The New Barcelona Post will celebrate on Monday, July 3, at the CASA SEAT auditorium, the last session of the season of the cycle The New Barcelona – Moments Estel·lars, which will return in September. We will have as guests the ham producer Enrique Tomás and chefs Sergio and Javier Torres, owners of Cocina Hermanos Torres, the emblematic Barcelona restaurant that last November managed to win its third Michelin star.
Moderated by journalist and UPF-BSM professor Toni Aira, we will debate with them about the role that gastronomy plays in the international projection of the Barcelona brand and how chefs and major local food brands have contributed to positioning the city as an absolute benchmark for good eating and to placing it at the top of the world podium in quality of life.
Precisely, the event will take place just two weeks after the Catalan capital reaffirmed its culinary leadership thanks to the proclamation of the Disfrutar restaurant as the best in Europe and second in the world, according to The World's 50 Best Restaurants ranking. In addition, Catalonia has just been designated a world region of gastronomy in 2025 thanks to an international jury that considered that the country offers a unique gastronomic experience due to the fusion of flavors, its commitment to innovation, and the quality of its raw materials. Other factors that have been valued are the dedication and professionalism of people related to the food and hospitality sector and the diversity of the powerful productive fabric.
The session Gastronomy, driving force of the Barcelona brand will take place on Monday, July 3, at 6:30 p.m. and will have the collaboration of CASA SEAT, Must Media Group and Barcelona Global. To attend as an audience and also be able to ask questions to the speakers, it is necessary to reserve a place in advance. To get a free ticket, click here.
Once the setback caused by the pandemic has been overcome, with Enrique Tomás and the Torres brothers we will comment on these latest news that fill the sector with optimism and address the current moment of boom that the restaurant industry is experiencing, driven by the good prospects of the tourism sector and the arrival in the city of visitors with greater purchasing power thanks to the emergence of digital hubs and companies that demand global talent. The city's restaurateurs will also be the most benefited by the celebration, next year, of the America's Cup.
The quality of the culinary offer is one of the most appreciated elements by visitors to the city and this would not be possible without the strength of the Catalan agri-food sector, which generates a business volume of more than 43,000 million euros, a figure equivalent to 19% of Catalonia's GDP, according to data from the Generalitat.
A self-made businessman, Enrique Tomás (Badalona, 1966) will share with readers of The New Barcelona Post a true success story: the creation from Barcelona of a brand that has become a world leader in Iberian ham. It all started with the opening 40 years ago of a shop in the La Salut market in Badalona and today Enrique Tomás is a company that in 2022 achieved a record turnover of 103 million euros, a figure it expects to double this year. The group has more than 130 stores, mainly in Spain, but also operates in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Andorra and in different countries in America, such as Mexico, Argentina, Peru, the Dominican Republic and the United States, where it is present in Texas and, recently, has landed in Miami (Florida).
This year, Enrique Tomás also plans to take its ham shops to Japan, where it plans to open five establishments in Tokyo and Kyoto with a local partner. The firm has also become a prominent operator in airports, where it has launched different restaurant formats and has been awarded the tender to manage the vending machines at El Prat Airport. To launch all these proposals, such as the so-called Foodies' space, Enrique Tomás regularly collaborates with renowned chefs such as Albert Adrià, Nandu Jubany or Carlos Abellán. One of his latest collaborations has been with the Torres brothers, as he will tell us during the Moments Estel·lars session.
Born in 1970, Javier and Sergio Torres have become two of Spain's most media-savvy chefs and just over six months ago they managed to consecrate their success by winning the third Michelin star for Cocina Hermanos Torres, the restaurant they opened in 2018 in the Les Corts neighborhood. It is the third restaurant in Barcelona that currently forms part of the Olympus of gastronomy, along with Abac by Jordi Cruz and Lasarte, by chef Martín Berasategui. In Catalonia there is a fourth restaurant with three stars, El Celler de Can Roca, in Girona.
Sergio and Javier Torres knew they wanted to be chefs since childhood and, in the late 80s and 90s, they trained in some of the best restaurants in both Spain and France, learning from great masters such as Jean-Louis Neichel, Alain Ducasse, and Santi Santamaria, whose restaurant, El Racó de Can Fabes, Javier Torres was head chef until 2005. In 2008, they decided to work together and open their own restaurant, Dos Cielos, on the 24th floor of the Hotel Meliá Sky. In 2018, they decided to swap the heights for a street-level restaurant located in an old tire workshop that they transformed into a spectacular open kitchen under the motto Receive, welcome, and share.