Mohamed Quach: "They have painted the name of Vox on my restaurant's signs twice, and with respect and coexistence I change and clean them"

TarragonaThe chef Moha Quach, from El Terrat de Tarragona restaurant and Revelation Award of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition, has cleaned for the second time graffiti that appeared on one of his restaurant's signs. A year ago, the word Vox was painted on the sign indicating that the restaurant adheres to the Slow Food movement, which was difficult to remove; the second time, a week ago, on the sign indicating it has a Repsol Sun. “Repsol has just sent me a new plaque so I can remove the old one, which again had the word Vox on it,” explains Quach.

The chef indicates that the graffiti does not affect him, that he is mentally prepared because he continues to work every day to do everything well. But he adds: “I don't understand the intention behind it, I don't understand the intolerance; I grew up in Tarragona, everything I have learned is thanks to Catalonia”. Quach offers two tasting menus based on the tradition of Roman cuisine, that of the Rif – his parents' homeland – and traditional Catalan cuisine. “The people who graffiti my signs, and who also make videos about shops in Tarragona that have opened businesses they don't like, want to impose their ideology; they are very radical people, and these are values that surprise me, because I was educated both at home and at school in respect,” says the chef.

Growing intolerance

All of this is an expression of intolerance by cultures like yours, from the Rif, which notices it growing. “I have two sisters, one wears a veil and the other doesn't, and my own mother wears a veil too; I wouldn't like any of the three to be told anything on the street because we are from the Rif,” she explains. “Attacking immigrants, discriminating against them, clashes with our values, that we talk to everyone, we greet, we are neighbors of Tarragona, we have studied there, worked and we strive to do everything better every day”.

The chef has modified the two tasting menus at the El Terrat restaurant, with summer dishes based on the three culinary traditions. “We have thyme soup; crispy fuet, with fuet tartare and Iberian jowl; also a version of bread with tomato done on the grill and an empedrat”, he explains. Furthermore, Moha Quach continues to look for an establishment in Tarragona to fulfill one of his dreams, which is to make traditional Catalan cuisine, because “establishments have closed in Tarragona, there is a lack of cuisine based on sofritos and picadas”, he states. The difficulty of finding a place is what has made him delay the project. “I am looking for a space that has minimally completed installations, because starting everything from scratch is costly due to the investment and the license for it all”.

Since September 2025, the chef collaborates in the program Tot es mou, by journalist Helena Garcia Melero, and will continue to do so from September.