TASTE MAKER

Boris Buono is as close to being a food legend in Ibiza as it gets. The chef-owner of Ibiza Food Studio, in Sa Penya, is well-known for having trained and honed his art at Noma in Copenhagen before making the move to Ibiza, where he’s made a huge indent on the island’s food tradition. ‘When I first came here,’ he remembers, ‘there were two, maybe three kinds of restaurants: those that were by people from outside the island and those that were the classics, which were either places that served frozen fish and vegetables from the peninsula, or those that sold fresh fish and vegetables from their garden. I realised it was basically a blank slate, with a lot of room for gastronomy.’

Fast forward 10 years and Buono is the island’s bona fide go-to for kitchen alchemy: Food Studio is a celebration of local produce, prepared by those who value fine dining and incredible food. ‘Because of the size of the island,’ he philosophises, ‘there are salt particles everywhere in the air that gives it a special identity: the flavour of the land—the terroir, they say in French.’ This airborne magic was perfectly suited to Buono’s penchant for acidic, complex, powerful flavour profiles; it also layered well with the pluralism that’s a result of Ibiza’s varied, multicultural history – one that spans the Phoenicians, the Arabs, the Romans and the Catalans. And, of course, there’s his Nordic food upbringing, which embraces wild ingredients – ‘anything that’s hyper seasonal, hyper local’ he says – and extends to his diners, too, who he wants to mix: ‘One of my criteria of success in my restaurants is that people actually talk to each other.’

In 2022, Buono’s reach extended north with the opening of Bistro Mondo, a laidback, plant-based, local eatery in San Juan. This year he brings his vibrant vivacity to More, the restaurant at the much-loved agroturismo Cas Gasi. Cooking at Cas Gasi, Buono says, is a chef’s dream: ‘it’s an incredible place, and Margaret [von Korff], the owner, is old school – her approach was very much to allow me to take my time. The duo’s visions are also aligned: good, local, plant-oriented cooking that uses the hotel’s extraordinary kitchen gardens. ‘I would rather create 100 recipes for an Ibizan carrot than import a piece of Kobe beef. The potential of Ibiza’s local produce is limitless. It’s a slow, silent revolution but we’re getting there, little by little.’