Coming home

Long before there was a restaurant here, the Plaça des Blanquer already held a family story.

My parents ran a small neighbourhood grocery with a butcher's counter, a place where neighbours came in every day to shop, to talk and to spend a while together. It was much more than a shop. It was a meeting point, part of the everyday life of the neighbourhood.

This is where I grew up. I learnt to ride a bike, and I played football and marbles in the square. I watched the seasons, the years and the people go by who brought this corner of Inca to life, a corner that still feels like mine today.

In time, the family business moved to the shop next door, the space Joan Marc Restaurant occupies today. The old grocery stayed closed for a few years while I set off on my own path.

Cooking took me far from home. I was lucky enough to learn the trade alongside great masters such as Carme Ruscalleda at Sant Pau and Santi Santamaria at Can Fabes, and later as head chef at Son Brull. Those were years of learning, discipline and high standards. Years that taught me the importance of produce, of respect for the craft and of the constant pursuit of excellence.

But somehow, the road always led me back here.

In 2011 that old family grocery began a new chapter and became Joan Marc Restaurant. It wasn't just a restaurant that was born. It was a way of sharing everything I had learnt without losing the bond with my roots, with the square where I grew up and with the people who had helped me understand what it means to welcome someone.

That is why I have never thought of this place as “my restaurant”. To me it is our home.

And that is how I'd like anyone who visits us to feel it.

When someone walks through the door, I don't expect them to feel like a customer, but like a guest. I want them to find an open house, a table ready and a team that looks after every detail, so the experience feels close, sincere and welcoming.

This way of understanding hospitality also defines our cooking. Cooking that follows the rhythm of the seasons and is built on local produce and on the people who make it possible. Farmers, fishermen, livestock breeders and artisans are as much a part of this project as we are. Behind every dish lies their knowledge, their dedication and their commitment to the land.

Today, every day, we still open a door that in one way or another has always been open.

Since 2011 we have done the same thing my parents did when they started the day at the grocery: welcoming people.

Only the way has changed.