Continuing the Santamaria legacy

IN 2011, Regina Santamaria was 25 and learning the ropes of the restaurant business from her father, the celebrated three Michelin-starred Spanish chef Santi Santamaria, who had opened his first Singapore outlet at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS). She was getting used to living in Asia and managing the restaurant when the chef, 53, died suddenly of a heart attack in the kitchen - turning her life upside down and leaving his legacy in limbo.

The Singapore restaurant closed down a year later, and so did his other overseas outpost in Dubai, followed by the restaurant Evo in Barcelona. The final blow came when his flagship restaurant Can Fabes served its last meal on Aug 31 on the back of financial difficulties, loss of culinary direction and the troubled Spanish economy that had already claimed a few fine dining casualties.

"It was a really difficult decision to make," says Ms Santamaria of the closure of Can Fabes after 32 years. "My family lived just above the restaurant, so we practically grew up with it. But the time comes when you have to think with the head and not with the heart.