Tête à Tête #30 with Dr Elena Barraquer.

Tête à Tête #29 with BelleBarcelone: Chef Rafael Zafra.

Tête à Tête #28: Beautiful & talented chef Anjalina Chugani

Interview #27 with Delicious Martha-

   

Tête à Tête #26 : Gaggan Anand, the Indian cuisine wizard!

Tête à Tête #25: Tara Stiles, founder of Strala Yoga.

Tête à Tête #24: Kao Dynasty!

Tête à Tête #23: Rosa Maria Esteva: GRUPO TRAGALUZ_ Sun In the Morning and Moon at night.

Tête à Tête #22: with Edu Bores: Karuna Social Programme.

Tête à Tête #21 with Patricia Schmidt & Cristian Escriba: Love at first sight.

A special interview this month, to celebrate love. Everybody has heard of Cristian Escriba, due to the Escriba pastries and their fabulous wedding cakes among other wonders. Many of you have heard of his wife Patricia Schmidt, the famous pastry chef from Brazil and an expert in sugar crafting. Between them, the traditional catalan and french patisserie has fusioned with  the anglo-saxon touch of Pat.  This fusion has been able to elevate their creations to a world of fantasy. 

TÊTE à TÊTE with BelleBarcelone#20: Cristina Castañer.

I met her, one morning just the day after she returned from a trip. She was a bit jet lagged but she attended me with warmth. She didn't sit still for a minute, wanting to move everything, making sure that all the small details in her store were placed in the right angle. She amused me and at the same time surprised me. And that is how we started our interview. 

Tête à Tête #19: Jaume San Llorente of Sonrisas de Bombay!

  It's December and I wanted a special interview to finish the interview section this year.

 “Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same — with charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.” Mother Teresa Of Calcutta.

So here I am with Jaume Sanllorente, in his office and wanting to know how this young successful gentlemen left everything to go help those orphans in Mumbai. 

Tête à Tête #18 with BelleBarcelone: Ferran Adrià.

This time due to the complexity of this mastermind chef, I have preferred keeping the interview in its original version: Spanish.

BelleBarcelone: Ha revolucionado la cocina del mundo con su creatividad. Como se siente.

Ferran Adrià: Nuestra idea no era “revolucionar la cocina”, sino más bien impulsar su evolución, recoger el guante de las aportaciones que habían hecho los cocineros de la nouvelle cuisine y de las generaciones siguientes, y a partir de ahí proponer una nueva visión sobre varios aspectos de la restauración gastronómica. Si lo hemos conseguido, obviamente me siento muy satisfecho.

Tête à Tête#17 with BelleBarcelone: the grand Gastón Acurio.

Last week I had the opportunity to meet the great Gastón Acurio and interviewed him. 
It was during Mercat de Mercats and Peru was the guest country. 
Gastón Acurio, with a gastronomic empire and many restaurants worldwide serves the best of his native country Cuisine: Peru. 
I am not too familiar with this cuisine as I have only tried it once at The Market in Barcelona; and have a close Peruvian friend who owns a Patisserie and offers world wide delicacies at La Marquise Décadente.
So here I was on a Sunday Morning meeting this great personality. 

Tête à Tête with BelleBarcelone #16: Carles Tejedor - multifaceted & successful chef!

Carles Tejedor, dynamic & restless, is covering quite a few interesting projects. This chef has worked in the best hotels and restaurants around the world . He is presently in control of the gastronomic offer of the grand and beautiful El Nacional; at the same time continuing with his huge project Oilmotion-Oilab as well as collaborating in the Bullipedia with Ferran Adrià. I met him one morning at El Nacional and here is our informal chat.

Tête à Tête #15 with BelleBarcelone: Edgar Carrascal, funky designs in a subtle way!

For many of you this name might not be familiar, but Edgar Carrascal is a young man with an innate talent. Edgar, a columbian young man, has studied design in the best schools in Columbia, New York -FIT and in Barcelona. He has now settled here and has presented his first collection during the last fashion week, 080, in Barcelona. I attended his show, and it was a breze of fresh air. Dedicate to men's fashion, it was out of the classic line but very much wearable. I loved each of the shirts that was in the collection. 

Tête à Tête with BelleBarcelone #14: Carme Ruscadella & Raul Balam: the successful mother and son duo!

Carme Ruscadella, is the renowned chef and the woman with the most michelin stars in the world, 7 to be exact. Her life and career is very much attached to the town she was born and stays till today: Sant Pol de Mar. In 1988 she opened Sant Pau, and got her 1st star in 1991, she then obtained the 3rd one in 2006; she also has a Sant Pau restaurant in Tokyo with 2 stars. In 2009, her team took charge of Moments, the restaurant of the luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It is headed by her son Raül Balam and herself. It now holds 2 michelin stars. I met the successful mother and son duo one Thursday morning at Moments.

Tête à Tête with BelleBarcelone #13 : Pedro Iglesias of the Iglesias and Adrias Saga!

The Iglesias brothers have been challenging Barcelona's gastronomic panorama in the area of Paralelo with their eight establishments, five of them in partnership with the illustrious Adria brothers: the BCN 5.0. 
I met  with Pedro Iglesias, the youngest brother and the one I see most often, to discuss their expansions plans. We met at Cañotas, their fun Tapas Bar. Pedro surprised me pleasantly during our talk.  He is passionate about his work and proud of his family. 

Tête à Tête with BelleBarcelone #12: young entrepreneur Rafael Soldevila of La Fermata!

Some would say he has it all, he was born with a silver spoon in mouth...But the success behind the best pizza in town at La Fermata isn't only that. He comes from a family who has been for years in the hospitality business with prestigious hotels such as the emblematic Majestic. But I can tell if he wasn't a hard worker, knowing exactly what he wanted La Fermata wouldn't be what it is today. I present you Rafael Soldevila, co-owner of La Fermata: Pizza al corte. La Fermata: Av Major de Sarrià 2-4. La Fermata de Provença C/Provença 243.

Tête à Tête #11: with the mystical Gemma Grau from GR Jewel store!

I love jewellery and pretty little things. When you have a special gift to purchase for a unique occasion you need something special, some where unique with an impeccable service: GR the jewellery store on Av Diagonal is such a place. It opened a couple of years back and the fusion between two prestigious families who have been in the jewellery business since years. Rabat, which have the prestigious stores on Pg De Gracia and Grau a very well established store on the Catalan Coast, The Costa Brava, where they have 2 stores and one in Sabadell.