Alex Clavijo

Hi. I'm Alex Clavijo Aguiño, a young Ecuadoran chef from Guayaquil aged 33, who has been living in Barcelona for 16 years. I learnt my trade from the bottom up in a gastronomic restaurant, washing plates. Thanks to French chef Marc Abramovici and my effort, sacrifice and desire to make a go of it, I was successful. This isn't an easy life but the satisfaction of seeing people enjoy a dish you've created is priceless. After becoming head chef in the Sant Bartomeu restaurant (my school), I continued to train in a number of restaurants, hotels and caterers, followed by various courses, such as 'Bistronomic'. This was a course in modernised Mediterranean cuisine run by Oriol Ivern (HISOP Restaurant, one Michelin star). Later I became head chef in the VadeBacus Restaurant: a restaurant combining traditional and cutting edge cuisine with a creative touch.

In 2014, I decided to take things a step further and started to go in for cooking competitions, including the 'Cocina Creativa (Denia Red Prawn)' and the National Cooking Competition (for Vinaròs prawns) without success. I didn't let it get to me, so in 2015 I tried again and went in for the Chef of the Year Contest. To my surprise I was selected for the second semi-final in the VI Edition of the Chef of the Year Contest, representing Catalonia; I didn't make the final. 

Then came the chance to go in for the third edition of Top Chef Spain - the most difficult and most important cooking programme in the world - becoming the first Ecuadoran to participate. I did it because I wanted to now how far I could go as a cook and, above all, so people would see how I approached cooking. I ended up sixth of the 16 participants in the programme, having done really well. I was also able to cook in the final and help the finalist who won the programme.

Now, I am engaged in a personal project to make the world aware of Ecuadoran Gastronomy, using its cuisine with a touch of modernity and far more daring, in terms of its most exportable product. I interplay this with the wonderful Mediterranean, which has seen me grow from nothing into a chef, as my ally. Ecuador is not yet spoken about in terms of its cuisine and I want to change that.

I consider myself to be a completely self-taught cook. I have worked with haute cuisine, traditional cuisine, Mediterranean and Ecuadoran. Cooking is my way of life! I love to see people enjoying themselves eating and what better way to do this than through gastronomy.

I am currently the Chef at the Resto Ivy Lounge where the culinary proposal can be defined as 'a traveller's signature cuisine': cooking from here and there. It journeys far and wide and I took the Mediterranean as my starting point, passing through Latin America and Asia, always in search of the cutting edge, without leaving aside my roots or traditional cooking.

By Alex Clavijo