i. Biography
At DIREKTE Boqueria in Barcelona, local product was handled as a working language: Catalan ingredients carried through Korean, Chinese, and Japanese accents, then arranged into small plates that depended on precision as much as contrast. As chef there from 2018 to 2020, Shu Zhang worked in a Catalan-Japanese fusion tasting-menu register, building dishes through balance rather than weight. Crab tortelloni, marinated sardines with pear kimchi, and smoked matcha cheesecake became closely associated with the restaurant, each one a compact exercise in texture, acidity, and restraint.
The Climb
Before entering restaurant kitchens, Shu Zhang trained at CentraleSupélec, a background that points to systems, structure, and a working comfort with complexity. That foundation reads through the cooking that followed, where composition stays controlled and the plate is built with clear internal logic. Her first major restaurant chapter came as founder / restaurateur at Maguey in Paris, France (from 2014), where she began shaping a public point of view and moving from training into authorship. By 2018, that trajectory had sharpened further at DIREKTE Boqueria in Barcelona, Spain, where Shu became sous chef. The role placed her inside a kitchen already committed to precision, while giving her room to refine a style that could hold several influences without losing line. Her work with local ingredients and East Asian references is clearest there: a Catalan base carrying Korean, Chinese and Japanese accents, each one measured and deliberate rather than ornamental. Today, Shu’s work extends beyond the pass. She is founder of Pandobac (since 2018), a role that carries the same systems-minded approach visible in her earlier formation, while also pointing toward food and logistics as subjects for rethinking. She is also mission committee member of CITEO and president of Réseau Vrac et Réemploi, positions that place her within practical change and collective action. Taken together, these roles show a career that has moved outward from the kitchen without leaving its discipline behind, expanding from dishes and service into the wider structure of how food moves and circulates.
Signature
Crab tortelloni, smoked matcha cheesecake, and marinated sardines with pear kimchi mark out Shu Zhang’s cooking in compact form. The tortelloni leans into delicacy and richness at once; the cheesecake pulls a familiar dessert into a sharper aromatic register; the sardines with pear kimchi show the clearest version of her Catalan-Asian approach, with saline, brightness, and layered contrast kept in check. These dishes remain tied to her work because they show how her kitchens have often been built: with clarity, tension, and a refusal to bury the ingredient under the idea.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Shu
Where did Shu Zhang train or study?
Shu Zhang trained at CentraleSupélec.
What recognition has Shu Zhang received?
Recognition from Gault & Millau.
