The gastronomy of the Canary Islands is a very fit and healthy cuisine, and the Padrón brothers are the best example of this. Juan Carlos came to the Kursaal, as Jonathan was unable to travel at the last minute, and explained his philosophy step by step, price by price, dish by dish.

A pioneer of the new Canarian cuisine, he analysed the past and present of El Rincón de Juan Carlos, a project that began 21 years ago as a family restaurant where the Padrón brothers and their mother found a way to make a living. Raquel Navarro and María José Plasencia, the Padrón brothers' wives, joined the business a few years later "to be able to see their partners", but soon decided to train in the dining room and as sommeliers, giving the restaurant a boost.

Those early years were not easy, but in 2011, in a context of general crisis, Juan Carlos was runner-up in the Chef of the Year award. In 2014, the accolades began to arrive, with the first Sol Repsol, and in 2016, the first Michelin star was awarded. In 2017, in the middle of the whirlwind, they decided to create the consulting service with the brand of Hermanos Padrón, which gave them economic stability and coincided with the second Sol, as well as other awards and recognitions.

In 2019 this family opened their other restaurant, in this case in Gran Canaria, Poemas by Hermanos Padrón, and in 2021 they made another important decision: they 'moved' to the new corner in the Royal Hideaway Corales Resort in Adeje. "I was very scared, I didn't sleep, but today I think we should have left earlier," admits Padrón.

The successes continued, with the first Sol in Poema in 2021, but '2022 was our lottery, we will never forget it in our lives, with the third Sol in Rincón, the first Estrella in Poema and the second in El Rincón'. Looking back, he reflects and admits that "I never thought I would get this far. There have been ups and downs, as in any family restaurant. In these businesses we have a peculiarity: we are very passionate, we give a lot of care, because the first thing is to feel good with the family, but then this is also reflected in the kitchen'.

A look back at his kitchen

'From that avocado with prawns in 2003, we have gone to this, we are doing what we like to do, enjoying and making people enjoy themselves in a family restaurant. And all this thanks to my team, who give me much more than I give them', said Juan Carlos Padrón, before going on to review his career in different dishes.

This was the case of the sweet blood sausage nougat, "a classic that never disappears from the menu"; the Parmesan ravioli with lentil broth, a very fine pasta "that explodes in your mouth"; or the pickled tomatoes with pil-pil and green Bloody Mary made from old tomato varieties, which the congress participants were able to taste.

They also presented onion soup with broken custard, because "there is nothing more international than onion soup"; they also paid tribute to the cuisine of Casqueria with lamb neck with fresh herbs, mint and seaweed; they made a prawn pie from La Santa (Lanzarote), 'a fresh and fun dish'; they brought their nori seaweed sandwich with foie gras pastry and trout roe with seaweed powder to Donostia; and they finished with their lobster with pickled tender almonds, white garlic and white flowers.