Dabiz Muñoz
Dreaming big
To become the best chef in the world, it’s essential to ground yourself in reality and hard work, but also to dream big. Sacrifice, ambition, and talent have been key in Dabiz Muñoz’s career. Laughing complicitly with his good friend and comedian Miki Nadal, he analysed his past, present and future at the last event held at Espacio Iberia.
Spanish gastronomy is a reference worldwide. This is thanks to the work —and sacrifice— of its chefs, both old and new, who have turned creative cuisine into their hallmark. We’re talking about Ferran Adrià, Martín Berasategui, Joan Roca, Paco Roncero, Dani García, Ángel León, Quique Dacosta, Vicky Sevilla, Eneko Atxa, Carme Ruscalleda and, of course, Dabiz Muñoz, among others. The best chef in the world for The Best Chef Awards for three consecutive years (2021, 2022 and 2023) he was the star, alongside comedian Miki Nadal, of the last event held at Espacio Iberia 2024. The best of friends, the chef shaped the comedian’s success on the TV programme MasterChef Celebrity 6 thanks to his tips and advice. Face to face, they shared with the audience some of their best anecdotes, as well as going over the chef’s career and analysing the past, present and future of DiverXO, his star restaurant.
In 2007, after several years working in London at restaurants specialised in Asian cuisine, Dabiz Muñoz decided to come home, to Madrid, and start his own project. “I’ve been dreaming big since day one —he declared—. I knew what I wanted to achieve and understood that to do it I had to make sacrifices.” Today, everyone knows that DiverXO is synonymous with gastronomic excellence, but the chef admits that the beginnings were super intense: “We had very few resources, and I spent an average 17 hours a day at the restaurant. I even spent 24 hours there because I used to sleep there. I don’t remember it with nostalgia because it was a very tough time.” Three years later, in 2010, he won his first Michelin star. The second came in 2012 and the third in 2013, turning DiverXO into the eighth restaurant in Spain with three Michelin stars, the only one in Madrid.
“I’ve been dreaming big since day one. I knew what I wanted to achieve and understood that to do it I had to make sacrifices”
In terms of gastronomy, the Madrid of 2007 has little to do with the Madrid of 2024, and that progress has a lot to do with Dabiz Muñoz. “Madrid is more cosmopolitan now. At the time, stately restaurants where people closed deals, at the old power tables as they were called, were all the rage.” Because, at the time, when talking about Spanish cuisine, all eyes were on the north of Spain. “In terms of creative cuisine —he reminisced—, everything was happening in the north, especially in Catalonia and the Basque Country.” As proof, just look up the six restaurants that had three Michelin stars in 2007: El Bulli (Ferran Adrià, Catalonia), Can Fabes (Santi Santamaría, Catalonia), Sant Pau (Carme Ruscalleda, Catalonia), Arzak (Juan Mari Arzak, Basque Country), Martín Berasategui (Martín Berasategui, Basque Country) and Akelarre (Pedro Subijana, Basque Country).
Dabiz Muñoz, at the head of DiverXO, was voted best chef in the world three years in a row (2021, 2022 and 2023).
The best is yet to come
Dabiz Muñoz is proud of his past but is hopeful about the future. “I wouldn’t change anything that I’ve done, in the end it all depends on your hopes. If you want to achieve something big, you need to make big sacrifices. Now I still give my all to gastronomy, but I’m enjoying the process more, which didn’t happen at other times. I think the best is yet to come.” A future that, as the chef himself announced on his social media, will not be associated to La Finca, the exclusive housing development in Madrid where he was going to move DiverXO: “Today I wanted to share that, after thinking over it thoroughly, I’ve decided to not continue with the project we’d announced, a tough but necessary decision. The new DiverXO must be iconic, unique, groundbreaking, dreamlike, transgressive and without ties, creatively free and boundless, and that’s the only way it can exist.” At Espacio Iberia, he confessed that he wanted a location that would allow him to redefine the rules of world gastronomy.
“The most important things in my life are my wife, Cristina; my daughter, Laia; and my friends. Keeping them close has helped me to enjoy my work in a different way”
Setbacks aren’t new to this chef from Madrid, who believes he’s had to fail many times to get to where he is now. One of the toughest moments was when, in 2020, he had to close StreetXO London due to the losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. To manage his failures, but also his many successes, Dabiz admits undergoing therapy. To feel good about himself, he confessed, his family has also been essential: “The most important things in my life are my wife, Cristina; my daughter, Laia; and my friends. Keeping them close has helped me to enjoy my work in a different way.” In fact, he confessed that Cristina helps him decide when he has doubts between several options while creating a dish. When creating, this chef starts with a premise: “What do you feel when you put food in your mouth and think it’s incredible when you taste it? From there, we build an experience.” And he can spend months working on a dish until he finds the best formula that makes the dinner guest feel something unique. As unique as his presence at Espacio Iberia was.
