i. Biography
Fernando P. Arellano works as Executive Chef at Zaranda in Palma, Spain, a Mallorcan creative kitchen whose recognition includes a Second Michelin star in 2015. Its cooking draws on European discipline, Balearic identity, and the material character of Mallorca. From the restaurant’s 2005 opening in Madrid to its later life as a Mallorca address, Arellano’s work has emphasized precision, memory, travel, roots, and the grain of the place around the kitchen.
Career Arc
Kitchen formation often starts outside the line, where repetition and service rhythm are visible before authorship enters the picture. Fernando P. Arellano began as a dishwasher in Dublin, then moved through kitchen roles that exposed him to several registers of European cooking. Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin, Le Gavroche in London, Don Alfonso 1890 in Naples, Maison Pic in Valence, and Can Fabes in Barcelona each added a different measure of rigor, tempo, and place-based thinking. European kitchen work, taken across Dublin, London, Naples, Valence, Barcelona, and Madrid, became the technical base for a cuisine later tied more tightly to memory and geography. In Arellano’s case, the sequence reads as a working apprenticeship in range: discipline in the hands, movement across traditions, and a developing method for translating place into plate without losing technical control. Restaurant authorship took form in 2005–2010, when Fernando P. Arellano was founder / chef at Zaranda in Madrid, Spain. Zaranda’s 2005 debut in Madrid established the restaurant voice that later found its Mallorca setting. Today, Fernando is Executive Chef of Zaranda (since 2010) and founder / chef of Baiben (since 2016), roles that keep his work between refinement and rootedness.
Present Day
Mallorcan creative cooking is the present frame for Fernando P. Arellano’s work as Executive Chef at Zaranda in Palma, Mallorca, Spain. He is also Executive Chef at Restaurant Zaranda in Galilea, Mallorca, Spain, and opened Baiben in Puerto Portals, Mallorca, Spain, in 2016. Across these addresses, the cooking keeps a Balearic core while using a contemporary vocabulary. Zaranda’s menus draw on experiences, surroundings, travels, and roots, expressed as contemporary cooking with a cutting-edge technical concept and a significant Majorcan influence. The locality is not treated as decoration; it is passed through technique, memory, and a wider European perspective. At the Palma restaurant, the work channels Mallorca’s soul through a cosmopolitan lens, linking an ancient tannery site, heritage, texture, and modern elegance. Three named dishes show that vocabulary in compact form. *Majorica Oyster*, made with freshly shucked pickled pearls, horseradish, and caviar, works from sea, acidity, and polish. *The Black Egg*, with white onion and cuttlefish caviar, sets sweetness against marine depth and familiar shape against darker intensity. *Amphora*, a slightly spicy rock octopus All I pebre, uses the language of vessel, coast, heat, and concentration. Food memory, in this kitchen, is kept close to the traditional table. Asked about a defining food memory, Fernando P. Arellano answered, "My mother’s cocido madrileño (a traditional chickpea stew from my home town)." His advice to younger cooks is equally plain: "Buy and read Larousse Gastronomique. Dive into traditional foods. Look for their own story. Learn techniques but NEVER copy." The working principle is clear enough for any cook: study first, understand tradition, build a voice, and keep technique in service of the dish.
Signature
Signature dishes include “Majorica Oyster”: freshly shucked pickled pearls. The short description matches the Zaranda register: a concentrated marine idea, shaped with technical restraint and tied to Mallorca’s textures and imagination. In Fernando P. Arellano’s hands, the dish sits inside a broader language of refinement, place, and controlled tension.
Distinctions
Fernando P. Arellano has received Michelin Guide: Second Michelin star for Zaranda (2015). Recognition for the restaurant has tracked its development from Madrid to Mallorca. Fernando's honors include Second Michelin star for Zaranda (2015), First Michelin star for Zaranda (2006), Best new restaurant in Madrid for Zaranda (2005), and Two Repsol suns for Zaranda. Read together, the distinctions mark sustained work on a cuisine built from discipline, memory, and a personal reading of the Balearic world.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Fernando
What is Fernando P. Arellano's current role?
Fernando P. Arellano is Executive Chef at Zaranda.
Where did Fernando P. Arellano work before?
Earlier in their career, Fernando P. Arellano worked at Patrick Guilbaud and Le Gavroche.
What recognition has Fernando P. Arellano received?
Second Michelin star for Zaranda (2015).
