Santi hales from Cee, a small village in Galicia, the North West of Spain. He grew up with the best of produce, learning from generations of artisans, one side of the family farmers the other fisherman. His passion for food and cooking was ignited from very young by his mum and granny whom taught him a lesson he never forgot, “love the ingredients”. In his teens, the family moved to England where he spent 30 years. His first job in a kitchen was washing plates at a local restaurant and from there worked his way up the ladder, ending up in Michelin Star establishments around the UK in a career spanning more than 20 years.

Santi fell in love with The Mother City (Cape Town) when visiting on holiday and decided not to wait for retirement to move. After opening and running his Restaurant in the heart of Cape Town he decided he wanted a more personal touch, something deferent, thus starting CHEFSTABLE CAPETOWN as an intimate affair, a fine dining social food excusive experience.

He believes in creating dishes that are based around real ingredients and to impress this to his guests, to present food that is flavoursome without over complicating or overworking them, making flavours crisper. Using his Michelin background, he creates food that is beautiful to look at but more important to invoke pleasure.

Santi’s origins and family, link him to his food roots, his creative mind and personal professional footprint give him diversity within his cuisine and aims to explore gastronomy as far as he can with a responsible attitude, combining classic with modern techniques but always looking to learn and move his cuisine forward.