Sacha Hormaechea
Chef-owner of Sacha, the Madrid bistro his parents opened in 1972, which holds 2 Repsol Soles today.
- Repsol Soles
2- Restaurants
- 1
Sacha Hormaechea runs Sacha, the Madrid bistro his parents Carlos Hormaechea and Pitila Mosquera founded in 1972, after an earlier, short-lived attempt in Sitges. He grew up working summers at the restaurant, trained in photography and cinema under Pilar Miró and Carlos Suárez, and built a parallel career as a photographer credited on more than sixty books. He took over Sacha fully after his mother's death in 2001, keeping a menu built on decades-old dishes that combine his father's Catalan influences with his mother's Galician ones. The restaurant carries 2 Repsol Soles and no Michelin star.
Biography
Early years
Sacha Hormaechea (born Alejandro) grew up in Madrid, the son of a father with Catalan and Basque roots and a Galician mother. He was around ten years old when his parents opened their first restaurant, in Sitges, in 1971, before it reopened in Madrid the following year. He began working summers at the restaurant from age 13 to save up for a camera, and later worked at the magazine Cambio16 while training in photography and studying cinema under directors Pilar Miró and Carlos Suárez. He's worked as a photographer whose images have appeared in more than sixty books, including a cover credit, alongside the authors, on the Roca brothers' book Raíces.
Career
His parents, Carlos Hormaechea and Pitila Mosquera, had previously run a short-lived bistro in Sitges before opening Sacha in Madrid's Chamartín neighbourhood in 1972. His father died when Hormaechea was 16, and his mother Pitila kept running the restaurant. Sacha Hormaechea took over the kitchen and management fully after his mother's death in 2001, continuing to add dishes that became house classics alongside the originals.
Philosophy
The kitchen blends the Catalan influences of his father with the Galician influences of his mother, favouring dishes that have stayed on the menu for decades over chasing food trends. On culinary creativity, he's paraphrased Picasso: "la gente copia, los genios roban" (people copy, geniuses steal).
Restaurants
On Guidavera
1Sacha Hormaechea in our guides
Editorial guides featuring Sacha Hormaechea’s restaurants.
Accolades
- ·2 Repsol Soles, Sacha (current)
Frequently asked
Does Sacha Hormaechea have a Michelin star?
No. Sacha holds 2 Repsol Soles but no Michelin star.
When was restaurant Sacha founded?
In 1972, by Sacha Hormaechea's parents, Carlos Hormaechea and Pitila Mosquera, in Madrid's Chamartín neighbourhood, after an earlier, short-lived version of the restaurant in Sitges.
What kind of food does Sacha serve?
A Spanish bistro menu blending the chef's father's Catalan roots with his mother's Galician roots, built around long-running dishes such as onion soup, pig's ear, sole meunière and steak tartare.
Where is restaurant Sacha located?
Calle de Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, 11, in Madrid's Chamartín neighbourhood.
What is Sacha Hormaechea's background outside cooking?
He trained in photography and cinema, studying under directors Pilar Miró and Carlos Suárez, and has worked as a photographer credited in more than sixty books, including a cover credit on the Roca brothers' book Raíces.
When did Sacha Hormaechea take over the restaurant?
Fully, after his mother Pitila Mosquera's death in 2001. His father had died earlier, when Sacha was 16, and his mother had continued running it until then.