Jaume Subirós received tonight the National Traditional Gastronomy Award for his work leading the Motel de Figueres, a benchmark restaurant for Catalan cuisine that has remained faithful to its origins with excellence since 1961. At the same annual gala of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition (ACGN), Raül Balam Ruscalleda, who currently heads the kitchen at the Moments restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental hotel, won the National Author Gastronomy Award. At a gala at the Pedralbes Palace, there were more recognitions for Patricia Sierra, from Granja Elena, with the Head of Dining Room Award; Laia Coma, from the Mare de la Font restaurant in Solsona, who earned the 2026 Revelation Award; and Trinitat Gilbert, from the newspaper Ara, who received the Nèstor Luján Award for gastronomic journalism.
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Catalan culinary professionals dressed up tonight for their annual meeting with the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition (ACGN) in the gardens of the Pedralbes Palace, where the gala of the XXIV Catalan Gastronomy Awards was held. The Academy also posthumously awarded a special honor to its president for nearly a decade, Carles Vilarrubí, who passed away last December. The current president, Joan Font, highlighted that he was a “key figure in the renewal and institutional projection of the entity and the National Gastronomy Awards.”
Catalonia is a land very rich in cuisine and gastronomy, as evidenced by the multitude of restaurants spread throughout the territory, from the purest tradition to creative reinvention, as well as all the possibilities in between, which is where most restaurants operate today. An example of good work was the gala dinner itself, served by chefs Romain Fornell and Oscar Manresa, who turned the evening into a gastronomic experience worthy of the talent and careers recognized in this edition.
To recognize those chefs who give meaning to the Catalan cuisine brand, the awards take tradition into account, which this year is well represented by Jaume Subirós, who has maintained the Motel with unwavering excellence without giving up either the past or the present and also looking to the future, with his children in the business and well secured by the quality of the other tower of his realm, the Almadraba Park hotel in Roses. He has been highlighted not only for what he serves in his dining room, prepared with market and seasonal products; but also for how he serves it, with warm hospitality that is also a hallmark of this house, founded by his father-in-law, Jaume Mercader, 65 years ago. Precisely to celebrate the anniversary of a historic house and coinciding with the centenary of Mercader’s birth, they are holding a special dinner this Thursday.
In the author cuisine category, the award went to Raül Balam Ruscalleda, son of Carme Ruscalleda, with whom he shares his passion for cooking. With a contemporary and innovative outlook learned from his mother, this chef masters technique at the gastronomic restaurant Moments, which this spring debuted a menu more connected to the season and the environment than ever, where this spring peas, asparagus, or a traditional suquet of fish are not missing.
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Trained at the now-defunct Sant Pau of Carme Ruscalleda and Toni Balam, the youngest of the family has also continued in this business, now leading the kitchen at Moments, which he shares with his mother, and creating with a partner other more informal restaurants such as, for example, Cuina Sant Pau, located in the same building facing the sea where the renowned Sant Pau of Sant Pol de Mar, his hometown on the Maresme coast, was.
Likewise, the 2026 Head of Dining Room Award distinguished Patricia Sierra, from the Granja Elena restaurant in Barcelona, “for her way of understanding the dining room as a space of welcome, rigor, and closeness and for the role of wine as an essential language of the gastronomic experience” of this popular and busy place in the Zona Franca, famous for its hearty breakfasts and a midday menu to soak up bread, led by her brother Borja Sierra. Founded in 1974, it is a benchmark of the so-called high neighborhood cuisine.
The 2026 Revelation Award went to Laia Coma, from the Mare de la Font restaurant in Solsona, where she practices mountain Catalan cuisine, with meaning, honesty, and coherence with its location. Although born in Cornellà de Llobregat, Laia Comas also grew up in a farmhouse in the municipality of L’Esquirol, surrounded by mountains. She has put down roots in this region and runs this restaurant with her partner, linked to local producers and faithful to the foods this land provides.
Additionally, the journalist from the newspaper Ara Trinitat Gilbert received the Nèstor Luján Award for the work Els aliments que mengem, al detall, a work that delves into products such as Catalan sausages, artisanal cheeses, olives, or coastal fish and, according to the jury, combines rigorous dissemination, gastronomic culture, and journalistic criteria.