Jordi Cruz

Jordi Cruz is a Spanish chef whose work is defined by a product-first approach, contemporary technique, and a restrained use of invention. Since 2010, he has been head chef at ABaC, where creative cuisine is built from local, seasonal produce and shaped through contrast, control, and proportion. The result is a modern Spanish line that keeps a traditional pull under its avant-garde form, staying readable through discipline and ingredient-led structure. His professional formation at Escuela Superior de Hostelería de Manresa placed technique and kitchen rigor before authorship. That foundation is visible in his early work at Estany Clar de Cercs until 2007, where the cooking drew recognition while remaining tied to exactness, ambition, and close attention to product. In 2007, he became manager and head chef at L’Angle in Sant Fruitós de Bages, a dual role that required oversight of both the kitchen and the service mechanism, with pacing, consistency, and standards all part of the work. Cruz’s practice runs across several registers without losing its core concerns. At his gastronomic flagship, he continues to work with high-quality local and seasonal ingredients, allowing technique to support the product rather than overpower it. The cuisine is described as creative yet traditional, modern in form but grounded in the ingredient. That balance is central to his approach: refinement without abstraction, invention held close enough to remain accountable, and a kitchen method shaped by timing, judgment, and proportion. His own words identify the scope of his work plainly: he is the chef of three restaurants in Barcelona, including ABaC Restaurant, Angle Barcelona and Ten’s Tapas Restaurant. Since 2012, he has also been chef of Ten’s Tapas Restaurant, adding a different service register to his gastronomic work. Since 2014, he has served as judge of MasterChef, bringing professional kitchen habits into a public setting while keeping the restaurant work at the center of his profile. Ecology also appears in practical terms in Cruz’s thinking. He has said that it costs the same to be ecological than not to be, and he has described his own efforts in that direction as part of everyday practice. This outlook fits the broader logic of his cuisine, where attention to local and seasonal ingredients extends to the conditions around the product as well as the plate itself. Recognition has followed different stages of his career. He received a first Michelin star for Estany Clar de Cercs in 2004, Best Restaurant of Catalonia for ABaC in 2011, and three Michelin stars for ABaC in 2017. These markers reflect a career built on continuity rather than decoration alone, with the same method carried from early responsibility to sustained standing at ABaC.