Other
Luis Valls
Head Chef, Àtic at Palau Alameda
- Discipline
- Other
Known for
- Two Michelin stars at El Poblet (2019)
- 20 years alongside Quique Dacosta
- Valencian territory-focused cuisine
- Transition to Àtic Alameda in 2024
i. Biography
Luis Valls’s practice is built from service and stove in equal measure, with local identity as the constant reference point. The discipline runs through CDT in Valencia, formal dining rooms in London, kitchens in his home city and Dénia, and the long operational pressure of El Poblet. In his current work as gastronomic adviser at Palau Alameda in Valencia, Spain, that formation is applied to hospitality as a whole: product selection, the reading of territory, the handling of memory, and the way a restaurant makes its local language legible.
The Ascent
Kitchen formation at CDT gave Luis Valls the technical base for a career repeatedly tested in demanding rooms and kitchens. The early sequence was practical rather than decorative: an internship at Torrijos in the city, followed by London posts as head waiter and head chef at Cambio de Tercio in London, and as head waiter and head chef at Tendido Cuatro in London. Those paired dining-room and kitchen roles matter in the trade. They indicate a cook trained to understand not only production, but timing, explanation, reception and the afterlife of a dish at the table. Regional kitchen discipline continued through work as a kitchen trainee / practitioner at Ca Sento and then as chef at Les Nits. The line then widened through Vuelve Carolina, where Luis Valls became a team member from 2010, and through Quique Dacosta Restaurante in Dénia, where he worked as a kitchen team member. Across those addresses, the consistent materials were precision, product and a sense of place. Kitchen leadership became explicit at Vuelve Carolina, where Luis Valls served as head chef from 2014 to 2017. That period brought the operational demands of directing a team, holding pace, and converting an idea into serviceable plates without losing identity. His continuing role as head chef of El Poblet since 2014 anchors one of the central chapters of that professional formation.
The Work Today
Gastronomic advising at Palau Alameda places Luis Valls’s experience across a broader hospitality structure rather than a single station or pass. The work draws on formal training at CDT, dining-room fluency in London, kitchen rigor in the region and Dénia, and the discipline of leading at El Poblet. In that context, Palau Alameda becomes a site for applying accumulated craft to the way a house thinks, receives and cooks. Product, territory and emotion form the working frame. Product sets the starting point. Territory gives the cooking its direction and local accountability. Emotion is treated as something carried by clarity, memory and restraint, not as ornament. In Valls’s role, those principles guide a hospitality project intended to make the city readable through the table. Market-led cooking at Àtic in Palau Alameda, where Luis Valls is in charge of the kitchen from 2026 to the present, is described as approachable and based on market produce. The register is direct: food shaped by availability, local sense and a regional line that connects his early posts with his years at El Poblet. The emphasis is on clarity rather than complication, and on the relation between place and plate.
Honors
Recognition for El Poblet includes Michelin Guide: El Poblet awarded second Michelin star (2019) and Repsol Guide: Dos Soles for El Poblet revalidated (2023). For Luis Valls, those honors sit inside a longer body of practice shaped by CDT in Valencia, Palau Alameda in Valencia, Spain, and a working vocabulary of discipline, Valencian territory and emotion.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Luis
What is Luis Valls's current position?
Luis Valls is gastronomic adviser at Palau Alameda.
Where did Luis Valls train or study?
Luis Valls trained at CDT in Valencia.
What recognition has Luis Valls received?
Michelin Guide: El Poblet awarded second Michelin star (2019).
