The Menorcan chef, only 25 years old, joins the group's hotels in Menorca as the culinary director, bringing a contemporary cuisine that celebrates local produce and the island’s identity.
José María Borrás has returned home. The Menorcan chef, recognized as the Best Young Chef of Spain and Portugal at the San Pellegrino Young Chef 2024 competition, is the new addition to Annua Signature Hotels to lead the kitchens of their Menorca hotels: Amagatay and Morvedra Nou. His arrival adds a creative, young, and deeply island-connected profile to the group's gastronomic offering.
Trained at the Hoffman Culinary School in Barcelona, he has worked in various restaurants across Spain and France, including La Terraza del Casino (Madrid, 2*), L’Auberge de Saint Rémy (Saint Rémy de Provence, France, 2*), and the Santa Mariana agrotourism restaurant in Menorca, where he earned a Michelin recommendation as executive chef.
Among his favorite ingredients are xeixa wheat, porc negre sausages, red Menorcan cow sobrasada, and lobster cooked in a tía, a traditional clay pot. The menu will be updated seasonally and also features unique products such as sea salt beer crafted by brewmaster Graham Pearce.
With this addition, Annua Signature Hotels strengthens its gastronomic offering, a key pillar in the experience provided by its hotels: cuisine with identity, unique flavors, and a strong connection to the environment.
Borrás’ cuisine, based on local products and guided by sustainability and zero waste, takes shape in different ways across the two hotels:
At El Olivar, the restaurant at Hotel Amagatay, there is a menu inspired by countryside flavors and wild herbs. Dishes such as rock octopus with chamomile, lobster meunière, and tuna cannelloni with gambusí and caviar stand out for their perfect balance between product, technique, and simplicity.
On the other hand, at Aquiara, the fine dining restaurant located at Hotel Morvedra Nou, Borrás unleashes all his creativity and talent to offer a unique experience. Balearic suckling pig with lobster (with which he won the national San Pellegrino competition), escarole and baby octopus sandwich with seaweed aioli, steamed Menorcan grouper with herbs, or his particular version of canons amb conill (macaroni with rabbit), where the pasta is replaced by espardenyas. Among the desserts: San Juan pear with champagne, toasted white chocolate, and vanilla.
Annua Signature Hotels offers a unique collection of distinctive hotels in exceptional locations, where traditional architecture, contemporary design, and a connection with the surroundings define a new way of understanding luxury—centered on how time is spent.
Each project is born with a clear purpose: to offer unique experiences through personalized service, cuisine with identity, respect for the landscape, and a commitment to sustainability. Currently, the group has hotels in Menorca, Mallorca, and Lanzarote, and continues its expansion, consolidating itself as a benchmark in exclusive experiences where time is not only measured; it is cared for, lived, and celebrated.
Two estates transformed into modern agrotourism hotels that capture the island’s unique character and peaceful rhythm:
Amagatay: a hotel located on an 18th-century estate with 20 suites and 35 hectares of century-old olive trees. A unique space where the pool and restaurant are integrated into the landscape, and which will soon produce its own olive oil.
Morvedra Nou: a 75-hectare hotel with a pool and 24 suites. The estate is ideal for long walks, enjoying haute cuisine at its Aquiara restaurant, or watching the sunset from the top of a hill with the best views of the island at the Sunset Bar.
PR & Events: Gadea Maier Pan de Soraluce – gadea.maier@annuahotels.com
Annua Group Gastronomy: Miren Cerrato – prensa@damascatrinas.es