Team
NOVA restaurante arises from the dream of two cooks from Ourense, Julio Sotomayor and Daniel Guzmán, about creating a space in which we can enjoy the sole player:the product.
If we are to explain the career path of these two cooks from Ourense separately, it would be difficult, since they are cousins and friends from a young age.
From their earliest years, they grew up in an environment very close to the kitchen, with great cooks in their family, such as Tito Guzmán.
At professional level, they both studied at the cooking school in IES Vilamarín almost simultaneously, and right from there they started their journey through different restaurants that unleashed their passion for this profession and began to outline their idea of cuisine.
In the case of Daniel, he went to the Mediterranean seaside in Catalonia as a youngster, whereas Julio became part of the Restaurante Galileo staff, not far away from the city of Ourense.
Soon after, when Dani was back, they found themselves together in a historical restaurant of the city of Ourense, in which they had the opportunity to work with top-quality Galician products.
They split again. At only 23 years old, Julio took charge of the Monastery of San Clodio, while Dani was spending three years in Restaurante A Rexidora in Ourense.
Soon after, Julio went to Prague to collaborate in the opening of the five-star Hotel Thalia as the head chef.
Destiny reunite them again at Restaurante Barandal in León, period where they get soaked in the area’s traditional cuisine.
From this moment, they lived a six-year period during which Julio went to Catalonia where he had the chance to work with such well-known people as Santi Santamaría and Iván Solá at Can Fabes restaurant in Sant Celoni, besides from managing two kitchens of Grupo Paradis, until he finished his journey in these lands at Castell D’Empordá hotel. During this impasse, Dani worked with Marcelo Tejedor and Iván Domínguez at Santiago de Compostela, besides from devoting to teaching and shooting of the TV show “Ata a Cociña…!” at V Televisión.
During this time, from the distance, the idea of starting a restaurant together in their home town, where they could embody their knowledge and their love for cuisine, and finally… be able to put down roots, began to take shape.