Rafael Ignacio Ortega Valverde, Executive Chef · sample page

Rafael Ignacio Ortega Valverde

Executive Chef, Hotel Almadraba, Cádiz

I run the kitchens of a 140-room hotel on the Atlantic coast, from a Michelin-starred dining room to a beach club and banqueting for six hundred. I learned to cook in Seville, learned to lead in London, and now cook whatever the boats bring in.

4 outlets 62 in the brigade €9.4m food turnover a year 1 Michelin star

Kitchens

2021 to now

Hotel Almadraba

Executive Chef, Cádiz

Opened the beach club in 2022 and rebuilt the fine-dining menu around the tuna caught off the coast each spring. The restaurant went from no listing to a Michelin star in two years.

Outlets: 4
Brigade: 62
Food turnover: €9.4m a year
Covers: Up to 600 a day
Opened: Beach club, 2022

Tuna in an almond broth with red shiso and mizuna — Tuna, almond broth, red shisoBeach club, spring 2025

Four dishes on a wooden table: rice with sliced beef, octopus, a cold almond soup and potatoes — The beach club table: rice, octopus, almond soup, potatoesBeach club, 2025

2016 to 2021

Casa Lume

Head Chef, Lisbon

A forty-seat dining room with a single tasting menu that changed every six weeks.

Brigade: 18
Food turnover: €2.1m a year
Covers: 80 a night

2012 to 2016

The Hollin

Sous Chef, London

Ran the pass five nights a week and wrote the training plan for new commis.

Brigade: 24
Covers: 140 a night

2008 to 2012: commis to chef de partie, in Seville and Madrid

Dishes

Raw prawn in a white bowl with a golden sauce, kelp and cornflowers, a roasted prawn head beside it

Red prawn, its head roasted, fermented chilli and kelp

The prawn is served raw over a custard made from its own coral. The head comes on the side, roasted hard, to eat with your hands.

Restaurante Almadraba, 2024

Heirloom tomatoes with sheep’s curd, nasturtium leaves and flowers in a pale bowl — Garden tomatoes, sheep’s curd, nasturtiumBeach club, summer 2025

Seared sea bass with a courgette roll and an orange sauce on a white plate — Sea bass, courgette, bouillabaisse sauceCasa Lume, 2019

Carrot dish in an amber broth on a white plate with a blue rim, a jug of saffron sauce beside it — Carrot, saffron, blood orangeCasa Lume, 2021

Cockles with sea herbs and a light foam in a wide white bowl — Cockles, sea herbs, their own foamRestaurante Almadraba, 2025

Tomato and watermelon with pickled shallot rings and basil in a white bowl

Tomato and watermelon, pickled shallot, basilBeach club, 2025

Onion dish in a textured white bowl, an egg resting in hay beside it — Onion cooked in hay, smoked eggCasa Lume, 2020

Two plates seen from above on a dark carpet: a dumpling in broth and sliced beef with jus — Retinta beef, beetroot, its jusRestaurante Almadraba, 2024

Goat’s cheese on puff pastry with crisp potato and pea shoots on a black plate — Goat’s cheese tart, crisp potato, celeriacThe Hollin, 2015

In conversation

Where did you learn the most?

At The Hollin, on the pass. Five nights a week of reading tickets teaches you timing, and timing is most of running a kitchen. I learned to cook in Seville, but I learned to lead in London.

How do you run a kitchen?

Small teams inside a big one. Each outlet has its own head chef who owns the menu and the numbers. I set the standard, taste every day and spend Mondays with the sous chefs on costs and rotas.

What are you cooking now?

Whatever the boats bring in. In spring that means bluefin tuna, and we use all of it, from the loin to the bones for the broth.