Q&A: Quim Marquez

"My family lived in southern Spain. When I was small, we migrated to Barcelona. We didn't have much money and faced lots of difficulties. We could only complete basic education and I started working at the age of 16, washing pots in a kitchen. I moved on to work at various restaurants, realising I loved the kitchen and wanted to be a cook. At 19, I [did military service] for 14 months, stationed in Melilla, Africa, and I was also one of the cooks [for my squadron]. I never received any formal culinary training; I was a self-taught chef. I told my superior that if I ever had to go to war I would defend Spain with a fork and spoon. [After military service] I returned to Barcelona and found a space in the Boqueria Market. That's how I got started with El Quim de la Boqueria." "My mother was amazing. She could use a little money to prepare meals big enough to feed all her children. On Saturdays, my mother always cooked macaroni with tomato, chorizo and meat sauce. To me, this was the best day of the week. We were not rich and for celebrations my mother prepared cookies and a cake made of chocolate, butter, sugar and cinnamon. For us kids, it was party time whenever she made this cake. I serve this cake in my restaurant in Spain as the Grandma Cake."

"There was once a write up in the national newspapers in Spain about me as the 'defender of the fried egg' because for years in Spain, fried egg was considered a [poor man's food]. I see fried egg as one of the best comfort foods in the world. I am very happy with a fried egg and bread. Some of my signature dishes include fried eggs with baby squid, foie gras, garlic and shrimp, caviar, ham and potato."

"Two and a half years ago, Aitor Olabegoya, the executive chef of Migas restaurant in Beijing, invited me to go and work as a guest chef there. At Migas we met Paul Hsu, managing director of Elite Concepts, and our friendship blossomed. The idea of setting up Quemo started a year ago and we decided that we could work together in Hong Kong to make this a reality. Nine months later Quemo was born."

"Some of my tattoos are now decorations on Quemo's cabinet panels. There are octopus, crab, shrimp, clam, garlic, tomato, chilli pepper, fried egg and aubergine, alongside kitchen utensils like fork, western knife, spatula and Chinese knife. I love tattoos. Tattoos express lots of things and their meanings in my life."