Best Cuisine D‘auteur

In today’s culinary landscape, the phrase “signature cuisine” has become both coveted and contested. With every chef branding themselves as a creator, the category has grown increasingly complex. To stand out requires more than novelty; it demands depth, discipline, and vision. Wilson Alpala, head chef of Zazu in Quito, embodies all three.

Alpala’s recognition in this category is no accident. His cooking is not about trends or theatrics, but about building a cuisine with roots and reach, anchored in Ecuador yet sophisticated enough to resonate internationally. At Zazu, he has refined a language of flavors that merges contemporary technique with the soul of local ingredients, positioning the restaurant at the forefront of Ecuador’s fine dining scene.

Raised in the Andes, Alpala’s relationship with food was forged in the rhythms of Ecuador’s markets and harvests. That grounding serves him well at Zazu, a restaurant whose philosophy, throughout the years, has become looking inward before looking out. His menus draw from Ecuador’s immense biodiversity—corn and tuber varieties from the highlands, seafood from the Pacific, Amazonian fruits and palms—transformed through technique into dishes that speak both of place and of possibility.

But Alpala’s true strength isn’t just in the ingredients. Every dish bears his creative signature. A ceviche might arrive reimagined with unexpected textures; a humble tuber becomes an unlikely accomplice; and in his hands, a salad transforms into a liquid brew that reinvents the garden’s freshness in a preparation that jolts the palate.

His path began young, in hotels and small restaurants, until he reached the Galápagos, where, in his twenties, he rose from sous-chef to head chef of a luxury lodge, meeting scarcity and logistics with sheer ingenuity. That crucible opened doors to Z-Food, and later to Michelin-starred kitchens like the Espadon at the Ritz in Paris and the acclaimed Manresa in San Francisco, before returning home to take the reins at Zazu.

Today, Alpala commands a kitchen that is both atelier and stage. His leadership honors the vision Jan Niedrau and Michelle Swoboda imagined when they founded Grupo Z, but stamps it with his own identity: bold yet disciplined, rooted yet visionary. In his hands, Zazu doesn’t just showcase what Ecuadorian gastronomy could be—it showcases what it already is.