Chef Pia León on what being the world’s best female chef means to her

From a young age even before she turned double digits, Peruvian chef Pia León had already ascertained her appetite for gastronomy. “I discovered my passion very early at home, because my mother had a catering business cooking fine cuisine for home events,” she recalls. “I fell in love with it ever since.”

After finishing high school at 17, she studied at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in Lima, Peru. With a desire to discover the culinary scene within her homeland, she applied to join fine-dining establishment Central when she was just 21.

In just five years, she made her mark at the restaurant, climbing through the ranks and going from the only female cook in the kitchen to its head chef.

Working hand-in-hand with chef-owner Virgilio Martínez (who today is her husband and business partner), the duo endeavour to celebrate Peruvian heritage with dishes that feature incredible biodiversity and locally-sourced produce. They also run a remotely-located restaurant called MIL, which is located 4,000 meters above sea level in the Peruvian Andes.

The chefs are aiming to give Singapore a taste of Peru's vastly biodiverse landscapes and ecosystems with a new dining experience called Meters Above Sea Level (MASL) at the next Mandala Masters culinary residency.

Marking the first time that the husband-and-wife team have come together to work on such a project outside of their home country, the highly-anticipated pop-up will run from August 5 to October 30 at Art Restaurant within the National Gallery Singapore. “For Virgilio and I, this experience and immersion of MASL is about heights and ecosystems, inspired by the ecosystems of Peru that can be applied with products that can be found there,” says Pia.  

The Peruvian chefs and their esteemed efforts to connect and translate nature and their heritage into delectable dishes have been recognised with a plethora of awards and achievements, with Central receiving the title of the Best Restaurant in South America 2022 and clinching the number two spot on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2022 list.

Pia, who branched out in 2018 to launch her very own restaurant Kjolle, was also voted as number one on Latin America’s Best Female Chef in 2019, before being awarded the World’s Best Female Chef accolade in 2021. 

“For me [the award] was very important as it brought a lot of visibility to my restaurant Kjolle, which is fairly young. It began to become known, and people came to see what I was creating. While I may have a very strong association with Central—and it's a part of who I am—I also have a different way of expressing myself through Kjolle,” the chef reveals sincerely.

She adds: “I also work with young female cooks, and the award allows me to feel that I can help and be part of a voice; to show that it is possible to achieve things in the kitchen as a woman. I am very happy to see that I can do something to support this reality. I see this award as a responsibility to be a spokesperson for all those women who work in kitchens that might be quite demanding.”

Here, Pia elaborates more on what the accolade means to her, her top tips for aspiring female chefs, and what diners can expect from the upcoming MASL experience.

Tell us a little more about what being the World’s Best Female Chef means to you. 

Being a woman in a demanding kitchen is a statement in itself. I believe that being a woman means providing a value, one that is within ourselves. For me, being Pia León—a woman, a cook, Peruvian—it means a lot to me. It makes me a chef who has a lot to say.

If you understand who you are, you can achieve success. When you understand yourself as you are, you can generate a plan, a strategy, a way of life and a way of working. In addition, of course, to discipline and organised work, which is also necessary [for success].

If you could give your top three tips for aspiring female chefs, what would they be?

1. First of all, there has to be passion. Really loving this field is very important, because after that comes the hard work and preserving this passion. 
2. When you want something, you care for it. Taking care of your crafts, of yourself, of your mind and your health is so important. Remember to take this into account. 
3. I would also recommend having discipline and setting schedules—both of which are related to hard work.

Congratulations as well on Central’s recent win for No.2 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants, and for Kjolle’s climb from No.95 last year to No.68! How are you feeling about the well-deserved wins?

We feel very happy because our consistency is visible. The team also perceives that we are being recognised and that people love us. It may sound a bit superficial, but we actually feel very grateful. From an internal perspective, it is the result of working contentedly with emotion, and our passion is deeply involved in all this.

Besides being at the helm of Central and Kjolle, you also run Mil, and you’re a mother. How do you find balance between all your roles?

We try not to split the concepts—Mil, Kjolle, Central, and what we do outside. We always have teams that share the same philosophy. The ideas in the different spaces do not differ too much. They have different styles and ways of expressing it, but the heart is the same. And we share our heart with the people close to us, the ones we love, and people with whom we feel that we have a path and a future together.

What would you say is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

To see that you can generate a positive impact on people, your family, and the environment. Feeling that your presence in the world, which can be full of turmoil these days, can bring positivity and a touch of joy whilst benefiting your community is huge. It makes me feel useful and gives purpose.

How would you describe the upcoming MASL experience?

The experience is a deep look at our way of connecting with nature from a vertical perspective, hence ‘Meters Above Sea Level’. We take diners on a journey from a certain depth of the sea, going up the coast, to the mountains and then descending to the Amazons. It is how we express our territory and the vast biodiversity and ecosystems of Peru. We want to globalise this way of seeing things, using local inputs but with a global thinking.

The MASL Mandala Masters Residency at Art Restaurant will run from August 5 to October 30, serving both lunch (8-Course, Wednesday to Sunday) and dinner service (11-Course, Tuesday to Sunday). For more information, head to the website here.