The Spanish chef helping to redefine luxury in the Philippines using local ingredients

What did you eat when you were young? “Until I was around 10 years old, I was a very bad eater; I was picky and didn’t like food. I always fought with my mum. My father died when I was nine months old, so my mum had to work, and the oldest of my two sisters, who is 18 years older than me, raised me.

“When she moved to Santiago de Compostela, in northwest Spain, which is famous for seafood, we visited her and it opened my eyes. I ate mejillones tigre, tiger mussels [stuffed, breaded and deep-fried mussels]. It made me want to make that dish at home. I used the recipe in a famous traditional cookbook, 1080 Recipes [1972], by Simone Ortega. The kitchen was a mess, full of pots everywhere. Mejillones tigre is still my signature dish.”

Why did you go abroad? “When I was 17 years old, I went to school in Maine. My family wanted me to be exposed to other cultures. I liked being in the United States and visited a good friend in Oregon. The next year I studied psychology at the University of Southern Oregon. I spent two years in the US and one in the UK, because my second sister taught English there.”

Tell us about your DJ gig.“During college in the US I was a DJ. I was a party animal. I came home when I was 19 because studying abroad was expensive. I studied four years in marketing and business, and once or twice a month my friends and I organised parties – we made so much money. I didn’t like marketing. I thought it would be creative, but my courses were more about numbers and business.

“We had so many followers that we opened a nightclub [in his hometown, Torrelavega]. It was very successful, but I felt empty. My girlfriend of four years, who I expected to marry, broke up with me because weekends were busy but nothing was happening during the week. It was unhealthy. I felt depressed. I was 25 years old. After three years we sold the club and I made some money and wondered what to do next.”

What made you become a chef? “During the time I had the club, I ate in Michelin-starred restaurants and my passion for food grew. I thought, ‘Why not become a chef?’ A friend who was the chef of a restaurant that now has two Michelin stars asked, ‘Do you know what you’re getting yourself into? You used to be a club owner going to eat everywhere, and now you want to be a chef, you have to start at the lowest level. Are you sure at your age you can do that?’