THE MAD KITCHEN: MADNESS AT THE TABLE

The name couldn’t be more fitting for this catering company that is much more than a catering company. Mad Kitchen”, for those who have skipped English classes, means “Mad Kitchen”, and the truth is that what is done there is madness. Madness served on fine china plates, madness in the show that precedes, accompanies, and concludes each meal, madness in the experience that each person has when they hire this catering company that is much more than a catering company. What they do is theater, is dance, is disruption, is a mise-en-scène that you never forget. And, despite all the show that is inherent to an event created by these gastronomic wizards, one detail stands out which, when it comes to food, is much more than a detail. In fact, it is the main point: it is that the food that is served with madness and extravagance is sublime.

But Mad is not just about this healthy madness. Strictly speaking, when they first registered the name, the three partners did not even realize that the junction of the three initials of their names gave rise to the (appropriate) English word. MAD is the combination of the names Marcelo, Angel, and Dhimant.

The story of these three souls who met and whose paths (at a good time) crossed is a long one and – I have to say – it was not easy to follow the rapid speech of Angel Reyes, from Ecuador, who speaks at the pace at which ideas come to him, that is, at supersonic speed. The handwriting of my notes, in the notebook I carried, reveals the haste with which I wanted to catch everything. To understand my own scribblings was a challenge that has no other explanation than the “madness” of these people who were born to idealize moments that cannot be forgotten, and who, for this reason, have their brains boiling.

Angel has worked in many top restaurants, in many countries. “22 years ago, I was lucky enough to come to Portugal, I worked for 7 years at the Ritz-Carlton. But I’ve been through Israel, the Canary Islands, Barcelona… I don’t even know now!”

It was at Penha Longa that he met Marcelo, who was his intern, and from there a rock-solid friendship was born. When he was invited to London, to Sushi Samba in the London Heron Tower, Angel took Marcelo with him. This was followed by the 2 Michelin star Mandarin Oriental, also in London, where they both went, and then they came to Lisbon, because Angel came to open the SUD. It was at SUD that Angel was lucky enough to meet Dhimant, who had Passage to India, which is both a restaurant and a catering company. “I would hire Dhimante to supply me with the Indian spices for my dishes. And so another friendship began.”

But there is a fourth element in this triad, which thus becomes a tetrad. Raquel Rua. Hired to the SUD for the events part, she is a hurricane and, according to those who know her, she sells combs to bald people. The previous sentence only fails because, more than selling, what she really likes is to sell food. To get everything moving. To produce. To command the orchestra, like a conductor. Give her events with 600, 1200 people, and she’s there, making sure everything goes exactly as planned.