Santi Santamaria’s daughter in charge of her father’s restaurants

Sant Celoni (ACN).- Santi Santamaria’s daughter, Regina Santamaria, will direct and coordinate the family’s restaurants and the different teams after the death of one of the greatest Catalan chefs of all time. Santi Santamaria was one of Catalonia's greatest chefs, with a total of seven Michelin stars, three of them for his restaurant in Sant Celoni ‘Can Fabes’, which has held the guide’s top distinction since 1994. Santi Santamaria died from a heart attack in Singapore last February 11^th, when he was presenting to a group of journalists the restaurant he had opened in the Asian city, called ‘Santi’. This restaurant was supposed to be led by his daughter Regina, but his death altered the plans. Now, Regina Santamaria will follow in her father’s footsteps and direct the four restaurants the family owns. She told this news to ACN.

Regina Santamaria, 25 years old, said she faces the new period “with a lot of hope” and wants “to maintain the house’s level of quality”. She explained that her role from now on will be to coordinate the different teams of cooks and waiters of the four restaurants the family keeps: ‘Can Fabes’ in Sant Celoni (around 50 kilometres north of Barcelona, halfway to Girona), ‘Evo’ in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (next to Barcelona), ‘Santceloni’ in Madrid, and ‘Santi’ in Singapore. Next to her will be her mother and Santi Santamaria’s wife, Angels Serra, “who knows this house better than anyone”, Regina Santamaria added.

Since Santi Santamaria’s death last February 11^th, ‘Can Fabes’ only closed its doors on one single day. Regina Santamaria is proud of this, “we have shown we are here” and that “we want to continue my father’s work”. She has waited these past months to take the lead as the great cook died suddenly aged 53 years old from a heart attack, and she needed some time to see how things worked. However, since the restaurants did not close, she was already somehow coordinating the teams.

Regina Santamaria had to direct the family’s restaurant in Singapore, called ‘Santi’. Now she says she will travel quite often to the Asian city, although she will live in Sant Celoni, where the family’s first restaurant ‘Can Fabes’ is located. Regina Santamaria told ACN that the different chefs of each of the restaurants will have more of a presence in the restaurants’ menus, giving each restaurant its own personality.

Santi Santamaria had 7 Michelin stars

‘El Racó de Can Fabes’, which changed its name to ‘Can Fabes’, has never lost the 3 stars since then and Santi Santamaria increased its constellation with 2 stars for his restaurant ‘Santceloni’ in Madrid, 1 for ‘Tierra’ next to Toledo, and 1 for ‘Evo’, close to Barcelona’s airport. Santamaria opened a restaurant in Dubai called ‘Ossiano’, located on the palm-tree-sized artificial surface, and another one in Singapore, called ‘Santi’. This last one was supposed to be led by his daughter, but Santi Santamaria’s death altered the plans.