{"id":43335,"date":"2026-03-31T00:06:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/?p=43335"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:05:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:05:05","slug":"chef-inaki-lebrero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef I\u00f1aki Lebrero"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chef I\u00f1aki Lebrero arrived in Lanzarote in 1991 and has been part of the island\u2019s culinary evolution ever since. Today, he says, the quality and variety of its gastronomy rival those of any major Spanish city.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Trained in Basque cuisine during a creative boom, Jos\u00e9 Ignacio Lebrero, known in the trade as I\u00f1aki, was working as a chef in Bilbao when he saw a job advert in the newspaper. \u2018I rang about the post, and it turned out to be well paid, with an apartment overlooking the sea in Playa Blanca. My partner was all for it, so we came. The plan was to stay a few months, get to know the island and the local food\u2026 That was thirty-five years ago.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018In those early days, the difference was huge,\u2019 he recalls. \u2018It was a world apart. I arrived with my Basque training and came across frozen chicken, something I\u2019d never seen before in a kitchen. Everything was very functional, all about churning out menus quickly. But I also discovered wonderful ingredients, like avocado, which was new to me and which I started experimenting with, and garlic bread.\u2019<\/p>\n

The years passed as he immersed himself in a profession he loves, though he describes it as \u2018all-consuming\u2019 in terms of time. \u2018I missed out on a lot of personal moments, time with my family, the children.\u2019 Over the decades, he witnessed and played a part in what he considers a remarkable transformation in Lanzarote\u2019s gastronomy. \u2018It\u2019s improved enormously, and just keeps getting better,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n

\u2018I remember seeing a box of hake from La Graciosa and some magnificent scorpion fish about to be sent off to Madrid simply because people didn\u2019t recognise their value. Today, the quality of local produce is far more appreciated. The potatoes and tomatoes are fantastic, and the fish is incredibly fresh. Access to produce from outside the island is also much better and faster.\u2019<\/p>\n

I\u00f1aki highlights the evolution of professionals and the courage of certain restaurants that chose to prioritise quality long before it became fashionable. \u2018Lanzarote now has outstanding chefs, both homegrown and those who arrived years ago from elsewhere, such as Luis Le\u00f3n, Nicol\u00e1s Mach\u00edn \u2018Colacho\u2019, Germ\u00e1n Blanco or Cristian Bola\u00f1os\u2026 Creative people with initiative, who respect the product and understand that precision is vital, for meat and even more so for fish.\u2019<\/p>\n

For Lebrero, this progress is supported by both residents and visitors with the spending power to appreciate good food. \u2018Today,\u2019 he says, \u2018you can eat well in Lanzarote. Obviously, as anywhere, you need a budget to match. Quality ingredients cost money, and you\u2019re paying for professional-level knowledge and experience. Chefs are no longer just assembly-line workers; they are creators.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chef I\u00f1aki Lebrero arrived in Lanzarote in 1991 and has been part of the island\u2019s culinary evolution ever since. Today, he says, the quality and variety of its gastronomy rival […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,50],"tags":[68,158],"yoast_head":"\nChef I\u00f1aki Lebrero - Viva Lanzarote<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chef I\u00f1aki Lebrero arrived in Lanzarote in 1991 and has been part of the island\u2019s culinary evolution ever since.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chef I\u00f1aki Lebrero - Viva Lanzarote\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chef I\u00f1aki Lebrero arrived in Lanzarote in 1991 and has been part of the island\u2019s culinary evolution ever since.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Viva Lanzarote\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/vivalanzaroterevista\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-30T23:06:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-30T23:05:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/INAKI-LEBRERO-OK.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1339\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Viva Lanzarote\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Viva Lanzarote\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Viva Lanzarote\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/579fcbf1b9e46f7724416c306460d858\"},\"headline\":\"Chef I\u00f1aki Lebrero\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-30T23:06:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-30T23:05:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/\"},\"wordCount\":465,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/INAKI-LEBRERO-OK.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lanzarote\",\"nutrition\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Gastronomy\",\"Interviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.viva-lanzarote.com\/en\/chef-inaki-lebrero\/\",\"name\":\"Chef I\u00f1aki Lebrero - 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