France
Pascal Borrell
Chef at Le Fanal (Banyuls-sur-Mer, France)
Pascal Borrell reinterprets traditional Catalan and Mediterranean recipes with local produce from his own region.
He was born in Perpignan, and studied chemistry before taking up his real passion, cookery, on a full-time basis. He choose Lyons to learn the trade, and then worked at restaurants with Michelin stars such as Le Chapon Fin in Perpignan, Ledoyen in Paris, with Jean-François Lemercier, Arpège with Alain Passard, Jean Bardet's restaurant in Tours, and Le Réverbère in Narbonne.
Pascal Borrell then went back to his roots and opened Le Fanal restaurant in Banyuls-sur-Mer with wife Marie-France, where he uses local produce in his recipes. In 2004 he was declared Best Regional Chef by the Gault & Millau guide, and in 2016 he took the "Cuisine de la Mer" or sea cuisine award.