Miguel Xavier Monar Toromoreno is a chef born in Quito who has just turned 48 years old, 20 of them dedicated as a professional chef in Spain. The search to learn and professionalize has led him to travel several countries, but based on Spain, from where he has managed to project Ecuadorian gastronomy to every corner he has visited. He has also lived in the United States and China.
Ecuador shines in Hungary with its export products at a dinner for businessmen and guests
His resume is extensive. He is also a chef trainer, gastronomic consultant, restaurateur, administrator, manager, owner, in short, a series of positions that have positioned him among the elite of Ecuadorian cuisine in Spain.
“In my beginnings I studied Architecture and Interior Design in Ecuador. Then I wanted to study cooking, which was something I wanted to study all my life, but at that time as a student it was prohibitive to say: ‘I want to study cooking’, because if not, your dad could beat you up. So, you had to study the traditional professions of Ecuador and the family. Thanks to a scholarship to which I applied 20 years ago in Madrid, I came, and it turned out that I never went to Ecuador to work again. In Spain I got my professional cook diploma. Since then I have been training, taking many courses, training not only in gastronomy, but also in restaurant and wine management. One of the courses I did was to become a trainer. So, this has helped me in my career”, says Monar.
After three years of working in a restaurant, he managed to become, in a short time, head chef, after having obtained the professional title. “I am proud to say that I started washing pots in an Italian restaurant; that was my first job. Then they promoted me from washing dishes, to being a boss.” After having managed to be promoted in that place, Miguel decided that it was time to look for other directions, and this led him to Spanish cuisine.
“I managed to work in a ‘battle’ restaurant, in a Madrid industrial estate, where I learned about stews, funds, in itself, to know what the true cuisine of this country was. After that I became head chef and executive chef in other prestigious restaurants”.
The Ecuadorian flag
Monar has managed to bring Ecuadorian cuisine to the top in countless events held in Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, China, Israel, Ecuador and the United States. In each of the fairs or show cooking It has shown what Ecuador has for the world, allowing thousands of people to learn more about the premium exportable products. But, as the saying goes, “in a blacksmith’s house, a wooden knife”: in the beginning, Miguel was unaware of the cuisine of his land.
“With the issue of Ecuador I have been involved for about eight or nine years. I’m honest, I didn’t know anything about Ecuadorian cuisine, so I had to learn international cuisine here. When they offered me, about nine years ago, to be head chef of the only Ecuadorian haute cuisine restaurant in the world, which was Paralelo Cero (currently closed), in Madrid, and which had been operating for a year, I had to learn to train myself. As an Ecuadorian cook, learn to thoroughly prepare Ecuadorian recipes. It is when my journey with the Ecuador Exquisite brand began. I started organizing fairs, events; I also started working with ProEcuador in the promotion of Ecuadorian products; I was named ambassador of Ecuadorian products in 2019. Tuna, shrimp, bananas, among other products, I started promoting them at different fairs in Spain. This allowed it to make its way to other cities in Europe to make show cooking, until there comes a point where I’m going on a tour of China for a month, cooking in several cities only with Ecuadorian products. At one of those moments, a group of Chinese-Italian investors liked the food, ”he says.
Monar’s gastronomic adventure, with investors, led him to open Wawamama, in Shanghai. “We managed to open that ancestral and fusion food restaurant with a tremendous boom in that city, because imagine that absolutely nothing is known about Ecuador. That was my first journey outside of Spain”.
Later, he came to our country to learn more about the local cuisine. “I visited town to town to learn more about other products. Then they called me for a rather interesting project in Napa Valley (California, USA), but I didn’t fit in there. In that, I returned to Spain to start an Asturian cuisine restaurant, but the COVID pandemic came, which paralyzed the whole world. I am hooked again with the Ecuador Brand”.
Miguel Monar he is also the author of books; he has been a finalist in several cooking competitions; his career has been recognized by the Ecuadorian government. His knowledge has helped him prepare recipes with exportable products from Ecuador, giving each one a personal and artistic touch.
In the middle of the pandemic, he met a group of Ecuadorian businessmen in Madrid who had been with La Fontana Gastro for ten years, a restaurant that promotes Andean, Caribbean, Amazonian and Spanish cuisine, including bold proposals in bakery and coffee. “When they call me to discuss a project that they were already developing, they had already followed my trajectory from Paralelo Cero, so they wanted to put something of that level from Ecuador in Madrid. That was two and a half years ago. So I decided to join to take advantage of this cafeteria-bakery and turn it into a high-level restaurant”, highlights Miguel.
It was a risk, he says. It refers, then, to the investment they made since the place where La Fontana Gastro operates is known for being upper middle class, where Spaniards especially live. “They are very right-wing people; A client even told us to be careful, because maybe racism and all that… But I have never felt racism in all the time I have lived in Spain. So we said, ‘Why not?’ We changed the entire menu, we Latinized it and, little by little, we were Ecuadorianizing it. Since then, La Fontana has become a benchmark not only in Spain, but in Europe, of what Ecuadorian cuisine is”.
Such has been the success of this venture, together with chef Luis Uyama and barista Jairo Sanguña, who have a full schedule until the end of the year in terms of events inside and outside of Spain. “We were not able to cover all that avalanche of fairs and gastronomic events after the pandemic. We are overwhelmed traveling to other parts, all with the Ecuador Brand”.
“No one is a prophet in their land,” says Monar, referring to the fact that Ecuadorian products have allowed him to be known internationally. “The Ecuador brand has given me great satisfaction, especially in Spain. I am considered the guru of Ecuadorian food, even some magazines have published it like this. They consider me a benchmark of Ecuadorian cuisine. At fairs they recognize me as ‘the chef of Ecuador’, not even by name. That makes me proud. We are like the spearhead of Ecuadorian gastronomy in Spain”, says Miguel, and affirms that, of the public that goes to La Fontana, “only 1% is Ecuadorian”.
On his agenda, Monar is preparing to give a talk at the Organization of Ibero-American States, on September 21 in Madrid, on the occasion of his anniversary, where he will talk about Ecuador’s ancestral cuisine. “I am proud that they call me from France, Germany, Hungary, and tell me: ‘Hey, help us, we want to promote Ecuadorian food’”.
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
