By Juan Pablo Crespo / juanpamark
Photos: Courtesy of Adrián Egea
For her, chocolate, and by extension cocoa, is more than an ingredient in her patisserie. In her own words: “It is an amalgam of culture, land and family.” Andrea Dopico has in Venezuelan flavours part of the equation for her vertiginous success, which far from obfuscate her, it keeps her focused on her here and now.
Andrea Dopico Cafarelli is a 25 years old Venezuelan chef with Spanish roots, in charge of the pastry shop of Moments restaurant in Barcelona, awarded with two Michelin stars and located in the sumptuous Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the same city. She also appears on the Forbes magazine’s list of 30 young under 30 (Europe’s 30 under 30) under the “The Arts” category.
Before being selected for the Europe’s list 30 under 30, a few weeks ago, Dopico had participated (October 2016) in the final of the international dessert championship Chocolate Chef Competition (C3) in Valrhona, New York. Indeed, she was the only woman in the group. Her position among the eight finalists was won in Paris with his dish Raices, inspired by the Amazon jungle and the Pisco Sour bonbon.
The real success
All these successes motivate her to work harder in haute cuisine, she says. Nevertheless, beyond that, for her the real success is the pride she feels after finishing her work every day at sunset.
She studied at Humbolt College in Caracas and for approximately 10 years practised synchronized swimming. She won several medals representing the country in regional competitions. She went to Madrid, where she studied Advertising and Marketing, but she did not find her way until deciding to go to Canada to study at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, where she graduated as the best of her class in 2014. From there she went to work for the chef Carlos Garcia at the restaurant Alto, in Caracas, included on the list of the 50 best restaurants in Latin America, by the English magazine “The Restaurant”.
Dopico’s next stop was Madrid, again, at the restaurant Club Allard, which also holds two Michelin stars. She later applied at Moments. Her initiative was worthy because she has been working at Carme Ruscalleda’s restaurant for more than two years, a Catalan chef who, with her seven Michelin stars, is the only woman in the world holding so many stars in her various restaurants.
“I am immensely grateful for the opportunities (…). What I can promise you is that this is just the beginning” Dopico tells us. Meanwhile, she continues focused on her here and now: her last dish.
– How and when did you get involved in haute cuisine patisserie?
– “I’ve always had a weakness for desserts, but it took me a few years to realise that my profession and passion would be patisserie. Regarding haute cuisine, it started at Alto restaurant and at the hands of Carlos Garcia (and an incredible team), the first restaurant that received me, inexperienced but with a lot of eagerness…, there I fell in love with adrenaline, the ingredients, the rhythm, flavour, and there was no turning back.
– Patisserie requires constant creativity. Otherwise, you are left behind. In this sense, do you have or follow any route to exercise creativity?
-Curiously, it is at moments of greatest pressure when I become more productive. However this does not come from out of the blue, and I try to keep my mind stimulated in many ways: going to art exhibitions, spending time in wildlife, eating in good restaurants, etc.
The reference
Venezuelan cuisine is for Dopico a kind of mirror where her roots and, therefore, her culinary creations are reflected.
– How is that about the dessert menu with classic Venezuelan flavours and haute cuisine standards?
“For me, haute cuisine is a good product, technique and emotion. The Venezuelan flavours for me are part of this equation because they are the reference with which I grew up.
– Tell us about your experience with Venezuelan cocoa.
– I play with the advantage of seeing chocolate (cocoa) not as an ingredient, but as a culture, a land, a family … regarding the Venezuelan cocoa Maria Fernanda Di Giacobbe “is my shepherd, I lack for nothing.”
– It is said that awards are for the recipient a kind of commitment to keep doing things better, how have you assimilated your inclusion on the list of Europe’s 30 under 30 by Forbes?
-Of course, receiving this recognition motivates me to keep working, and it’s the slap on the back after the hard work we do in the kitchen … but for me the success and the enduring satisfaction is to be proud of my work at the end of the day. I do not remember the cook who said “you’re as good as your last dish” . He was absolutely right!
-Being just twenty-five years old you have had a vertiginous professional career, what conclusions do you draw from what you have achieved so far?
-I am fortunate to have a family and friends who help me put these two years experiences into perspective. If they had not been shared it would have been difficult for me to understand. I am immensely grateful for the opportunities I have had so far, and what I can promise you is that this is just the beginning!
And if the above is only the beginning, time will then be in charge of bringing us more and better news from Andrea Dopico , A Venezuelan pastry chef who sparkles like a Michelin star.
