Pedro Sánchez of Bagá named Spain's top chef for 2026
The Real Academia de Gastronomía's jury has named its winners ahead of the 9 November gala in Toledo, with a one-star cook from Jaén taking the main title.
Pedro Sánchez, chef at the one-Michelin-starred Bagá in Jaén, has won the Premios Nacionales de Gastronomía 2026 for Best Head Chef, the jury of Spain's Real Academia de Gastronomía announced ahead of its 9 November gala.
Casto Copete, dining room manager at Nou Manolín in Alicante, takes the award for Best Dining Room Direction in the same 52nd edition. The jury has released the two names before the ceremony itself, which closes at the Palacio de Congresos El Greco in Toledo.
A small-city kitchen takes the top award
A provincial capital better known nationally for olive oil than for tasting menus.
Bagá seats around 20 covers in Jaén, a provincial capital better known nationally for olive oil than for tasting menus. Sánchez built the restaurant's reputation on dishes built around the region's product, including the olive oil itself; Jaén already runs its own olive oil cooking prize, now in its own right a fixture on the province's culinary calendar. The national award puts a second spotlight this year on a kitchen working outside Spain's three usual reference points of Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque Country.
Copete's win recognises service rather than the plate: Nou Manolín, a longstanding Alicante institution built around rice dishes and fresh fish, has run for decades on dining room work that rarely gets a national prize of its own.
Toledo hosts for a second year running
This is the second consecutive year the Premios Nacionales de Gastronomía have left Madrid, where the ceremony was based for most of its 52-year run. The Real Academia has not published the full list of category winners; it has confirmed only Sánchez and Copete so far, with the remaining categories expected to be announced at the gala itself.
The move to regional hosts, paired this year with regional winners, points to a jury deliberately looking past the capital for both its venues and its honourees. The Real Academia has run the Premios Nacionales de Gastronomía since the 1970s, and a win in the head chef category has historically tracked closely with a chef’s standing in Spain’s Michelin Guide the following spring.
