Paolo Casagrande

One could say Paolo Casagrande is the personification of kindness. The awarding in the late 2016 of 3 Michelin stars to restaurant Lasarte of which he runs the kitchen has scarcely left a mark in this affable chef if not for the increasingly grateful affinity and affection for the person with whom he’s shared kitchen and goals for the past 14 years, master Martín Berasategui.

Born near Conegliano (Treviso) in 1979, it didn’t look like he had an innate vocation for cooking. Rather he was curious about the cooks at home who would prepare real feasts for the very numerous family. His father’s intuition led him to attend catering school in Vittorio Veneto. In 1998 he’s in London, then at Chateaux Neuf du Pape with Pierre Pommel and finally he spends 3 years in Paris with Alain Solivérès. Not knowing what to do next, the French chef himself suggests he goes to Berasategui, with whom he starts a long friendship. In 2003 Casagrande enters the kitchen in Lasarte in the Basque Country, then Berasategui puts him in charge of the new project in Tenerife, where in 2009 he gets the first Michelin star for restaurant M.B. at the The Ritz-Carlton Abama.

Two years spent in Italy at Casta Diva Resort in Blevio on Lake Como and finally on the 2nd September 2012 he arrives at Lasarte in Barcelona. Since 2006 the restaurant offers the masterful cuisine of the headquarters in San Sebastián in the Catalan capital and has already 2 Michelin stars. Directed by the young Italian chef, the already excellent cuisine at Lasarte makes a superlative leap. This is reinforced by renovations of the hotel hosting the restaurant, which moves from 4 stars to 5 stars luxury, and of the restaurant, which triples its space creating a magnificent setting for the excellent dining room service and food.

Following Berasategui’s philosophy, Casagrande shows a great personality: he fully draws from the Basque heritage, doesn’t forget his Italian roots and also draws from the great Catalan territory, blessed with the rich Mediterranean sea. Without forsaking anything to the cuisine of his mentor, he gives elegant representations, both in flavours and pairings, showing great technical and creative skills, which he uses to paint a very personal menu. A long and extraordinary collaboration, great human skills, deep mutual admiration and complicity resulted in the first and much aspired 3 Michelin stars in Barcelona.