Indeed, as much as he is now known an innovator, García is still primarily a chef at heart and as such can still be seen cooking up culinary delights. His rise to become one of Spain’s most prominent chefs has been swift and is an obvious display of his talents, after training at the Malaga Catering School, Garcia served his apprenticeship in the restaurant of Martín Berasategui. He then went on in 1998 to open Tragabuches, his first restaurant, in Ronda, it was here that the young chef who at the age of just 25-years first attracted media attention and secured his first Michelin star. In 2004, he teamed up with the Melia Hotel Group and set up Restaurant Calima in Marbella, his home town. This award-winning restaurant now attracts national and international attention. It was here that he developed his skills using liquid nitrogen in the kitchen, which won him the Technical Award of the Year in 2005 and the restaurants first Michel star (the second star followed 4 years later in 2011). With his innovative flair further expansion followed and in 2010, he created a line of franchise restaurants called Lamorga (from which he split from a couple of years later) and Manzanilla an entrepreneurial concept of two restaurants one in Málaga and the other in New York, which closed in February 2014. In 2014, Garcia retuned back to his roots of Marbella and opened two new restaurants in the Puento Romano Beach Resort & Spa, under the Dani Garcia Group a young, fun and innovative brand born out of enthusiasm, a love for cooking, and a taste for things well done called Bibo & the Dani García Restaurant and now the Lobito de Mar Restaurant Dani says his first culinary influences came from his parents: “I was very interested in cuisine and the world of gastronomy, probably through my parents. We went out a lot, every Saturday morning we went to the market, later cooked at home, then went out on Saturday nights, dining regularly at restaurants. With his new cosmopolitan offering Lobito de Mar Restaurant, Garcia has indeed reverted back to childhood days presenting a new era of dining, one with a base in a sound and well-established form of cooking & creativity. .
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