CARLES GAIG

THE TRADITIONAL CATALAN COOKBOOK

Carles Gaig was born in the district of Horta, surrounded by stoves in a family dedicated to cooking since 1869 at the so-called Taverna d’en Gaig. He always helped his family, but it was not until the 70s when his mother’s blindness made him take over the reins of the restaurant in which he received so much influence from his great-grandmother and his mother and which he lovingly applies in his classic recipes, especially the cannelloni, one of his most emblematic dishes that he has been cooking successfully since his beginnings.

His interest in uniting tradition and innovation led him to renovate the traditional restaurant in 1989, which became Restaurant Gaig and achieved a Michelin star in 1993.

From there, other awards came such as the National Award for the Best Chef by the Royal Spanish Academy of Gastronomy in 1999.

2004

In 2004, Carles, his wife Fina Navarro and their entire team closed the doors of their mythical restaurant in Horta and moved to the heart of Barcelona, to the “L’Eixample” district and the Hotel Cram under the new name of Gaig, in which their interest in blending avant-garde and market cuisine continued. In this same year, they received the Restaurant of the Year award from the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy.

In 2004 he began advising the La Cúpula restaurant of the Atlantis Bahía Real 5* GL Hotel in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands).

2005 – 2008 – 2010

The following year, in 2005, the head of the dining room, Fina Navarro, won the Best Dressed Table award from the Best of Gastronomy awards at the San Sebastián gastronomic congress.

In March 2008, the couple opened a new establishment on carer Còrsega in Barcelona, also in the L’Eixample neighbourhood, the Fonda Gaig, where many traditional Catalan recipes have been recovered. That same year, the restaurant was awarded by the Nadal Gastronomy Awards for the Preservation of Catalan Cultural Heritage.

Since 2010, Carles Gaig’s concern has led him to disembark at Barcelona Airport T-1 with Porta Gaig. His cuisine has always been adapted to travellers’ time needs. The restaurant is located in an ultra-modern building designed by Ricardo Bofill.

2013 – 2015 – 2017 – 2018

Since 2013, Gaig and Fonda Gaig have merged to produce Restaurant Gaig, where the Horta district restaurant’s beginnings are emulated. That same year, Carles was recognised by the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy for his professional career.

In all his years of profession, Carles Gaig has collaborated in numerous congresses as a speaker. The most prominent are the gastronomy congress of San Sebastián, World Gourmet Summit Singapore (2007), Alimentaria México DF and Alimentaria Barcelona. He has also given courses in several hospitality schools and universities such as the Culinary Institute of America 2006 and Harvard in 2011.

In 2015 he was advisor to a Catalan cuisine restaurant in Singapore.

At the beginning of 2017 he opened a new restaurant, Gaig a Casa, where you can buy food to take away, try his dishes at noon or organise private events with the possibility of him doing show cooking himself.
At the same time, he is also advising a new space at the El Prat Airport (T1 Air Zone).

In 2018, he opened a new restaurant with his own name and its own style in Singapore, the Gaig Restaurant.

He has currently taken over from Fermí Puig and Nando Jubany at the Petit Comitè, which features Catalan cuisine.