Chef Rafel Torrens

The Valley of Sóller is a fantastic destination for many reasons. Its location, natural landscapes, endless hiking trails, the Mediterranean Sea, and local customs are elements that make this municipality in the Tramuntana region a very special place. However, there is another element that completes the experience of enjoying the Valley of Sóller 100%: its gastronomy. An invaluable aspect that, through local products, leads us on a culinary journey filled with Mediterranean flavors. And that's precisely what we're going to talk about today: Mallorcan and Mediterranean cuisine, and how our Sóller-born chef, Rafel Torrens, understands and conveys it through his culinary creations at Ca’n Blau Restaurant, our establishment. So today, we invite you to learn more about our chef, his journey, and his approach to understanding the richness of our cuisine. Welcome to Ca’n Blau Restaurant!

RAFEL TORRENS' JOURNEY

Rafel Torrens' passion for cooking dates back to his childhood. Born in Sóller, Rafel grew up in a Mallorcan family. Like many families in the Valley of Sóller, the diet at home was based on typical Mallorcan cuisine, dishes full of history, tradition, flavor, and aromas. And it was precisely this last element that sparked Rafel's interest in cooking, as he tells us: "I remember Sundays with my grandmother, the smells of the typical Mallorcan dishes she prepared, aromas that created curiosity and admiration towards that cuisine."

Rafel was clear about his path and began studying the basics of cooking at a Mallorcan cooking school. After his studies, he started working at El Olivo, a high-end Mallorcan cuisine restaurant located in Deià. There, he learned a lot about high cuisine techniques, techniques that they applied to traditional Mallorcan recipes at that restaurant. This sparked Rafel's curiosity and made him want to do more, to take a step further towards that balance between Mallorcan culinary tradition and those avant-garde techniques. So he embarked on a new journey and went to Lyon, France, to learn new culinary techniques to apply to the Mallorcan cuisine he cherished.

Rafel Torrens returned from Lyon with significant French influences, not only from his studies there but also from those he already had from his grandmother, who also cooked with some very characteristic elements of France. Likewise, upon returning from Lyon, Rafel made another stop in northern Spain. A region rich in high-quality products and with a very characteristic cuisine. A cuisine that fascinated Rafel and therefore he wanted to delve deeper into.

Finally, after his culinary journeys, Rafel returned to the Valley of Sóller with great influences from France and northern Spain and began working at an avant-garde cuisine restaurant: Ca’n Boqueta. With his extensive knowledge acquired during his travels and with his passion and admiration for Mallorcan cuisine as the basis of the cuisine he wanted to convey, starting at Ca’n Boqueta, he encountered a new element that made him see and understand cooking differently: local and seasonal produce as fundamental pillars of cuisine. From his experience at Ca’n Boqueta, Rafel acquired the value of local and seasonal produce and learned avant-garde techniques that he saw he could apply to his idea of Mallorcan-based cuisine with touches of haute cuisine and French influences. This made him reflect and discover that he could apply all those techniques to those dishes from his grandmother, to that traditional cuisine full of aroma and flavor but giving his own avant-garde touch to those dishes. So he wanted to start studying more about those techniques and expand his knowledge about them, and decided to undertake another journey. This time to Madrid, where he did an internship at Ramón Freixa's restaurant, a 2 Michelin star restaurant. A period in which he acquired new and very precise haute cuisine techniques. After his trip to Madrid, Rafel returned to the Valley of Sóller and began working at the Gran Hotel Sóller, where he is our chef today.

RAFEL TORRENS' CUISINE

Rafel's gastronomic journey is his greatest recipe book. With traditional Mallorcan cuisine acquired from his admiration for his grandmother as the basis of his cuisine, Rafel Torrens' cuisine can be defined as traditional Mallorcan recipes with a personal touch composed of French influences and memories from northern Spain. A cuisine based on tradition combined with memories of his childhood and travels, elaborated with haute cuisine techniques acquired during his travels.

A cuisine that he elaborates with local and seasonal produce thanks to the value and admiration he acquired for these products during his time at Ca’n Boqueta, which made Rafel a great defender of local produce and small local businesses. Small local shops and suppliers that Rafel visits to acquire all the seasonal and local products for his cuisine. Invaluable products that Rafel cooks in a perfect balance between the memory and love for traditional Mallorcan cuisine and the most avant-garde influences and techniques, giving a unique touch to his vision of this great treasure we have: local gastronomy.

A treasure of which we are very proud, and which you can enjoy through the hands of our Sóller-born chef Rafel Torrens and his unique way of understanding and conveying cuisine at Can Blau Restaurant.

If you are staying at our hotel and want more information about local gastronomy and typical products of the Valley of Sóller, do not hesitate to ask our reception team, who will kindly assist and advise you!

CAN BLAU RESTAURANT HOURS

Open every day
Breakfast: 07:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Lunch: 12:30 PM - 03:00 PM
Dinner: 07:00 PM - 09:45 PM
+34 971 638686
info@canblaurestaurant.com