Executive Chef, Hotel Almadraba, Cádiz
I run the kitchens of a 140-room hotel on the Atlantic coast, from a Michelin-starred dining room to a beach club and banqueting for six hundred. I learned to cook in Seville, learned to lead in London, and now cook whatever the boats bring in.
4 outlets 62 in the brigade €9.4m food turnover a year 1 Michelin star
2021 to now
Executive Chef, Cádiz
Opened the beach club in 2022 and rebuilt the fine-dining menu around the tuna caught off the coast each spring. The restaurant went from no listing to a Michelin star in two years.
2016 to 2021
Head Chef, Lisbon
A forty-seat dining room with a single tasting menu that changed every six weeks.
2012 to 2016
Sous Chef, London
Ran the pass five nights a week and wrote the training plan for new commis.
2008 to 2012: commis to chef de partie, in Seville and Madrid
The prawn is served raw over a custard made from its own coral. The head comes on the side, roasted hard, to eat with your hands.
Restaurante Almadraba, 2024
At The Hollin, on the pass. Five nights a week of reading tickets teaches you timing, and timing is most of running a kitchen. I learned to cook in Seville, but I learned to lead in London.
Small teams inside a big one. Each outlet has its own head chef who owns the menu and the numbers. I set the standard, taste every day and spend Mondays with the sous chefs on costs and rotas.
Whatever the boats bring in. In spring that means bluefin tuna, and we use all of it, from the loin to the bones for the broth.
Introductions go through Chef Portfolios. Rafael is told who is asking and for which role, and decides whether to reply. His email and phone number stay private.