Marvic Medina: meet the head chef of the Central restaurant, number 1 in the world

Marvic Medina He is not yet a well-known face on the local circuit. She joined Central at the beginning of 2023 and in April she was officially presented as the leader of that kitchen, strengthening the a team that also includes the Korean Sang Jeong and the Argentine Bernabé Simón Padrósproject managers.

At 27 years old, the young Peruvian cook reveals a remarkable resume. She studied at Le Cordon Bleu Peru, and since her first year she sought to add internships outside the country: first, at the Sofitel hotel in Rio de Janeiro, then at the DOM restaurant in Sao Paulo, and finally at La Gloria, in Lima. She was 19 years old, had completed her studies and was eager to learn, so she tried her luck sending e-mails to restaurants in France: they answered her from the hotel Le Meurice (two Michelin stars) by Alain Ducasse and did not hesitate; he spent six months there. He then went to Athenee Square (three Michelin stars before Ducasse dropped it, in 2021). Regarding this experience, she admits that it was hard: a men’s team, she a foreigner in the midst of French rigor; they made her life difficult, but then she found very good friends.

“In four years I started as an intern and ended up as party chief”. But Marvic was aiming for more, she wanted to be head chef, which is why she took on another new project, also from Ducasse, called Sapid. In this corner of vegetable cooking, focused on seasonal products, she led a team of 10 people, most of them women. “The project started from scratch, right in a pandemic. It was the first time that I put everything together (…) It was a very sensitive kitchen, of product, you had to have a ‘feeling’. The people who came were mostly women who had that chemistry.”

And so eight years of apprenticeship passed in Paris. On a vacation trip to Peru, Marvic flew to Cusco and went to Mil to experience the Andean environment and ecosystem created by Martínez. A few months ago, already enrolled in the Central team, she repeated it: “This year I went to the immersion [en Mil]. Everything makes so much sense and coherence: the corn, the herbs, everything [lo que crece alrededor] They use it later for the menu that you eat. I left happy.”

A reading from Central

Virgilio Martínez is the brain at Central; In the kitchen, Marvic Medina takes away the weight of seeing day-to-day details, especially in the executive (if the potato that was requested arrived, or if the meat or fish came in) although he also develops a creative aspect, together to the chef. “What is special about Virgilio is his vision of things, beyond the creation of a dish”.

Last June, Marvic traveled with the creative team from Central to Valencia and was present at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants gala. The closest experience she lived to this award was when the Plaza Athénée team -when she was a member- celebrated having been among the top 15 on the list. This time, the emotion of being part of the best restaurant in the world was indescribable. “Today we are happy but with our feet firmly planted on the ground. The effort pays off and we are very proud of what Virgilio and the guys who have been working with him for years have achieved”says the chef, whose objective now is to consolidate the team to be a much more solid kitchen brigade and thus continue advancing.

“I think it will not stop. Virgilio always changes something, and it’s so funny not knowing exactly what’s going to happen and going at his pace. My challenge is to be able to get to a point where he can understand it without having to speak, as it happened to me before with the other chefs. Communicate only with the look”, points out Marvic, who after spending just over half a year in Central, thus defines the essence of the restaurant: “For me Central, Kjolle or Mil are like a trip through Peru: you enter and understand what the country is for each climate, each step, each part [del menú]. Peru is very diverse, they say, but being here you understand it: products, heights, tableware made by artisans. Everything is coherence, and you see Peru here”. That’s how it is.