Victoria, “Vicky” was born in Quart de les Valls (Comunitat Valenciana), a village she left at the early age of 17 to learn to cook, a discipline she was passionate about and which she knew she wanted to turn into her profession.
She studied at the Costa Azahar School in Castellón and after a period of training in Formentera, she returned to the Comunitat Valenciana to continue learning under prestigious Valencian chefs whom she considers her teachers, such as Begoña Rodrigo of La Salita Restaurant who was a great reference for her in terms of business management,
Susi Díaz of La Finca from whom she learned good kitchen organization and Vicente Patiño of Saiti from whom she had the opportunity to learn in depth all the workings of a restaurant.
At the age of 25 she ended her time at Saiti and decided to continue her apprenticeship but this time on her own, opening her own restaurant. Vicky was clear that she wanted to continue in her homeland and close to her home, and she found the ideal place to open her first solo restaurant in Sagunto, in the renovated stables of a 16th century mansion. There he decided to give shape to her dream of having her own restaurant and so Arrels was born.
Only a year after the opening of Arrels, Vicky was elected “Young promise of the Comunitat Valenciana 2018”, an award given by the newspaper Levante and the guide of the 55 best restaurants in the Comunitat Valenciana.
In 2020 another important milestone in Vicky’s career took place: she was nominated for the Revelation Chef Award at Madrid Fusion, one of the most important gastronomic congresses in the world. That same year, the Repsol guide awarded Arrels with its first Sol Repsol, placing the project in the spotlight of the country’s gastronomic forums.
And one of the best awards to date would come at the end of 2021, when Arrels was awarded its first MICHELIN Star, making Vicky the youngest woman in Spain to achieve it.
The year 2021 could not end in a better way, as Arrels receives the “Hedonista Award for sustainability”, for her cuisine’s based to seasonal and local produce.
The year 2022 is a revolution for her, Cerveza 1906 publishes a masterclass about her entitled “A fuerza de Talento” as part of its Imperfectxos project, which is broadcast on La
Sexta TV in Spain, and brings her work to many Spanish homes. In June she received the Next on Top Chef Revalación de Osborne Award. In September 2022, Vicky crosses the
Atlantic to participate in PortAmérica México and in October in DNA Festival in Denia. In November, Arrels enters the Top 10 Restaurants in the 55 Best Restaurants in the Valencian Community Guide and in November it revalidates its MICHELIN Star.
In March 2023 she received the “New Talent of the year” award from the prestigious French list La Liste in the first edition of its La Liste Mediterranean edition, recognising her as one of the young gastronomic talents of the Mediterranean area.
With her cuisine, which defends her own cuisine and searches among her experiential and gastronomic roots, Vicky has positioned Arrels as a benchmark restaurant for signature and creative cuisine, giving relevance to the vitality of Valencian cuisine outside the capital. Her gastronomic proposal is deeply rooted in the roots of the land and is represented in her dishes through the products of the environment and traditional recipes, which Vicky interprets with freedom and respect, always trying to make the flavour the main protagonist.