Chef
Jordi Cruz
Head Chef, ABaC Restaurant
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Barcelona, Spain
- Venue
- ABaC · Restaurant
Known for
- Youngest Spanish chef to earn a Michelin star at age 26 (2004)
- Chef of three Michelin-starred restaurants: ABaC (3 stars), L'Angle (2 stars), Atempo (1 star)
- Judge on MasterChef Spain since 2013
i. Biography
In the city, creative cuisine at ABaC is built from the product outward. Local, seasonal produce sets the terms; technique follows. Since 2010, Jordi Cruz, Spanish head chef at this dining room, has worked in a Spanish avant-garde register that keeps a traditional pull under the invention. The plate language is based on contrast, control, and proportion: modern in form, grounded in ingredient, and disciplined enough for the idea to remain readable.
The Making
Professional formation at Escuela Superior de Hostelería de Manresa put technique and kitchen rigor before authorship. That base is visible in Jordi Cruz’s early work at Estany Clar de Cercs until 2007, where the cooking drew recognition while staying tied to exactness, ambition, and a close reading of product. Restaurant command is not only cooking; it is the management of standards through service. From 2007, at L’Angle in Sant Fruitós de Bages, Cruz served as manager and head chef, a dual role that required both the hand at the stove and the eye over the room-to-kitchen mechanism: pacing, consistency, and the survival of an idea under pressure. The cooking continued in a contemporary Spanish line without cutting itself off from familiar structures. A modern chef’s workload can run across different registers without changing the craft problem. As head chef of his gastronomic flagship (since 2010), judge of MasterChef, and chef of Ten’s Tapas Restaurant (since 2012), Cruz works between gastronomic dining room, television, and tapas. The through-line is not novelty as an end in itself, but inquiry held to season, locality, and proportion.
The Work Today
Creative cuisine at the restaurant, where Cruz has been head chef since 2010, is described through high-quality produce: local and seasonal ingredients are a must, handled through a creative yet traditional take. That pairing matters in a working kitchen. It permits change without erasing the ingredient; refinement without abstraction so complete that the product loses force. Product leads, then technique, structure, and the curiosity of a chef working inside the Spanish avant-garde. The base is stated plainly in Cruz’s own words: "My name is Jordi Cruz Mas. I’m the chef of three restaurants in Barcelona: ABaC Restaurant, Angle Barcelona and Ten’s Tapas Restaurant." For a trade reader, the statement locates the work before it decorates it. His gastronomic flagship and Ten’s Tapas Restaurant show different service registers in the same city, with place remaining part of the operating logic. Since 2014, judging on MasterChef, the Spanish cooking competition TV show, has put professional kitchen habits into a public format. In Cruz’s profile, that role sits beside the restaurants rather than replacing them. The deeper grammar remains timing, judgment, balance, and the decision of when an idea has gone far enough. Ecology enters the discussion in practical terms. "I think it costs the same to be ecological than not to be," Cruz has said, adding in Spanish, "Hombre, me gusta hacer cosas por el planeta y hace 3 años que no gasto combustibles fósiles y tengo placas en casa." The point is framed as daily practice rather than brand language. It sits coherently beside a cuisine based on local and seasonal ingredients, where attention to product also means attention to the conditions around it.
Accolades
Jordi Cruz has received Michelin Guide — First Michelin star (2004). Recognition in this career has come at several service points: First Michelin star, at Estany Clar de Cercs (2004), Best Restaurant of Catalonia for ABaC (2011), and Three Michelin stars for ABaC (2017). Read as trade markers, they track movement from early responsibility to Catalan acknowledgment to sustained standing at ABaC. The useful lesson is not the decoration of a résumé, but the continuity of a method: product first, contemporary Spanish technique under control, and invention kept close enough to its source to remain accountable.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Jordi
What is Jordi Cruz's present role?
Jordi Cruz is head chef.
Where did Jordi Cruz train or study?
Jordi Cruz trained at Escuela Superior de Hostelería de Manresa.
What recognition has Jordi Cruz received?
Three Michelin stars for ABaC (2017).
