Chef
Speaker
Quique Dacosta
Chef of Quique Dacosta Restaurant*** (Dénia, España)
Quique Dacosta is one of the top culinary representatives of Spain’s Levante region. The Mediterranean Sea and Montgó Natural Park have been instrumental in his cooking with the inexhaustible wealth of their waters and unique geographic location.
Born in Extremadura but Valencian by adoption, Quique Dacosta knew as a teenager that he wanted to become a cook. And so he did. Outstandingly. He runs Quique Dacosta in Dénia (Alicante Province) which boasts three Michelin stars and features in the prestigious World’s 50 Best and Opinionated About Dining’s Best European Restaurants lists.
Dacosta has made a name for himself as the chef who elevates his culture and land and epitomises quality, excellence, innovation and tradition. These values he takes to his flagship restaurant Quique Dacosta***, but also his many other restaurant businesses – El Poblet**, Vuelve Carolina (where he reinterprets El Poblet classics) and Mercatbar (a laid-back, modern tapas bar) in Valencia, and ArrosQD in London.
He is a cook above all, but also an entrepreneur, which has driven him to embark on his latest project – a new catering division covering all of Spain. These are new challenges for new times. He also brings his expertise to the new Mandarin Oriental Ritz Madrid, where he oversees all culinary operations.
With his penchant for aesthetics, he turns his compositions into beautiful creations. It is no wonder, thus, that he has been awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Miguel Hernández University in Elche (Alicante).
His multiple talents also include the dissemination of culinary knowledge. Dacosta has authored several cookbooks, the most noteworthy being Tapas with Quique Dacosta and Arroces contemporáneos (“Modern Rice Dishes”).
