- They will be the protagonists of the Showcooking that has been scheduled for Friday April 4th, at 8:00 pm, at Pesqueres square.
- A wine of honor and tapas cooked by the chefs will be offered free of charge to all attendees.
The public will be able to enjoy, free of charge, the creations of the chefs Ferdinando Bernardi (Casa Bernardi from Benissa) and Ausiàs Signes (Ausiàs Restaurant from Pedreguer) this Friday, April 4th at El Poble Nou de Benitatxell. As part of the Mitjafava Fest 2025 programme, the Council has scheduled a showcooking in which the chefs will show their skills and culinary knowledge and will cook dishes with the star product of the town: the “haba poblera” (broad bean).
After the showcooking, all attendees will be offered a wine of honor and tapas created by Ferdinando, who will prepare a risotto with pecorino romano and broad beans; and Ausiàs, who will cook ‘faves sacsades’, mint, pork fat and chilli.
The event will be hosted by Marina Vega, journalist and gastronomic communicator, and, in addition, the wine of honor will be enlivened by the music of the pianist Estela Malonda. The event, which will be held from 8:00 pm onwards at Pesqueres square, is free and open to the public.
Ferdinando Bernardi’s cuisine
Ferdinando Bernardi, born in Rimini (Emilia-Romagna, Italy), has cuisine in his blood: he grew up in the kitchen of his father’s restaurant, La Tramontana. At the age of 13, he was already in charge of the pizzeria. His professional career, beyond the family business, began in his native Rimini, at Embassy restaurant, and then at the Hotel Executive in Cesenatico.
Later, he spent a year in Thailand, where he worked as a nutritional educator at the Lamsai Pathumthani school. In 2008, he was second chef at Dolomieu restaurant (DV Chalé, Madonna di Campiglio, Trento, Italy), which was awarded a Michelin star in 2013. In his eagerness to discover new cultures, techniques and gastronomic aspects of the rest of the world, over the years, Bernardi has also collaborated on international projects: In London, at Julie’s restaurant; with Neapolitan chef Agostino Esposito; in Lyon, with Chef Davy Tissot at the Paul Bocuse Institute’s School of Management, Catering and Culinary Art; as a consultant for Pane Caldo restaurant, in Chicago, for Moonshadows (Malibu, Los Angeles, California) and, most recently, he has directed the opening of Oliver’s Osteria (Laguna Beach, California).
From 2015 to 2021 he was the chef at the Orobianco restaurant in Calp, where he brought his idea of Italian haute cuisine to Spanish territory. In 2019 he received his first Michelin star, becoming the only Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in Spain. In February 2020, he was also awarded a Sol Repsol.
Casa Bernardi in Benissa is his personal project, his home and his challenge that already has a Sol Repsol (2023) and a Michelin Star (2024). With local produce and local ingredients, Ferdinando and his team prepare Italian dishes to get closer to their roots from the Mediterranean in Alicante. Ferdinando has also made several stellar appearances on the cooking show MasterChef, where he has extolled the value of Italian pasta.
Ausiàs Signes’ cuisine
According to Tapas Magazine, ‘Ausiàs Signes spent a summer at Canalla Bistró with the chef Ricard Camarena and under the orders of Toni Padial, one of the best chefs in the Valencian Community. After that experience he was convinced that his vocation was cooking. He studied in La Pobla de Farnals and won the ‘Cordon Bleu’ contest for promising young chefs. The scholarship gave him the opportunity to study pastry making. He won the Revelation Pastry Chef contest at Madrid Fusión. After this journey, the young man opened his restaurant with a serious and ambitious project on Cova Santa street of Pedreguer’.
Ausiàs Restaurant, a small establishment built in an old village house in the heart of Pedreguer, is the personal project of Ausiàs Signes and Felicia Guerra. The cuisine of Ausiàs Signes is also a cuisine of the territory, of proximity, of km 0. Local produce is the protagonist, and the flavours of Mediterranean cuisine are brought to the forefront under the guidelines of immediacy, lightness, colour and, above all, flavour. Pastries and baked goods are present throughout the menu. In short, they offer a cuisine with traditional flavours, but without limits.
The success of Ausiàs Restaurant has been meteoric. In just two years since it opened in 2023, it has managed to position itself on the national gastronomic scene with important awards. In September 2024, it was nominated by TheFork Awards, together with 36 restaurants from all over Spain, for the best opening of gastronomic establishments in 2023; in November of the same year, it won the Golden T from the magazine ‘Tapas’ for the best gastronomic project in the Valencian Community; in January of this year 2025, it conquered Madrid Fusion with the third prize for best new chef for Ausiàs Signes and the second prize for best head waitress for Felicia Guerra, and a few weeks ago it was included in the recommendations of the Michelin Guide and the Repsol Guide 2025.
