Castile-Leon
Speaker
Juanjo Losada
Chef at Pablo* (León, Spain)
This chef from León is committed to creating thoughtfully prepared dishes with flavours from the land as the star element.
Juanjo Losada admits that cooking had never really appealed to him, but working in the kitchen while doing his military service changed that. On returning to León, he glued himself to his mother-in-law until she taught him the recipes and sauces she knew. His in-laws ran Pablo, a family-run restaurant located in an industrial park on the outskirts of León, which they opened after working in London for a number of years.
In 2005, Juanjo and his wife Yolanda Rojo – the restaurant’s front-of-house manager – decided to revisit the traditional cuisine of León offered by the restaurant but without losing sight of its origins. Working with local produce and products on a daily basis, they update traditional recipes; this earned them the Michelin star they have, which was awarded in 2018.
