Ramón Freixa

Ramón Freixa (Castellfollit de Riubregós, Barcelona, 1971) cooking style is creative, modern, cosmopolitan, designer cooking. This Catalan chef has often described his cuisine as "based on four pillars: product, technique, feelings and a search for magic".Ramón Freixa was brought up in close contact with the world of food. His grandparents were bakers and confectioners, his father was a chef and his mother maître, and he remembers playing as a child with the elements they worked with on a daily basis - sugar, flour, eggs and dough. But Freixa insists that he did not inherit his vocation, that it is based on personal conviction.His parents did, however, help him along. They encouraged him to register at the Higher School for Tourism and Hospitality at Sant Pol de Mar, in Barcelona.

After that, he worked in a series of restaurants in Europe, ending up in the early nineties in Belgium, at La Cuisine des Anges, one of the country’s most innovative restaurants at the time. There he worked with a friend of his parents, Nicolas Pequereau, who opened the doors for him to two other restaurants, La Truffe Noire and Comme Chez Soi.Before returning to Barcelona, Freixa was able to work for a time with Michel Bras who taught him how to use flowers and plants in cuisine. In 1994, he started working at his parents'restaurant, El Racó d'en Freixa at all the different stations, from starters to desserts. In 1998 his father retired and handed the business over to Ramón, who decided to re-design and modernize the menu, but without withdrawing some of his father's creations that customers continued to request. And he did such a good job that he was able to maintain the Michelin star awarded to the restaurant in 1998. In addition to his work in the restaurant, Ramón Freixa has co-written several cookbooks and has produced some of his own.

June 2009 marked an important turning-point in the career of Ramon Freixa. In the center of Madrid, in the Hotel Único, he opened a restaurant called Ramón Freixa Madrid. Back in Barcelona, El Racó d'en Freixa changed its name to Freixa Tradició, and there his parents continued to offer the best of Catalonian traditional cuisine until the definite closure of the restaurant in 2018.

Blooming in Madrid

So Freixa left Barcelona for Madrid, taking with him all the creative talents he needed to devise a short menu full of surprises. The restaurant is small, seating only about 30, and has striking décor. Currently, the restaurant is acknowledged with 2 Michelin stars. Here, he serves a proposal based on the product and excellence. Flavors with references to tradition but crafted with cutting-edge techniques. Among his most renowned dishes are ‘Tomato Study,’a dish that has been made into different versions throughout the years; or the mimetic ‘stones’ of Manchego cheese, nuts and truffle.

Erre, another project of Chef Ramón Freixa and one of the most awaited openings of the Spanish culinary scene, became true in October 2012. Not in Madrid nor Barcelona, but in the impressive Colombian city of Cartagena de Indias. In 2015, a new restaurant by Freixa was opened: Ático, in The Principal Hotel, a five-star venue located in Madrid Gran Vía. Ramón Freixa also created Ramón Freixa Catering, in charge of such emblematic spaces as the Teatro Real in Madrid. Starting in 2020, the openings of his restaurants Mas de Torrent, in the famous hotel of the same name in Ampurdán, in collaboration with Único Hotels, and Singular, in the newest The Lodge, in Mallorca, with a concept based on fire, would be added. Four books and more than twenty decorations and recognitions endorse him as one of the best national chefs. "All the philosophy of my kitchen, just like in art and in life, revolves around achieving happiness. Coming into my restaurant means being ready to live a gastronomic experience of happiness”, he states. On 2024 he announced the closing of his two-Michelin stars restaurant in december of that year and the opening of a new one in the summer of 2025.