Mercedes Solis

Following her dream to be part of a professional kitchen, Mercedes’s first experiences in restaurants were unpaid internships in several places in Buenos Aires, while she was still studying. Working hard she made it to Sucre, a prestigious restaurant in the Belgrano neighbourhood, where she stayed for two years.

In early 2006, Mercedes interviewed with chef Germán Martitegui (who is today, an undisputed Argentine chef), landing a job with him that would take her far. She started at Casa Cruz, a restaurant owned by Martitegui in Buenos Aires.

She later went to Spain to work at Olsen, in Madrid, where she started as a pastry chef and worked her way up to sous chef. She stayed there for two years. Being in Europe, Solís took the opportunity to do internships for some important world-renowned restaurants such as Noma, in Copenhagen (2008) and Lux in Stockholm.

She returned to Buenos Aires at the end of 2008, when Martitegui was starting the Tegui project. He wanted Mercedes to be part of the team. Again, she started as a pastry chef and later moved to the kitchen side, where she stepped up to head the kitchen in 2012 for the next five years.

Since then, Mercedes has worked all over Argentina including for the Masticar Food Festival which gave her access to farmers and producers all over the country and inspired her to start a fish canning partnership. She is opening her own restaurant in Patagonia this year.