Galicia
Speaker
Rafael Centeno & Inés Abril
Chefs at Maruja Limón* (Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain)
Maruja Limón is committed to updating Galician cuisine.
The arrival in the kitchen of Rafa Centeno (Lugo, 1974) was quite by chance. After living outside his homeland during his youth, returning to Galicia and completing a degree in Industrial Relations, he decided to open his own restaurant in Vigo in 2001, naming it in honour of his former mother-in-law, Maruja.
From that moment on, he became a self-taught chef. Rafa has a very personal understanding of the gastronomy of his country. The fact that he has never worked in a restaurant other than his own, nor had any contact with the world of gastronomy, has undoubtedly shaped his style: intuitive, spontaneous, fresh and based on the memories and flavours of his childhood.
Inés Abril enrolled in the Higher Catering Cycle and did her first internship at the Parador de Bayona, later continuing her studies with Francis Paniego at El Portal de Etxaurren (La Rioja). For personal reasons, Inés returned to Vigo and, after working in different places, she started working at Maruja Limón in 2006. In 2008 she was the Galician Champion of Chefs and took part in the second series of Top Chef.
