23 Apr, 2021 @ 19:15
1 min read

Lawyer turned chef wins Repsol award for Marbella restaurant on Spain’s Costa del Sol

Repsol Sols Kava Fernando Alcala

A SELF-taught chef with a Masters degree in law is lighting the way for a new culinary revolution on the costas.

Lawyer Fernando Alcala, 30, has snared a ‘sun’ award in the annual Repsol Soles awards for his creativity and hard work at his Marbella restaurant Kava.

It comes after the young chef also won a Red Meals (Bib Gourmand) award from the Michelin guide last year and became the stand-out ‘sensation’ at the Madrid Fusion event in 2019.

“It’s a massive honour to win the Repsol award,” he told the Olive Press after taking a trip up to San Sebastian to pick up the gong.

“I decided the legal profession was not for me, while working as a lawyer in Zurich and I always wanted to come home and open a restaurant in my home town of Marbella.”

He picked up the award in San Sebastian at the weekend alongside seven other Andalucian chefs, who were also honoured this year.

Repsol Sols Kava Fernando Alcala

They included the chefs from La Cuchara de San Lorenzo, in Cordoba, Código de Barra, in Cadiz, Yoko in Barbate, Kaleja y Ta-Kumi Malaga, Leña in Marbella and Sobretablas in Sevilla.

“It’s the first time I have left Malaga since the lockdown last year and it was amazing to travel again,” continued Alcala.

He naturally made the most of his trip by pulling in a favour to get a table at legendary Asador Etxebarri, in the Basque country, which was voted as the ‘third best restaurant in the world’ in the latest Pellegrino awards.

There are 618 restaurants listed in the Repsol guide this year, with 304 restaurants around Spain having one Sol, 126 with two Sols and 37 with three Sols.

Andalucia has the third highest number of restaurants with Sols (60), after Catalunya, the Basque Region and Madrid. There are 53 restaurants with sols in the Valencian region.

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Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

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