The best cook of the year is Miquel Pardo, from the restaurants CruiX and Melós of Barcelona

BarcelonaThe chef Miquel Pardo, who has the restaurant CruiX in Barcelona, on Entença street, and Melós, on Mallorca street, is the best chef of the year in Catalonia. The chef, born in Onda (Plana Baixa), is known for precise cooking that is linked to his roots and experiences and, above all, for making rice dishes with a very thin layer of grain, well toasted, and top-quality produce on top. After performing miracles with a tiny kitchen at his first establishment, CruiX, he opened his flagship restaurant, Melós, in 2025. There, he was able to install good equipment that would allow him to raise the gastronomic bar. For this reason, the expert jury and the public have chosen him as the best chef of the year, a recognition that this year reaches its fifteenth edition and is presented within the framework of the Gastronòmic Fòrum in Barcelona. Last year the award went to Jeffery Ruz and Helena Termes of La Cort del Mos, in Palamós.

Pardo hopes that this recognition will help more people get to know Melós and fill the restaurant. "The people who have come to Melós have left very happy," he said. He knows that the trajectory of Cruix, "making little rice dishes and tapas and entertaining people," he stated, has helped him. He would like to be able to split the award into many pieces to share it with the team at Melós, his most gastronomic restaurant. When Pardo received the nomination he did not expect it, but it made him think that "he was doing something right." "I took the plunge with Melós doing something that is against the grain, now that people are a bit uncertain about budget restaurants and are especially tight on money, with everything having gone up so much, it's madness. But I had it inside me and I needed to explain it and do it. This recognition has arrived and we hope more will come," concluded the Valencian chef.

The other nominees were Àlex López, Marcos Valyi and Jordi Carbonell, from the Arraval restaurant in Barcelona, who come from the Jordi Vilà cooking school; Neus Faiges Gargallo, from the Cal Faiges restaurant in Poble Nou del Delta; Soledad Lema from the Piedra restaurant in Barcelona, who previously worked with Carles Pérez de Rozas; Alba Hugas and João Pedro Fontes, from the Unça restaurant in Banyoles; and, finally, Juanan Vizcaíno from the Zaytun restaurant in Barcelona.

This year, in addition, an award for the dining room has been incorporated. "An award that was long overdue, that is a matter of justice," said Pep Palau, director of the Gastronomic Forum of Barcelona, who recalled that the fair has dedicated great prominence to it this year. The recognition went to Marta Rombouts from the Almarge restaurant, in Badalona, a place with extraordinary Catalan cuisine and also with an approachable and professional dining room staff. Furthermore, it has an interesting and genuine wine list.

From panettone to beer

Congresses are usually spaces where there are many awards. Like the Santi Santamaria award for traditional cuisine, which has recognized the long trajectory of El Celler de Matadepera, and the heartfelt tribute to the founder of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini, who died a few months ago, which consisted of a group of mariachis singing Canta y no llores in unison with the restaurateurs who wear the snail of the guide that rewards a more conscious restoration.

Beyond the distinctions, the Forum is the space where two competitions take place. On the one hand, the one for the best panettone in Spain. This year the winners were the Vallflorida pastry shop, from Sant Esteve de Palautordera, in the classic category –therefore, the panettone that contains candied fruit–, and the La Roja pastry shop from Almoradí, in the Baix Segura, in the chocolate category. Vallflorida has already won on previous occasions; one year it even took the prize in both categories. Gerard Costa, from the Vallflorida pastry shop, calculates that this year they will make between 15,000 and 16,000 panettones.

Finally, the fourth edition of the Estrella Damm Pouring Competition also took place to discover who serves beer best in Catalonia. Out of 500 participants, the winner was the bar Manel & Naiara, from Sant Feliu de Llobregat, who pocketed 2,000 euros. The establishment Xavi’s Frankfurt from Terrassa and the bar Un Punt Nou, from Sant Joan de Vilatorrada, achieved second and third position, respectively.