Yvonne Corral

"Guisandera" and chef at Casa Telva (Valdesoto, Asturias, Spain)

The case of Yvonne Corral is more vocation than profession. She believes that cooking is a passion to convey happiness and love for a certain land and its people.

She was born in Asturias, but grew up in Belgium after her parents emigrated. She learned her love of cooking and its secrets from her mother Julia, who worked as cook at the home of a rich industrialist. Knowledge she subsequently consolidated alongside leading Franco-Belgian chefs.

Back in their native Asturias, the family opened the La Fragata restaurant-cafeteria in Gijón, where Yvonne took charge of the cooking side of things. They then opened the La Lastra hotel in Campo de Caso. Finally, her husband Luis inherited a house in Valdesoto de Siero from his grandmother Telva, a former bar and confectionery outlet, and they created a more personal project: Casa Telva.

At this farmhouse, Yvonne offers Asturias cuisine with a few European touches, and also some more state-of-the-art nuances from her daughter Sara, who followed in her mother's footsteps and is also a "guisandera".