From cleaner to Michelin-starred chef: an immigrant’s success story

It is early in the morning at the prestigious Club Allard restaurant, and you can hear the sound of someone vacuuming between the chairs and tables.Fourteen years ago, that someone could have been Maria Marte, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who began working at Club Allard as a cleaner. Marte is now head chef, with 15 cooks under her.She has done so well with her fusion of Mediterranean and Caribbean cuisine that Club Allard retained its two Michelin stars in the latest Michelin Guide.“So many things have happened to me so quickly I’m barely taking it in,” she says. “All I’ve done is work, struggle and I haven’t been able to register success. I remember I’m famous when somebody tells me about it.”Marte’s story can be summed up in three words: “Dream, Struggle, Cook” – the same three words in the title of her recently released autobiography-cookbook.Right now, life is so good for Marte that it seems hard to believe the struggles of her past. “Success is the result of the seed you planted so many years before,” she says. “I feel happy when people stop me on the street and some people say to me: ‘I want to be like you some day.’”It all began in 1976 in Jarabacoa, the village in the Dominican Republic where she was born. Marte was the youngest of eight siblings and she always had an interest in cooking. Her mother taught her how to make jams, and she would accompany her father to his work at a restaurant that prepared local food.Marte gave birth to a son at 16 and then separated from his father. Five years later, she had twins with another partner, with whom she also broke up.To make ends meet, she went to work at a butane gas-bottling firm, as well as painting plaques and even setting up a small catering business. But in 2003 she decided to emigrate to Madrid, where her oldest son had relocated to be with his father. She had to leave her two youngest children in the Dominican Republic.In Madrid, Marte embarked on the difficult path that would eventually lead to the heights of haute cuisine. When she began work as a cleaner and dishwasher at Club Allard – a job her former boyfriend got for her – she became known as “La Negra”, or “the black girl.”When she first mentioned her interest in cooking, her companions made fun of her and she had to keep badgering the chefs until they gave her a helper’s spot when one became available.At that time, she had to endure disdain and racism as well as jealousy from some of her work mates.But she is not resentful. “I think of myself as a mirror in which many people can look at themselves and think: ‘If Maria was able [to bear it], why can’t I?’” she says. “Racism has always existed but I think you should not bear grudges – about anything.”Marte slowly became an assistant to the Club Allard’s head chef at the time, Diego Guerrero. He had confidence in her, but he questioned her creativity. Marte recalls in her book how he once said to her: “You’re good, but only with somebody like me at your side.”But Marte was not daunted. In 2013, Guerrero left Club Allard unexpectedly and Marte asked to be allowed to take over the kitchen.When she did, she had to live through more nasty comments being made about her. But six months later, Marte had revolutionised the menu and the restaurant continued to fill up with customers and receive good reviews from critics.Since she began as head chef at Club Allard “it has changed in every way,” Marte says. “It has developed an intensity of flavours that it did not have before. It has my own seal, the seal of my identity, which is the fusion of Caribbean cuisine with Mediterranean.”Marte’s innovative cooking has created sophisticated dishes – such as hibiscus flowers with potato starch – that mix the flavours of the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and Asia. Her cooking has gained the attention of Spanish cooking greats such as Basque experts Pedro Subijana and Martin Berasategui, of whom she speaks fondly in her book.Marte’s biggest professional break came in 2015, when Club Allard held on to the two Michelin stars it had already been awarded. Now, Marte wants a third star – the highest rating Michelin gives.“We are working for the third star. I know we’re going to achieve it. This is an engine that moves us. We all want three Michelin stars.”Marte spends so much time in the Club Allard kitchens that she practically sleeps there. Sometimes she works 16-hour shifts, but she is always happy to go out to greet patrons when they finish their meals.For Marte, an outing to a restaurant is “like a grand theatrical performance.”“We all have to eat, but this is a gastronomic experience. This is a performance. At home you don’t eat 14 dishes. Each dish is an experience.“You are the play’s lead performer and people want to see you at the end,” Marte explains. “What we do is very nice and we have to share it with people.”Marte is not considering returning to the Dominican Republic any time soon. “I think there’s still a lot to be done in Madrid, in Club Allard. The Club is a part of my life. I’ve been here for 14 years and I owe it a lot. There is a moral and professional commitment.” – DPA