You won’t find Mariano Rodríguez wearing a chef’s bonnet: “I’m a headscarf chef”. Imagination is the key word in his kitchen, where his only obsession is tidiness – despite happening to hold the record for having broken as many as twelve Bohemian crystal glasses during a symposium on Andalusian Gastronomy held at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid.

His greatest satisfaction as a chef is for people to feel happy and satisfied when eating his food, and this invariably occurs thanks to teamwork - one of his secrets for ensuring that everything turns out perfectly.

The Restaurante El Paraíso offers traditional seafood but also signature dishes using products not produced in Huelva. Andalusia is always present in Mariano’s dishes, and he would not hesitate to serve his best friend with prawns, ham and a good fish dish.

Andalusia is also reflected in his food through the great variety of products he employs; he points out that in the South “people eat very well because nothing is lacking”. And what is never lacking in his kitchen is a good frying pan and a sprig of bay leaves. Restaurant El Paraíso (Punta Umbría/ Huelva). Tlf: (+34) 959 31 27 56.