Three new Michelin stars for the Costa del Sol's gastronomic scene

2016-03-25 08:00:00

Three chefs in Malaga province have just achieved their first Michelin stars for their restaurants.
In a ceremony held on Wednesday at the Parador de los Reyes Católicos in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia) to present the ‘Guía Michelin España & Portugal 2016’, three new stars were added to those already held in Malaga.
The province’s new gastronomic champions are Diego Gallegos who is the chef at Sollo in Fuengirola; Mauricio Giovanni who cooks at Messina in Marbella; and Luis Olarra of Kabuki Raw at the Finca Cortesín in Casares. As someone at the ceremony exclaimed, “Here comes the Malaga invasion.”
Theirs join stars already held in the province - Dani García’s two (Marbella); and the one star each of José Carlos García (Malaga city); Diego del Río (El Lago in Marbella); and Jaume Puigdengolas and Marcos Granda (Skina, also in Marbella).
The province has now become the foodie centre of Andalucía, gaining more new Michelin stars this year than any other in the region. (Acanthum in Huelva, helmed by Xanty Elías, also gained its first star.)
“This gives us the confidence we need. I just want to get back to Malaga to give Pía [his partner] - who is a hundred per cent a part of this - a kiss,” exclaimed an emotional Mauricio Giovanini of Messina, which is situated close to the sea in Marbella. Giovanini is Argentinian and, after studying law and working in PR for a nightclub, he turned to cooking and arrived in Spain twelve years ago.
Giovanini has several awards, among them the prize from the Academia Gastronómica de Málaga for the best chef and the best restaurant in the province.
Close by, Luis Olarra of Kabuki Raw, which is based at Finca Cortesín, in Casares was also celebrating. “Tonight is a party night!” said Olarra who wasn’t expecting his star but calmly claimed that it was “the result of perseverance”. Olarra, who is only 29, comes from Bilbao in the Basque Country and is known for fusing Mediterranean and Japanese flavours.
In a similar vein Diego Gallegos accepted his star with equanimity. Recognising that “it has come very quickly,” Gallegos insisted, “I am aware that we have to continue working very hard.” Gallegos was born in Brazil but after studying law in Alcalá de Henares learned to cook at Malaga’s feted cookery school, La Cónsula. Now running Sollo, which is located in the Hilton Double Tree resort in Fuengirola’s Reserva de Higuerón and opened just over a year ago, Gallegos is well known for his creativity and rebellion.
With the presentation of the 2016 Michelin Guide to Spain and Portugal, Malaga province now has one restaurant with two stars (the eponymous Dani García in Marbella) and six with one stars (three of which are also in Marbella).source surinenglish