Mallorca's youngest star chef

Culinary art on the Playa de Muro

At the age of 31, Javier Hoebeeck cooked up his first Michelin star for the Fusion19 restaurant in Mallorca. And could ascend to the culinary Olympus in 2023, appearing in the red gourmet bible from France. The up-and-coming star is a virtuoso chef at Playa de Muro in the north of the island.

From Mallorca to the world

Javier Hoebeeck is the youngest star chef on the island. Born in Palma to a Mallorcan mother and a Belgian father, he feels Mallorcan through and through. But in his extraordinary tasting menu (five stages, 14 steps, 34 bites!), the chef takes his guests on a culinary journey around the world. An interview.

mallorca.com: The Fusion19 restaurant had been open for around two years and you had already been awarded your first star. Are you a natural or was that good schooling?

Javier Hoebeeck: Perhaps both, and I was also lucky. I trained at the hotel management school in Palma and then had the good fortune to be able to work in very good restaurants.

mallorca.com: Namely?

Javier Hoebeeck: At the age of 21, I was at Azurmendi in Bilbao, which had just been awarded its third star, making it one of the best restaurants in Spain. This fact lured me in, if you like. From then on, it was clear to me that I wanted to immerse myself in this type of gastronomy.

mallorca.com: What happened next?

Javier Hoebeeck: If you work well, restaurants in this category pave the way for you. I was at the three-star restaurant El Celler de Can Roca in Girona. I was in Tokyo at the renowned two-star restaurant Narisawa, which also received the 'Best Restaurant in Japan' award. And in Mallorca, I worked with Michelin-starred chef Fernando P. Arrellano from Zaranda.

100 % passion

mallorca.com: Did you always want to cook as a child?

Javier Hoebeeck: Always, 100 percent. That was always my goal. When I was three or four years old, I wanted to help my mother in the kitchen. When I was ten or twelve, I tried to cook for myself at home. It was very important to us to eat well. My father in particular was a good cook! And my grandmother Rosa Maria.

mallorca.com: What are your favorite products from Mallorca?

Javier Hoebeeck: I like the products from the sea: fish and seafood. And the plants that grow on the shore, such as salicornia or sea fennel. That's why we focus 80 percent of our restaurant on ingredients from the sea.

mallorca.com: What is your favorite fish?

Javier Hoebeeck: The fish that is in season. That's part of our philosophy.

mallorca.com: Do you offer Mallorca's famous hierbas in a seaweed version?

Javier Hoebeeck: Indeed. Instead of the usual herbs, we use seaweed and samphire from Mallorca, among other things.

mallorca.com: Are you inspired by the Albufera wetlands, which are practically on your doorstep?

Javier Hoebeeck: Very much! But of course we don't take anything from this protected area.

mallorca.com: How is this reflected in the menu, apart from the hierbas that is served in between?

Javier Hoebeeck: In our menu, for example, we serve cured pigeon with curry and leek. And as part of the dessert, small, yellow, sweet ducks, in the truest sense of the word.

mallorca.com: Describe your way of cooking in three words.

Javier Hoebeeck: It's like the name of the restaurant: a fusion. A fusion of memory, influence and product.

mallorca.com: Meaning?

Javier Hoebeeck: The most important thing for us is to use products from Mallorca wherever possible. Everything that is available on the island, we use from the island, right down to the rice from Sa Pobla. Only what is not grown or produced here comes from outside.

mallorca.com: For example?

Javier Hoebeeck: Soy sauce. Or oysters. But we grow fruit and vegetables in our own three-hectare garden just around the corner from Pollença. We grow peppers, eggplants, chard, beet, tomatoes, oranges, lemons, figs, quinces, pears, melons and, of course, herbs such as rosemary, thyme, coriander and lavender, as well as edible flowers such as nasturtium blossoms, violets and marigolds. The latter also keeps certain pests away from the other plants ... And we also use beet leaves.

mallorca.com: Do you also use typical Mallorcan products such as carob?

Javier Hoebeeck: Yes, we do, in a dessert called mojis. But we don't have our own tree in our garden.

mallorca.com: When you talk about memory as part of your kitchen concept, are you referring to traditional Mallorcan cuisine?

Javier Hoebeeck: Exactly! Let's take the ensaïmada, which is a very, very Mallorcan pastry with lard. But we don't serve it at the end of our menu for dessert. We serve them in the middle - in a hearty mini version, filled with pork cheek ragout from Mallorcan black pork. We preserve the essence of the product, but give it our idea of modern cuisine.

mallorca.com: Fusion all along the line. Basically, you yourself are a fusion by origin ...

Javier Hoebeeck: (Laughs). Exactly. I am truly a fusion, a mixture of everything. Half Mallorcan, half Belgian, with grandparents from the Basque Country and Catalonia ... That's what I mean by the influence on my cooking that I mentioned earlier. The experiences of myself and the whole team flow into the way we cook.

mallorca.com: How big is the kitchen team at Fusión19?

Javier Hoebeeck: With me there are seven of us.

mallorca.com: What is the most important thing for you at work?

Javier Hoebeeck: Working as a team. Everyone can do everything here. That way, everyone can help everyone else. We also develop the tasting menu together. I usually come up with ideas, but ultimately it's a joint creation. Without the ideas of the others, we wouldn't be able to put together our 34 bites.

5 stages, 117 elaborations

mallorca.com: Your tasting menu is made up of five stages, 14 steps, 34 bites and 117 elaborations. You must have an appetite ...

Javier Hoebeeck: The 14 steps are divided according to the origin of the dishes, for example: Appetizers from the Albufera, from the sea, from Asia, from Latin America, baked goods from Mallorca, from our vegetable garden, etc.

mallorca.com: Your favorite item on the menu at the moment?

Javier Hoebeeck: The pigeon, because it is a tribute to the Albufera. We leave the breast to mature in the fridge at 4 degrees for around a week and a half. This makes it much, much more tender. Then we marinate it in red curry paste for four days. This gives it a special flavor that fits perfectly into the menu. We then grill it and serve it with dandelions, which we find in the area. And: it is quite a challenge to process everything into 100 percent pigeon. Because we don't want to waste any of the food. Everything goes on the plate.

mallorca.com: So the pickled thigh is also served with the leg and claw?

Javier Hoebeeck: Yes.

mallorca.com: The restaurant is almost hidden away in this touristy street in Muro. Why did you choose this location of all places?

Javier Hoebeeck: Because it was available. And we like being in a place where nobody expects it. And the Albufera is right behind us. We have the mountains, the sea. Nobody else has that in this category of restaurant in Mallorca.

mallorca.com: Where will you be in ten years' time?

Javier Hoebeeck: In Mallorca, I think. As a Mallorcan, it's difficult to leave this island. But of course you never know.

mallorca.com: How many Michelin stars will you have then?

Javier Hoebeeck: Well, hopefully more than one! (laughs) We are all very motivated, . work hard and always want to improve.

The Fusion19 restaurant will remain open in winter until the beginning of January. Then, after a break, it will welcome its guests again at the beginning of March.