About us

KITCHEN

Curro Palomares (Jaén, 1972) defines himself as a type of character. And that character and his great personality are what he transmits in his cuisine. His presentations, clear in complexity, lead towards avant-garde sensibilities.
After training in hospitality at just 16 years old, Curro began working at Paradores Nacionales. From there, he moved on to other large hotel chains such as Meliá and Hilton. After a few years of non-stop growth, training and experimentation, he felt the need to see the world, which led him to great restaurants, many of them with Michelin stars, in Rome, Hamburg...
Back in Spain, he did internships with the greats of haute patisserie such as Paco Torreblanca and Oriol Balaguer. Settled in Barcelona, he met María Pérez, his partner, his accomplice and the mother of his son Iván, who has also been in charge of the restaurant since his arrival in Tenerife.

In 2007 he won the Spanish Signature Cuisine Championship.
Between 2011 and 2014 he worked as a consultant. Then, both decided to change their lives and, in 2014, they moved to Tenerife where, after launching two of their own restaurants (El Aliño and the successful first Cumai), they launched, at the end of 2018, the current Cumai…

Curro Palomares

ROOM

María Pérez (Barcelona, 1972) comes from the healthcare world, but when she meets Curro, aged 33, she begins to take an interest in the world of gastronomy. However, it is not until 2014, once in Tenerife and opening her first restaurant, when she has her first contact with the dining room. There, a great team begins to take shape. She learns quickly, is restless and her confidence in front of the diners, added to her informal but precise treatment, make her grow a legion of friends… They open the first Cumai. And now the second, the definitive one.

The new Cumai is the gourmet restaurant of a grand hotel, in an unbeatable location, where they continue to be, as María likes to say, “Curro and María’s restaurant”. Although this is a very humble view of their great cuisine…

Maria Perez

OUR HISTORY

KEEP

The story of Cumai is a story of love and passion. Cumai is the acronym of the names of Curro Palomares, María Pérez and Iván, their son.


The origin of this innovative project began when, after many years of working in different hotel chains, large restaurants and launches, Curro and María decided to make a change in their lives.


In 2014 they settled in Tenerife and opened El Aliño, in La Orotava, in the north of Tenerife, where they quickly made a good number of friends. Shortly afterwards they decided to open the first Cumai, also in La Orotava. A small establishment with six tables, where Curro's cooking became more sophisticated and María's dining room was perfected, significantly expanding their fan base.


In 2018 they concluded that Cumai must move forward and they had the opportunity to move their brand to Puerto de la Cruz.


The new Cumai opens in October 2018 with Curro's signature in the kitchen and María's contemporary vision in the dining room.

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