Our chef, Ismael Bilbao, born in Seville, raised in Triana, to an electrician father and a housewife mother. After enrolling in an electrical school and discovering that it wasn't his thing, decided to swap cables for haute cuisine.
How does an apprentice electrician become a haute cuisine chef?
"One day, while I was skipping classes, "de rabona" with my colleagues, a colleague told me that he was going to sign up for some evening cooking courses at La Taberna del Alabardero in Seville and that, for some reason, caught my attention, I decided to sign up too and that's when it all started...", says Ismael himself. After finishing the course, which lasted approximately two weeks, discovered that his vocation was haute cuisine and decided to enrol in school to become a great chef.
Once he had finished his hotel management studies, after five years of absolute dedication, his own classmates and teachers encouraged him to continue his training, all agreeing that, even then, he was already showing very good potential and that he was a good candidate. could carve out a niche for itself in haute cuisine. in our country. He then decided to move to Barcelona and continue his training, in this case at The Hoffman School of Hotel ManagementThe school has had in its classrooms chefs of the stature of Jon Giraldo and Jaime Lieberman of Spoonik.
His training at Hoffman lasted three years, with maximum involvement and surrounded by great chefs. At the end of hismoved to Gironaspecifically in Foixà, to do an internship at the Can Quel restaurant. which, at that time, was one of the most visited restaurants by the most renowned chefs of Catalan gastronomy, given that its tradition dates back to 1899, where they delighted their visitors with the best Catalan and Empordà recipes cooked in a wood-fired oven.
Fruit of Chance
One of the afternoons, as Ismael tells us, Feli, the head chef at Can Quel, was very unwell and had to leave the restaurant, and we all decided that I would take over the service. That same afternoon, the renowned haute cuisine chef of our country, Santi Santamaría went to the restaurant for dinner.
"What was my surprise?" he says, "-...It seems that She went into the kitchen to congratulate Feli and checked that it was me who had prepared them....". It was at that precise moment, and by chance, when he began his professional career at Can Fabes, a prestigious restaurant that between 1994 and 2011 had three Michelin Stars and, according to the British magazine Restaurant, was ranked 31st in 2008 in the list of the world's best restaurants.
How did you come to Dénia and how was Samaruc born?
He assures that came to Dénia for love and while on holiday he discovered what he is now Samaruc. At the time it was a very neglected premises, he decided to invest all his savings and embark on this exciting project.
He also discovered that Dénia enjoys the good fortune of being in a magical enclave, of having an incredible local product, visitors from all over the world willing to let themselves be carried away by the gastronomic proposals of its restaurateurs.
Samaruc was born with a very clear ideaThe restaurant offers signature cuisine with textures, colours and, above all, flavours that will leave no one indifferent.
More information about Samaruc Restaurant and reservations here.
Click on the following link to find out how to get there using Google Maps: How to get there
