Alimentaria's flagship chef, Montse Estruch, achieves her first Michelin star

The restaurant El Cingle, whose best-known figure is the Catalan chef Montse Estruch, is one of the 18 new establishments to which the historical Michelin Guide has granted its recognition in the form of a star. The 33rd edition of the "bible" of good food lovers has taken a special liking to Catalonia -where 35% of the stars have been awarded- and to the women chefs who are slowly seeing recognition of their work in the kitchens.

 Montse Estruch has been working with Alimentaria since 2000, although it was not until 2002 that she took charge of the Mediterranean Diet Pavilion restaurant. From the very beginning, Estruch's work at Alimentaria focused on putting the products, their smells and their most primary textures centre stage, something she has been doing for years at the restaurant El Cingle in Vacarisses, a village in the province of Barcelona.

After taking over the family business in the sixties -a business which at that time was a boarding house at the foot of Montserrat-Montse Estruch began to sense "an extremely clear change in what cookery was going to be about". This change led her to alternate her day-to-day work in the kitchen with periods of study abroad with masters such as Alain Ducasse and Bernard Benbassat. Sense then, the cooking at El Cingle has been characterised by its combination of top quality products with a creative logic that is attentive to every detail -colour, setting, crockery, etc.- and essentially seeks to surprise.

The wisdom of Alimentaria's choice of Montse Estruch has now been confirmed by the award of a Michelin star to her restaurant. This star is not just recognition of the establishment's class, but is also a reward for a different way of conceiving cookery.