Becoming a Chef: Julián Otero Inside the World’s Most Provocative Kitchen

🎙️ EP150 - Julián Otero isn’t here to make you comfortable. As creative chef of Mugaritz, he serves ideas disguised as food—sometimes brilliant, sometimes brutal, never safe. At the most controversial restaurant in the world, the dish isn’t finished until you eat it.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🎙️ Intro – Meet Juliano Otero, creative chef of Mugaritz

🤳 Gastro Cringe – calling out bathtub tiramisus & clueless critics

📚 From librarian dreams to kitchen life

💡 El Bulli ambitions & rejection from Basque Culinary Center

👨‍🍳 Inside El Bulli Foundation & working with Ferran Adrià

🤝 Learning from Oriol, Eduard & Mateu at Disfrutar’s roots

🎓 Teaching at Basque Culinary Center at 24 years old

🍽️ Breaking into Mugaritz – skipping the usual stagiaire ladder

🎸 From fan to bandmate – making books at Mugaritz

🌍 What really fuels Mugaritz: thousands of young cooks

🧪 Beyond flavor – cooking as ideas, not comfort

🔄 Why Mugaritz keeps changing to stay alive

👥 How dishes are created: teams, topics & young blood

🎨 When is a dish finished? Why the diner completes it

🧫 Four years to grow a fungus – the long road of R&D

👋 Closing thoughts & Juliano’s philosophy

👥 Relevant People & Restaurants Mentioned in This Episode:

• Julián Otero (Mugaritz): @gastrojulius
• Mugaritz: @mugaritz
• El Bulli Foundation / Ferran Adrià: @elbullifoundation_ferranadria
• Basque Culinary Center: @bculinary
• Oriol Castro (Disfrutar): @oriolcastroforns
• Eduard Xatruch (Disfrutar): @eduardxatruch
• Mateu Casañas (Disfrutar): tagged in @disfrutarbcn
• Disfrutar: @disfrutarbcn

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🔥 Enjoy!