Lo chef - Casa Gatti BnB Gastronomia Yoga retreat e Benessere in Valle di Blenio

Bik

Mediterranean soul in Val di Blenio

My story

Zamora, Salamanca and Mallorca marked my gastronomic roots and made me the person I am today.

Born in Zamora, at the age of 19 I moved to Salamanca where I studied computer engineering and began my love affair with cooking.

At the age of 28 I went on holiday for 5 days to Alcudia, on the island of Mallorca, and stayed there for 20 years, where I founded, directed and lived and cooked in my project chefacasa.es, a company that offered private chef services for villas, wedding planning and catering.

Finally in 2023 I move to Ticino and together with Deborah Rossi we start this project where you can now find us.

Origins

I grew up at Bar La Flota, the family business that my grandparents and father had in Zamora, a historic place near the city’s food market where you could have breakfast, eat tapas and raciones, enjoy the menu of the day, play cards in the afternoon with a carajillo or stay overnight.

My grandmother was a cook and every week she sold her stewed birds to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Valladolid, my father was a waiter and my grandfather ran the guesthouse.

I spent my childhood clinging to my grandmother Julia’s apron, watching her clean anchovies, cook tripe with zampone and fill the bar counter with tapas and raciones. The stove, the pots, the bar counter were my playground.

In addition, my mother ran a stall at the market where she sold bread, dairy products and homemade sweets from Zamora, where I also spent some time watching Alfredo clean the soles and groupers, Santana cut the calves and Manolo the greengrocer discussing football every day with my grandfather Aurelio.