How did you become interested in cooking? “I have loved eating since I was four years old. My favourite toy was a play kitchen. Every day, I woke my mother up and asked her what she wanted for breakfast and we would play for an hour. “When I grew up, I thought being a chef I could travel the world while cooking. At that time, chefs like Ferran Adrià, Carme Ruscalleda, Santi Santamaria and Joan Roca were on television, and people talked about restaurants in general.” What did your parents think of you going to culinary school? “When I was 20 years old, I thought of studying physics because I was good at it, but I wanted to be a chef. When I told my parents, it took my mother a day to understand, while my father didn’t say much. The next day, my mother supported me 200 per cent, saying she’d make sure I went to Hofmann, the best culinary school in Barcelona, Spain. But the school intake was full, with 10 people on the waiting list. “You know how my mother got me in? She called every day, saying she wanted her son to go there. On September 3, she called me to say she’d got me the space – school started in a week.” What was your first restaurant job? “Before I went to culinary school, I went to Menorca, near Ibiza, to work for three months. I was a waiter in a steakhouse. The chefs and waiters were over 50 years old, and here was this 20-year-old from Barcelona, so they kept me busy doing menial tasks like picking up the wine and water, taking out the rubbish, and making croquettes. “Even though I worked so hard, I got the least amount of tips because they were based on seniority. Anyway, I loved the job because it proved to myself and my family I could do what I wanted to do. I was not going to give up and go home because it didn’t work out. ‘Please, no pineapple with ham on pizza,’ says a pizzaiolo in Hong Kong “One time, as I helped the chef make croquettes, I told him I was going to culinary school, and he said I was too slow, that I would never be a chef. In that moment, I wondered if I should go to culinary school or not. “I worked there 21 days until I collapsed, exhausted from working and taking verbal abuse, and I quit. Afterwards, I found a job in a coffee shop making sandwiches and coffees from 7am to 3pm. After work, I went on my motorbike to discover the island and beaches, read books and meet friends. I had the best time.” How was culinary school? “I wanted to be the best student. I almost lost all my friends because all I talked about was cooking. The school had a restaurant that is the only one [at a culinary school] to have a Michelin star. Usually, first-year students work the lunch service in Hofmann Restaurant, and second-year students do the dinner service. But because many people dropped out and I was so keen to learn, I worked both lunch and dinner. I also worked weekends, cooking for my mother’s friends.” What was your first restaurant job as a cook? “I didn’t want to be in Barcelona so I phoned every Michelin-starred restaurant an hour and a half outside the city. The 22nd restaurant I called gave me a job: it was called Can Pipa, and it’s where I met my cooking teacher and life teacher, Albert Sastregener. He was 26 years old, head chef for the first time and very passionate. “I was around 23 and learned everything from Albert: Catalan cooking, how to clean squid and artichokes, make stocks and sauces. Even the suckling pig I serve now is his recipe. I worked 15 hours a day with him. In two months, he promoted me to be his assistant. After a year, he encouraged me to go elsewhere to learn something new.” How did you end up working for Ferran Adrià? “I wanted to travel and so I needed a big name to put on my CV and contacted Ferran Adrià to work in El Bulli Hotel, in Seville. I worked in the hotel restaurant, Hacienda Benazuza, where they recreate El Bulli dishes from different years. I lived in the hostel, eight of us in one room sharing one shower. I worked there for six months.” Asia’s Best Female Chef 2021 on why great cooking is as creative as painting Why did you go to China? “In 2007, my sister was studying for an MBA in Beijing on an exchange. I wanted to join her so I took a Mandarin class for a month in Barcelona. The woman next to me was a food supplier and I told her I wanted to go to Beijing. “She suggested I look up one-Michelin-star chef Xavier Franco, who was opening a restaurant there. I contacted him but he said he didn’t need any help; when I arrived I contacted him again and he hired me. I worked there for a year until the restaurant closed down.” How did you get the job in Hong Kong? “My wife at the time and I both had jobs in Dubai. I was working in a hotel but I was not happy. Willy Trullàs Moreno called me. He was opening FoFo by el Willy in Hong Kong and said that I was the perfect candidate. I said no because I didn’t have a good experience in China and just wanted a steady salary. Willy hired someone else but a month later he contacted me again, telling me to come, as the other chef didn’t work out. My wife said we weren’t happy and that we should go to Hong Kong.” How has Spanish food in Hong Kong evolved since you arrived 11 years ago? “When I first arrived, there wasn’t much competition. Only wealthy people could travel so only they knew the good restaurants in Spain. Gradually, more people travelled to Spain, though they did not necessarily visit the best places. “In the past few years, lots of people have told us the Spanish food in Hong Kong is better than what they ate in Spain. Lots of Spanish restaurants have opened, but many have closed. It’s hard to make money because of the high cost of Spanish ingredients. “But I have some exciting news – we are opening a new restaurant in the old FoFo by el Willy space in Central around mid-July. It will be called Quiero Mas, featuring Mediterranean-style cuisine. We are creating an exciting menu with some of FoFo’s old favourites and some new dishes from the Mediterranean.”