THIS RECOGNITION REAFFIRMS JUANLU’S POSITION AS A REFERENCE IN ANDALUSIAN AND SPANISH CUISINE.
CATEGORÍA LU RESTAURANT MAKES HISTORY IN THE GASTRONOMY OF JEREZ BECOMING THE FIRST RESTAURANT TO REACH THIS CATEGORY.
Jerez de la Frontera, 26 November 2024. Jerez-born chef Juanlu Fernández has received the second MICHELIN Star for his restaurant LÚ, during the presentation of the MICHELIN Guide Spain 2025, which took place tonight at a gala held in the Auditorium and Congress Centre Víctor Villegas in Murcia.
The prestigious red guide has recognized the restaurant LÚ (Calle Zaragoza, number 2, Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, Spain) with its second Star, a well-deserved recognition of the excellence of Juanlu’s cuisine, which has positioned Jerez and Andalusian cuisine at the very top.
“This is an award for the whole team and for our family. This is a night we will never forget. Achieving this second star is a dream come true. We are excited to return to Jerez de la Frontera tomorrow to celebrate with all our people at home. Because this is also for our city, for the local people who have always supported us and given us their affection. We are immensely grateful to the Michelin Guide for their support and to all the customers who have visited us and helped us on this journey. Today we have you all in mind”, Juanlu and Dolce have confessed very excited.
After a successful career working in some of the best haute cuisine restaurants in the world, Juanlu decided in 2017 to open the restaurant LÚ in his hometown. With the unconditional support of his partner and wife, Dolce Nilda Suárez, they started their life project, and more personal. This project was born with the aim to pour everything he has experienced, express his personality and way of understanding gastronomy and, above all, show the world the best of Jerez and Andalusian cuisine.
His exquisite savoir-faire soon attracted attention, and just 10 months after its inauguration, the MICHELIN Guide awarded LÚ one MICHELIN Star, making it the first restaurant in Jerez to achieve this recognition. A milestone exceeded today as it is also the first restaurant to achieve 2 Stars in the prestigious Red Guide.
LÚ is a restaurant, yes, but it is much more. It is the place where Juanlu expresses himself without restriction. Where his love for the philosophy of French cuisine inspires him to create a proposal with which he wants to interpret his land, his roots, his culture, his gastronomy, and his history. The place where he recovers those traditional recipes that have been partly lost and cooks them from a different perspective, without forgetting the current innovation, but never losing the essence that makes them unique. It is in LÚ where this mystical duende, so closely linked to flamenco culture, emerges with total freedom and where Juanlu’s cuisine with duende is breathed on all sides.
The restaurant in Jerez has a kitchen located in the heart of the dining room. A concept that was pioneered in Spain, building the diner’s experience from the kitchen located in the centre with the dining room around it. A Chef’s Tableconcept, where the whole team builds the experience in a relaxed, elegant and silent way in front of the diners. LÚ has a unique and immersive atmosphere and helped by the exquisite interior design work signed by the famous Mexican architect Jean Porsche, allows the diner to enjoy the experience in a close and intimate way.
To make all this possible, Dolce and Juanlu have surrounded themselves with a great team that helps them in the different areas of the restaurant. While the front of the house is led by Dolce, who is also the hostess, in the kitchen, together with Juanlu and since the beginning of the project, Héctor Sanz is responsible for the gastronomic direction. Alongside them are other great professionals who make it possible for magic to happen in each of LÚ’s services.
Jerez is a land with a wine name, and as it could not be otherwise, this has a great importance in LÚ. Its cellar has one of the largest and best collections of Sherry wines, from historical and current vintages, with which to pair many of the dishes served. In addition, Dolce and Juanlu have been trying to recover old bottles to include them in their restaurant. Bottles that form part of the history of Sherry wine, either because very few bottles are left or because the wineries that produced them have disappeared. Unique and singular bottles that can be enjoyed here and that, once they are finished, will become legendary wines.
The determination and perseverance of this couple, with the support of their team, means that today they are celebrating the dream of those who work to achieve their goals. Nobody said it would be easy, and it hasn’t been, like most beginnings. But passion, perseverance and hard work mean that today LU is experiencing one of the sweetest moments in its history.
In addition to LÚ, Juanlu and Dolce successfully run other projects in Jerez. Bina Bar, a place where you can eat delicious food, with a casual and relaxed atmosphere, with traditional recipes, but with an exceptional and different touch. Krombol, a cosy space where you can try from the best cakes and desserts to the most select and healthy breakfasts.
Chef Fernández also plays an important role as gastronomic consultant in several projects. He manages the gastronomic offer at the Royal Hide Away Hotel in Sancti-Petri (Cádiz) at the Chez Lumière restaurant, a select brasserie in front of the beach. He also manages the gastronomic offer of the terrace at the beautiful Hotel L’apèro, in Vejer de la Frontera, with a selection of some of his best apéritifs.
This award comes as the perfect end to a month of November in which Juanlu and his team have not stopped reaping success. On the 5th, The Best Chef Awards list awarded him with 1 knife, making him one of the 10 chefs awarded in this category in Spain and one of the 276 worldwide. He is also the only chef from Jerez with a restaurant in the city in this category. Furthermore, on the 22nd, his corporate video titled “Cocina con Duende,” which was co-created with the Jerez creative agency EnBloque and produced by Innova Films, also from Jerez, was awarded the Best Corporate Video 2024 category at the 14th edition of the Agripina 2024 Awards.
When asked about the key to his success, Juanlu admits that the biggest secret is something as simple as “working tirelessly, being faithful to your principles, without giving up your essence, but letting yourself be advised by those who love you and who are always by your side, in the good and bad times”.
LÚ restaurant starts its new season tomorrow, 27th November, after a holiday period, and they return with renewed energy to face a new stage that will be illuminated by this new Star. From tomorrow, the chef from Jerez, Juanlu, will continue to build his dream and make the culture, art, and virtues of his land visible to all those who come to visit them.