i. Biography
In Santiago de Compostela, the kitchen starts with what the season and the coast already provide: Galician produce from field and market, firm-fleshed fish, cabbage, grapes, millet, beef, and charcoal’s clean smoke. At Gaio, Andres Medina Risco works from that Atlantic pantry without flattening it, using Peruvian and Asian technique to widen the register. The dishes are built for sharing and for clarity: vivid, balanced, textural, and direct about the quality of the raw material.
The Climb
Today, Andres is chef of Gaio. The title is plain, but the work behind it is not: pacing service, keeping timing exact, and drawing definition from ingredients that already carry strong character. In Andres Medina Risco’s hands, the line of the cooking reads from fire toward precision, with heat first, then seasoning, sauce, and the point where texture yields.
Today
Fire, cabbage, and dressing do the structural work on the chicken plate. The elements stay legible, none pushed past their mark, and the result is a clean exchange between smoke, freshness, and lift. The sauce ties the plate together without burying the individual parts. Mackerel contributes oil and depth; grapes shift the plate toward sweetness and lift; gazpachuelo supplies softness and structure. The combination is deliberate, but it does not feel forced. It shows how richness can be kept in check by brightness, and how a soft element can sharpen the whole rather than blur it. The tosta works in a different key, but with the same discipline: grain, beef, toast, memory. In a menu shaped by cross-cultural technique, it carries a family register as well as a culinary one. The language is direct, and the plate is grounded, but the weight of the dish comes from how plainly it holds emotional and material density at once.
Signature
Andres Medina Risco is associated with mackerel with grapes and gazpachuelo and millet and bull's beef tosta.
Recognition
The millet and bull’s beef tosta carries its recognition inside the menu rather than outside it. By paying tribute to his grandmother and aunt, the dish links technique and seasonality to family memory while staying faithful to the ingredients on the plate. That is the balance that gives Andres Medina Risco’s cooking its emotional shape: tribute without excess, and restraint without loss of feeling.
Profile updated August 2026
FAQ
Asked of Andres
What is Andres Medina Risco's current role?
As of 2026, Andres Medina Risco is Chef at Gaio.
What is Andres Medina Risco known for?
Fusion cooking that combines Peruvian and Asian technique with seasonal Galician produce.
