Rafa Zafra

Chef at Estimar (Barcelona , Spain)

Estimar, with outlets in Barcelona and Madrid, boasts the best sea produce in the purest Mediterranean style.

Rafa has been working in kitchens since he was 16. His family ran Posada de Alcalá, where he learned the basics of the trade. He then studied cookery and worked with the likes of José Mari Arzak and Paco Torreblanca.

After a tour of Italy, he worked with the Adrià brothers on a number of projects such as Hacienda Benazuza elBullihotel, where he started as kitchen assistant and made his way up to chef, Heart Ibiza and Guy Laliberté.

Until the sea crossed his path through the Gotanegra family, five generations of fishing folk in Roses harbour who met up with Rafa Zafra through Anna, now the Andalusian's life companion and business partner in a project where the sea is the main exponent: Estimar.