Pau Pérez Valiente, Aflamas chef, working with fire
The cook · Aflamas
Single chapter — The fire

The chef behind the fire.

Pau Pérez Valiente

Trained at Hofmann and in the Michelin-starred kitchens of Moments, Villa Retiro and Xerta. Today he leads Aflamas with a cuisine of his own: fire, produce and emotion.

Cuisine
signature
The training

Three paths
that shape a cook.

Cooking isn't learned in a single place. It's built with schooling, with technique from the great houses, and with all the hours no one sees.

i.

The school

Hofmann. One of Barcelona's great cooking schools. There Pau learns the fundamentals, the discipline, the respect for the craft. The base on which everything else is later built.

Hofmann Barcelona
ii.

The kitchens

More than ten kitchens. Three Michelin-starred. Houses that shape the way of understanding produce, technique and detail. That's where the standard defining Aflamas today comes from.

Moments ★ Michelin
Villa Retiro ★ Michelin
Xerta ★ Michelin
iii.

His own path

And everything else. The hours before the fire, the produce that changes with the season, the successes and mistakes that only teach you when you're alone in your own kitchen. That's the part that appears on no résumé, and the one that most defines Aflamas.

Aflamas Since 2019
— In Pau's words
"My learning doesn't come only from high distinction. I've also grown in kitchens where produce is worked with respect, humility and a truth that leaves its mark."
The philosophy

Cuisine in one sentence.

"
A cuisine of fire and produce that stirs emotion through unexpected balances.
Pau Pérez Valiente
Chef · Aflamas
i. On fire

Fire as the starting point.

At Aflamas fire isn't just another technique. It's the origin of the dish, what defines texture, aroma, temperature. Cooking with fire is cooking with presence: every ember demands attention, every product reacts differently. That's where the truth of each dish comes from.

ii. On produce

Produce as truth.

Season, proximity, integrity. Produce isn't disguised: it's respected. Each ingredient reaches its best version when worked in just the right measure. No artifice, no excess. Only what the guest will remember.

Why he cooks this way

Detail as the vehicle of emotion.

In the first person
I cook this way because I believe in sparking emotion through detail: aromas, textures and ingredients in just the right measure that raise doubt… and end up revealing flavours you'd never tasted before.
Pau Pérez Valiente
· Recognition

Cuisine recognised by the leading guides.

Repsol Guide
Gastronomic recognition
Macarfi Guide
Gastronomic recognition