Page 77 - HOSPES DREAMS Summer

3
2
1 Two-Michelin-starred
Chef Diego Guerrero.
2 and 3: Apricot dessert
and mochi by Diego
Guerrero.
Where does your passion for cooking come from?
It comes from knowing the cuisine. I didn’t start studying cuisine because I wanted to become a chef, I did it because I needed to nd a new language, another way to express myself. I used to draw, write stories, and I was torn by whether to study Fine Arts or Journalism. But cooking requires cra skills, everything is handmade, and that’s why I thought it would suit me. My parents told me that it would be hard, and that I wasn’t aware of the amount of work that it required. But I was rebellious at that time and their words su ced for me to start studying cuisine. And I really liked it!
Passion grows little by little. I learnt haute cuisine from Martín Berasategui, whose passion for cooking was contagious. From that moment, I realised that it was my destiny. I had some frustrating experiences, like in every other job. Cooking feels like home, I get angry, I love it, I get frustrated, but it’s always there.
How did the DSTAGE begin?It was a turning point in your life, How did you come up with the idea?
When I turned 40, I decided to start again and set the odometer to zero. ere was so much to learn, not only about business, but also about cuisine. What I do today looks nothing like what I did 4 years ago. It all comes from my urge to improve. I needed a change. In my opinion, life is composed by cycles and we have to mark new stages every time. For 12 years, we had been working hard in a project called Club Allard,
a private club that we started from scratch uopn which we had created an identity that I could not escape. People wouldn’t like any changes coming from the same company. We had lost our spontaneity and we had to break away from all that so we could start again.
“Cooking has allowed me
to do whatever I wanted”
Two-Michelin-starred Chef Diego Guerrero transmits his ideas and passion through the DSTAGE kitchen.
A stage in which he shares the limelight with his team.