“I’m a chef: I like to cook and create new concepts”
Born in Marbella, he is both cosmopolitan and a keen traveller. His dishes clearly reflect the influence of vivid experiences from many different cultures during his travels. His menu, therefore, is a result of a melting pot of different travels and gastronomic cultures. Figures such as Ferrán Adriá or Manuel de la Osa are some of his inspirations, to whom equates Japanese cuisine or business models such as Nobu Restaurant or those of Joél Robuchon, a chef whom he particularly admires. He began his training in the Malaga School of Hospitality La Cónsula,where he became part of haute cuisine. In 1996, he started to work with Martin Berasategui with whom he shares the same dedication, skills and drive as a chef. It is during this time in which he reconfirmed his vocation and passion for the kitchen and defined the type of cuisine that would become the subject of the development of his career. Centred on the concept that everything falls beneath the critical common denominator of “the flavour.”
The evolution of Dani García as a chef permits one to consider him as one of the most creative chefs in the panorama. He is an authentic artisan of flavour who is able to combine, in the same plate, both the distinct produce of his country with techniques and ingredients of more international cuisines. In 2000 Dani García acted as Head Chef of the project Tragabuches, obtaining his first significant recognition as a chef and gaining his first Michelin Star at only 25 years old.His form of cooking began to develop as an unsuppressed explosion of colours: full of intuition and youth. It became a key point of reference as the base of what was to become his future cuisine. Eventually Dani García took the leap forward from this family business into the international realm, a move that strengthened and reinforced his high- profile figure and presence: he inaugurated CALIMA in Marbella, a personal project that guided him to refined maturity as a chef, thanks to a kitchen charged with imagination. This was a new era that lead to significant advances and learning. This gained experience and command of technique can be seen reflected in his most renowned dishes in which technique aids flavour. In 2007 he returned to the critic’s eye when he was awarded with a Michelin Star at CALIMA, converting him into the first Andalusian chef to obtain a second star.
In June 2012 he launched Manzanilla, a brand of his own with a view to international expansion. The first space was opened in Malaga followed by the same concept six months later in New York. An accessible approach based on that of a gastronomic offering of tapas that looks to connect the American public with Andalusian cuisine, expressed in an international manner and based on a broad and open business concept like that of Spanish Brasserie.Up to this moment, Dani García had done many things that weren’t actually his: advice, assignments, gastronomic direction, etc., all without his own identity. Therefore Dani Garciá Restaurante and BiBo presented the first opportunity in which the chef was able to become his true self. These are projects born underneath the name of Group Dani García.2014 is his best year to date, both to a personal and professional degree. His evolution and recognition as a chef are consolidated in in the opening of both these spaces that finished the year which 2 stars in the new space of Hotel Puente Romano. The drive and energy involved in doing something that is yours alongside the support of a great team, is the perfect recipe for the cultivation of growth and learning.
This new path in Marbella permits the chef to start a new era, one with bases in a sound and well-established form of cooking, in which the creativity of his dishes and concepts can reach new exemplary heights.
Describe your culinary philosophy in 5 words.
Contrast, Andalusia, flavor, sea and Mediterranean
What is your greatest inspiration?
Andalusia is my bestinspiration
If you could take a plane ride to any restaurantin the world, just for one meal, where would you go?
I would like to go to Alinea restaurant, in Chicago
What three things would you take to a desert island?
Water, fireand my girlfriend
* 2 Michelin Stars
RestauranteDani García
Hotel Puente Romano
Bulevar Principe Alfonso von Hohenlohes/n
29602 Marbella
Málaga
Spain
+34 952 76 42 52
Bibo
Hotel Puente Romano
29602 Marbella
Málaga
Spain
+34 951 60 70 11