Carme Ruscalleda
🇪🇸 Spain · Spanish cuisine · b. 1952
The most decorated female chef in Michelin history — seven stars across three restaurants on two continents.
Biography
Carme Ruscalleda is a Catalan chef from Sant Pol de Mar, a small coastal town fifty kilometres north of Barcelona, who became the most-decorated female chef in the history of the Michelin guide. At her peak she held seven Michelin stars: three at Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar (1991–2018), two at Sant Pau Tokyo (2004–2020), and two at Moments at the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona (2009–present, run with her son Raül Balam). She is the only woman ever to have held three Michelin stars at two restaurants simultaneously, and one of only six chefs of any gender to have done so in two countries.
Ruscalleda is entirely self-taught. She and her husband Toni Balam ran a delicatessen in Sant Pol de Mar from 1974, selling charcuterie, prepared salads and roast meats to the village; in 1988 they converted the front of the shop into a small restaurant which they named Sant Pau, after the local parish church. The first Michelin star arrived in 1991, the second in 1996, and the third in 2006 — making Ruscalleda the first Spanish woman ever to hold three stars and only the third woman in the world to do so.
In 2018, at the age of sixty-six, Ruscalleda closed Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar at the height of its reputation, citing a desire to step back from the daily intensity of a three-star kitchen and to spend more time on Cuina Catalana — the wider project of documenting, defending and exporting traditional Catalan cuisine that has been her parallel work since the 1990s. She continues to be active in Moments in Barcelona and as a consultant, author and educator. She is widely regarded as the most important Spanish chef of her generation alongside Ferran Adrià and Juan Mari Arzak.
Cooking Philosophy
Catalan tradition as creative engine. Ruscalleda has always argued that Catalan cuisine — with its mar i muntanya (sea-and-mountain) pairings, its sofregits, its picadas and its escudella stews — is not a folkloric inheritance to be preserved as a museum exhibit but a living grammar that can be the basis of contemporary fine dining. Her cooking pairs the most local possible Mediterranean ingredients (fish from the Sant Pol harbour, vegetables from the Maresme allotments, charcuterie from Vic) with techniques and presentations developed continuously over four decades.
Restaurants
- Sant PauSant Pol de Mar (closed October 2018)
Three Michelin stars (1991–2018); the restaurant that established Ruscalleda as the leading female chef in Spanish history.
- MomentsBarcelona (Mandarin Oriental)
Two Michelin stars; opened 2009 and run with son Raül Balam Ruscalleda.
- Sant Pau TokyoTokyo (closed January 2020)
Two Michelin stars (2004–2020); the first overseas outpost of Sant Pau, opened in collaboration with Tokyu Hotels.
- BlancBarcelona (Mandarin Oriental)
Casual day-restaurant of the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, also overseen by Ruscalleda and Balam.
Awards & Recognition
- Three Michelin stars — Sant Pau (2006–2018)
- Two Michelin stars — Moments (since 2010)
- Two Michelin stars — Sant Pau Tokyo (2004–2020)
- World's Best Female Chef — The World's 50 Best Restaurants Academy (2014)
- National Gastronomy Prize of Spain (2004)
- Creu de Sant Jordi — highest civilian honour of the Catalan government (2004)
- Honorary doctorate, Universitat de Barcelona (2017)
Iconic Dishes
Cookbooks
- Cuina amb Carme Ruscalleda (1996)
- Sant Pau, la cuina de Carme Ruscalleda (2003)
- Cuinar per ser feliç (2010)
- Tot Ruscalleda (Phaidon, 2017)
Recipes in Carme's Style
These recipes from our database reflect the spanish cooking tradition that Carme works in. They are not direct reproductions of Carme's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.
In Carme's Own Words
“A Catalan dish does not stop being Catalan because you change the technique. It stops being Catalan when you stop telling the truth about where it came from.”
— El País interview (2014)
“I closed Sant Pau because I wanted to be the one who decided when the story ended.”
— press conference announcing closure, April 2018
Career Timeline
Opens a delicatessen in Sant Pol de Mar with husband Toni Balam, selling charcuterie and prepared foods.
Converts the delicatessen into a small restaurant named Sant Pau.
Sant Pau awarded its first Michelin star.
Awarded second Michelin star.
Opens Sant Pau Tokyo in collaboration with Tokyu Hotels; awarded two Michelin stars within months.
Awarded third Michelin star at Sant Pau — first Spanish woman ever to hold three stars; third woman ever in the world.
Opens Moments at the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona with son Raül Balam.
Named World's Best Female Chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants Academy.
Closes Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar at the height of its reputation.
Closes Sant Pau Tokyo following the expiry of the Tokyu Hotels partnership.
Frequently Asked Questions about Carme Ruscalleda
How many Michelin stars has Carme Ruscalleda held?
At her peak Ruscalleda held seven Michelin stars across three restaurants on two continents: three at Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar, two at Sant Pau Tokyo, and two at Moments in Barcelona. She is the only woman in the history of the guide to have held three stars at two restaurants simultaneously.
Why did Ruscalleda close Sant Pau?
Ruscalleda closed the original Sant Pau in October 2018, after thirty years of trading and twelve consecutive years with three Michelin stars. She said in the closure announcement that she wanted to step back from the daily intensity of a three-star kitchen, spend more time with her family, and devote herself to the wider project of documenting and exporting Catalan cuisine. She continues to be active at Moments in Barcelona.
Did Carme Ruscalleda train under another chef?
No. Ruscalleda is entirely self-taught. She and her husband Toni Balam ran a delicatessen in Sant Pol de Mar for fourteen years before converting it into a restaurant in 1988, and her culinary education came from village cooking, books and intensive autodidactic study of classical Catalan, French and Japanese kitchens.
What is the connection between Sant Pau Barcelona and Sant Pau Tokyo?
Sant Pau Tokyo was the first overseas outpost of Ruscalleda's Sant Pol de Mar restaurant, opened in 2004 in the Nihonbashi district through a partnership with Tokyu Hotels. The Tokyo kitchen followed the same Catalan grammar as the Barcelona original — sofregits, picadas, mar i muntanya — using Japanese ingredients (Hokkaido scallops, A4 wagyu, yuzu, ume) wherever a direct local substitute for a Mediterranean ingredient could be found. The restaurant held two Michelin stars from 2004 until its closure in 2020.
Who is Raül Balam Ruscalleda?
Raül Balam Ruscalleda is Carme Ruscalleda's son and the executive chef of Moments at the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, which the family opened together in 2009. He has been the senior day-to-day chef at Moments since opening, and is co-credited with Ruscalleda on the restaurant's two Michelin stars.
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