Gastón Acurio
Gastón Acurio is much more than a chef; he is a leader who has succeeded in placing Peruvian gastronomy among the most important in the world. Cuisine has become a vehicle that unites all Peruvians and he is its catalyst, working to the objective of "Peruvianising the world", in his own words. Gastón Acurio is considered by the best gastronomic critics and professionals to be one of the twenty most influential chefs in the world. He is a member of the Basque Culinary Center Advisory Council. His Lima restaurant, Astrid y Gastón Casa Moreyra (astridygaston.com), occupies position 18 in the San Pellegrino Guide to the World's 50 Best Restaurants in its 2014 edition, and was recognised as number one in Latin America in its 2013 edition.  

Mikel Gallo
Mikel strives to ensure that diners understand his food. And he succeeds fully with a cuisine that nods to tradition while drawing strongly on modern and highly personal techniques. The result is magnificent, easily understood and perfectly suited to ni neu's unique setting. Accessible excellence.

Nacho Manzano
Asturian chef Nacho Manzano has two Michelin stars at his Casa Marcial in Arriondas and one Michelin star at La Salgar in Gijón. One of the leading voices of an extraordinary new generation of Spanish chefs, with eye-popping activity, always on the go, opening new businesses, catering and new restaurant formulas and successfully exporting his know-how to London with the Iberica London and the Iberica Canary Wharf, restaurants distinguished in London's top ten lists of new eateries opened in the city. Nacho develops delicate proposals that set themselves apart from the usual coordinates, always with a wink to his cultural roots and to the produce. Diners come across a chef who offers creative formulas that smack of sheer brilliance.

Jakob Mielcke
Born in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1977. Jakob Mielcke is an autodidact chef who has travelled the world. He has worked with great masters such as Pierre Gagnaire, both in his restaurants in London and in the infamous three-Michelin-starred on in Paris. In 2002 he returned to Denmark as head chef at Jan Hurtigkarl & Co. In 2008 he opened Mielcke & Hurtigkarl together with Jan Hurtigkarl in The Danish Royal Horticultural Society where he now explores his creative vision. Jakob was recently listed by Phaidon as one of the 100 most creative chefs in the world. Jakob is the Executive chef & Partner at Mielcke & Hurtigkarl.

Francis Paniego
Francis Paniego, two Michelin stars at the Portal del Echaurren and one Michelin star at the Marqués de Riscal, is one of the most influential chefs in today's Spanish foodie scene. Francis has brilliantly developed a highly personal, cutting edge cuisine, without breaking away in the slightest from the gastronomy previously on offer at a restaurant as legendary as the Echaurren in Ezcaray (La Rioja). National Gastronomy Prize 2013, three Soles in the Repsol Guide for El Portal de Echaurren and Chef Millesime Prize 2012, this hugely energetic chef also took on a new project in 2011, with his wife Luisa, opening the Tondeluna in Logroño, qualified by some chroniclers as 'The Tavern of the Future' and distinguished with the FAD Architecture Prize in 2012.

Kevin Patricio
Kevin Patricio is an American living in the Basque Country. This Baltimore boy turned New Yorker and current Donostiarra oversees the culinary operations of restaurant La Madame in San Sebastian and is a founding partner of the Basqueland Brewing Project, a new micro-brewery in the region. A culinary renaissance man, Kevin is the head- chef, sommelier, barman and operator of his establishment in San Sebastian and self-titled Big Guy at the brewery whose responsibilities include CEO, brewing mule and delivery guy. Kevin has written for Food & Wine, Departures, Men's Journal, Eater and most recently Lucky Peach. Kevin is also one of the few and the proud members of the Cook It Raw organizational team–CIR Charleston 2013 and CIR Yucatan 2014.

Kenji Takahashi
Born in the city of Kobeen, in Japan's Hyogo prefecture, in 1971, Kenji Takahashi joined an enormously important Japanese commercial chain as its head for ten years. While working, he attended a restaurant in his native city to learn culinary techniques. He decided to leave for Tokyo to work as an apprentice chef in several of the city's restaurants, and worked for a time in one of Japan's most important fish markets. On turning 33 years of age, he decided to move to San Sebastián to learn Basque cuisine. In this city he started working in restaurants such as Abarca, Ganbara and La Espiga, as chef and head chef. Years later, he created a corner for selling sushi at the Atari bar in San Sebastián's old town, and it is thanks to him that the boom enjoyed by sushi came to the city. He started his solo career on opening his Kenko Sushi stall at the San Martín Market, making Japanese food with the best quality raw material in the market. In summer 2013, Kenji opened his second establishment called the Kenji Sushi Bar in the Calle Mayor of the old town, where he serves hot traditional Japanese dishes and sushi, always made with ingredients of the very highest quality.

Rubén Trincado
Rubén Trincado, chef of the Mirador de Ulía restaurant, produces innovative, adventurous food based on traditional cuisine, source of his passion for the flavours and aromas to which he applies highly advanced techniques in the quest to surprise diners not only with the way their food is composed on the plate, but above all with its precision.

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