Manuel Núñez

The Climb

Technique, repetition, and service discipline are the through-line in Manuel Núñez’s path. He trained at Superior Hostelry Center of Santiago de Compostela, where kitchen rules become practice before they become habit. He then entered the kitchens of El Amparo in Madrid and Casa Solla in Pontevedra as an intern, learning the pace of service and the standards that separate finished work from raw intent. The early record is cumulative: each stop adds method, timing, and taste. Public visibility arrived with Top Chef (2017), but the underlying work had already been building in professional kitchens. That appearance set Manuel Núñez in sharper view without changing the structure of his practice: a chef oriented to movement, craft, and steady refinement. In 2018–2018, he worked as chef at Gastrologik, Ekstedt and Nook in Stockholm, a run that broadened his geography and exposed his cooking to different house rhythms. The sequence points to a kitchen mind that learns by comparison and keeps its own direction while doing so. Since 2021, Manuel Núñez has been chef at Besta in Barcelona and chef at Batea in Barcelona (from 2021). Barcelona is the point where those earlier references converge. The route from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid, Pontevedra, Stockholm, and then Barcelona gives his career its shape: a line traced through kitchens, with each one leaving a clear mark on the next.

Today

“The two of us like those crossed paths, and that is already reflected in the pantry.” The line is plain, and that is why it works. It treats the pantry as an active record of exchange rather than a storage room, which is how many working kitchens operate when the cook understands context as part of the craft. In Manuel Núñez’s case, the sentence points to a kitchen built from shared references, carried through into composition and balance.

Signature

Manuel's signature dishes include Fresh Peas in Salsa Verde with Pasta and Scallops. The dish name signals a precise point of view: seasonal produce, marine depth, and pasta used as structure rather than weight. It reads as composed, not crowded, with restraint doing the work that keeps the plate clear. The effect is generous, but controlled.

In Their Words “The two of us like those crossed paths, and that is already reflected in the pantry.”