Quim Casellas

The Path

Since 2000, Quim Casellas has held the chef role at Casamar. That kind of continuity gives a kitchen a different register: less about relocation, more about repetition, adjustment, and the slow accumulation of trust service after service. In Llafranc, Casamar has been the fixed point for that work, with Casellas sustaining the restaurant through the years as its profile changed. The path here is not defined by moving from house to house, but by staying in one place long enough to make each season, each service, and each shift in reputation count.

The Work Today

Quim Casellas continues as chef in Llafranc. The fact itself is plain; the work it implies is not. A long-running kitchen depends on consistency, attention, and the ability to keep a restaurant legible over time. Under Casellas, Casamar remains the vessel for that discipline, with Llafranc as the setting for a practice shaped by endurance rather than display. His public comments carry the same directness: recognition matters, but so does the daily effort of keeping the house moving when attention rises and falls.

In Their Words “They gave it to us in 2011, when we absolutely did not expect it. That year, in 2011, we were the only restaurant in the area to receive one.” “When they took away the Michelin star, we felt very abandoned; we stopped being in the spotlight of the press and events.”

Acclaim

Quim's honors include 1 Michelin star (2011). The 2011 star marked a clear high point for Casamar under Casellas: unexpected when it arrived, and singular in the area that year. Its removal left a different kind of mark, which Casellas has described without varnish—as a loss of visibility, press, and event attention as much as of the award itself. For that reason, the recognition sits in his profile not just as an accolade, but as a case study in how external validation can alter a restaurant’s standing, and how its absence can be felt long after the announcement.