruguay for an artist residency, and I cooked for a large community every day, on my own – which could have become rather stressful, but it wasn’t. I never planned a meal before, and always approached it in a very relaxed manner – went shopping with no shopping list. I let it flow naturally, and it worked. I saved a lot of recipes from there, so now I want to create a book from this.

I always have a notebook with me, always writing down small ideas, and I also like to paint. I was doing small pictures every night before going to sleep. Small things, with the notebook always accompanying me. 

And I take pictures of my food, all the time, as I sometimes forget, and then the pictures bring back my memories. That’s always the first step for me. Then I will redo it all, saving the right amounts etc. – but the first day, it’s always just the pictures. 

Combinations of flavours always happen naturally. It’s become clear to me that it’s so much easier if you don’t have huge possibilities, if you don’t have big freedom – then it’s easier to create interesting menus. I love cooking for people with allergies or strict diets, as your options are limited. We once had a girl stay at Hotel Corazon who could only eat green veggies. She was there for 3 days, and it was a lot of fun to cook for her, a great challenge. I love people that are different – ordering chocolate cake as main for lunch, ignoring all the conventions around food. That’s when the real fun begins.

This is not easy, I am always at work, with no holidays during the high season. I have a few best friends, and we’re always aiming to spend two days together per month: Time only for us. Once per week I call with my best friend, it’s a fixture in my diary, pre-scheduled. And I do the same with my parents in Poland, and my siblings, we are very close. All these calls are scheduled. We also try to visit each other every few months – mostly only a few days, but that’s enough. Because – as we really spend a very intense time together when we see each other now, not like when we lived in the same town or even place – the quality of our time together is better now.

I am very lucky that I have also found my community in Mallorca – including very good friends at work. We often go swimming together after a shift. We share everything together. We create new friendships. I never had a lot of friends growing up – as I have a twin sister there seemed to be no need – but here for the first time in my life I have a group of friends. We all love food, so food is always at the centre of our activities. We cook together, sometimes there’s 7 hours of just eating.

I’m not a big tech person, but I use instagram a lot. There is no strategy, I just post what I like at this moment. I always just want to capture moments. I collect moments, even just for myself, to remind myself of how I felt at that particular moment. It’s about inspiration, and people. It has to be authentic, not forced, just natural.

Good feedback on social makes me happy for a long time. Bad feedback really demotivates me, so I never really read the feedback. I am rather sensitive, and there is always one person every month who writes something nasty or isn’t happy with something. Good feedback though, that’s always special, I will never get used to it.

The waiters at Corazon tell us about repeat feedback – like at some point our steaks were a little chewy, so we had to change the product. It’s really important that, as a chef, you understand the public you are cooking for – portions in Spain are smaller than where I’m from and would almost upset Polish people. Also, a Spanish “medium rare” is different than in France – it is almost done. That’s crucial to avoid bad feedback.

Hotel Corazon’s farm garden, picking flowers & leaves there. But also my very own garden – lying down there, enjoying moments for myself. My boyfriend is a musician, and he’s out a lot, so I’m alone pretty often, which I enjoy.

For sure I go to the beach a lot. My favourite time to go is early in the morning, even on my days off. I prefer to go to all the hidden beaches, in order to be alone, with calm water. Every time I’m there I realise how lucky I am. You never get used to the natural beauty, well, at least I never do: I don’t take it for granted at all.

I’m not going to restaurants in Mallorca a lot – only to the old fashioned tavernas, never the modern stuff. I love the secret recipes of the Mallorcan grandmas. Sometimes I enjoy the natural wines at Bar La Sang, but not the modern food – I can cook the modern food myself. I usually go alone, because most people prefer modern places with music. 

Smell is the most important one to me. I always have flowers at my house. I pick up orange blossom flowers a lot. Every morning I open the door – and sometimes you can even smell the smell of the sun, if you leave something exposed to it for a while. Sometimes, if it’s gonna rain, I can always feel like the rain is coming: I smell it. I have been obsessed with smell – ever since I was little. Some smells relax me, some are waking me up.

I am a very Eastern European person: I love fermenting, and I love foods that are often aggressive to other cultures. I always pickle. Or make Kvas. I really enjoy strong flavours.

I also love music. Country music, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan. There is always music playing in my house, in my car. Only when I’m very sad, I turn the music off. That doesn’t happen a lot though.

Noone believes me, but after these intense periods I am dreaming about coming home and shower, to shower off all the stress. Afterwards, I feel like a new person. And as I never really have a proper meal at work, I always cook for myself then, or my boyfriend, or someone else I’m with. Cooking is THE ultimate pleasure, it always relaxes me – no matter how physically tired I am. I turn my music on, then kick off a small cooking session, no menu in mind. These are my happiest moments – cooking, then sitting in the garden with a glass of wine or kombucha. Not thinking about work, switching my phone off. 

Anthony Bourdain! He was such a big inspiration for me,  not only as a chef, but also as a person. Whenever I travel, I check out his favourite places. He was so authentic.

If I’m not allowed to talk about him as a chef, I’d love to just speak about himself. I love real people, who don’t pretend to be cool or self confident. I’d love to chat  to him about what he likes, what makes him happy, what makes him sad. A really deep conversation, like you would have with your friends.

I think I am very happy at work. People often tell me that I am always so happy, so positive, that I always smile. When I say this to my boyfriend he laughs. 

If someone is having a breakdown at work, it’s getting stressful. I am the strongest, most positive in the kitchen, and I’m blessed that I know how to make people feel good  – I really like that part of me. My team always protects me, as we all really love each other. The older chef in the team is like my mum. My goal is to be very kind, a kind boss, and so far I’ve managed quite well. I am very proud of that. If you treat people well, they give it back to you.