Alejandro Chamorro

Nuema, Quito

Ingredient-driven storyteller exploring Ecuador’s culinary identity

One of Latin America's most talented and visionary chefs, Alejandro Chamorro is the definitive champion of Ecuadorian cuisine. Born and raised in the country that now shapes his culinary mission, Chamorro trained in restaurants including the legendary Gastón Acurio's Astrid y Gastón, before becoming the first Ecuadorian chef to work at Noma.

Back in his home city of Quito, in 2014 he opened Nuema with his partner in life and work, renowned pastry chef Pía Salazar. Named after the couple's three children, Nuria, Emilio and Martin, Nuema is Chamorro's family-centred exploration of Ecuador's diversity and culinary heritage. Here, he puts his passion for the richly varied produce of his home country into practice with a menu following the rhythm of the seasons, showcasing native Ecuadorian ingredients in highly conceptual plates with precise aesthetic vision.

Chamorro frequently travels the length and breadth of Ecuador, learning from different communities and landscapes, working tirelessly to best pin down the ever-evolving story of his country's cuisine. His approach is produce-focused, with local ingredients found in the dishes at Nuema including neapia, a fermented yuca paste made with chillies of the Secoya community in Ecuador's portion of the Amazon rainforest, Andean tubers known as mashuas and Pacific mangrove black clams.

These heritage ingredients arrive on the plate at Nuema with Chamorro's signature avante-garde style: angular and unusual shapes, bright colours and profound flavours. This combination of commitment to preserving Ecuador's rich gastronomic landscape and modern, artistic technique makes Chamorro an increasingly leading and admired voice in Latin America's culinary scene.

Chamorro is transforming Ecuadorian cuisine, showcasing the brilliant biodiversity and Indigenous food heritage that needs to be both celebrated and protected. His thoughtful work both in kitchens and communities has inspired Chamorro and Nuema to be celebrated across Latin America, providing a new blueprint for aspiring chefs to follow and leading him to be chosen by his peers as the winner of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award 2025.

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