About us
El Rincon Latino is an independently family run Spanish tapas bar & restaurant. The Rubiera-Iglesias family is formed by seven brothers & three sisters. Of these, seven siblings are involved in the daily run of the business, with the assistance of our mother in the kitchen.
We were born in a traditional Asturian family of farmers in a small valley village named Vega, (North Spain) the first seven siblings were born in the farm. All the neighbours knew each other, all the children went to the same school - there was only one school to cover several neighbouring villages.
At the farm our parents professionally breed cows of the Friesian race, horses and bulls. We grew up running around chickens, rabbits, turkeys, pigeons, dogs, cats… We attended the annual farmers competition, were the cow who gave the most milk in the day will be crown the winner. We knew many of the animals by their own name.
The selection of fruit and vegetables grown in the farm was like the best delicatessen in the world as the variety was vast; there even was a walnut tree! For us to prepare a salad meant going to the garden ten minutes before seating at the table; the meat and eggs we ate were all grown in the farm, and the flour come from our corn fields. With the fruit we had in excess we made preserve.
We learned from a very early age to appreciate the richness of the simplest foods as we were accustomed to the great natural flavours on our daily meals.
At the festivities of the village 'Las fiestas de Vega' (August 24th) friends and relatives will come from all around and stay with us, our mother will cook the best delicacies of the year. She started preparing days prior to the Fiesta to have everything ready, for her cooking for 40 people was normal, everyone around the table eating and drinking until it was time to go to the verbena to dance. The drink served with the meal was Asturian cider and for the children will be the sweet cider, which is the first pressed cider, before the fermentation process. We also made the cider at the farm.
Our mother's culinary skills were renowned. Another time when lots of people were around in the house, it was for 'El San Martin' the period of 'matanza del cerdo' (slaughtering of the pig). The neighbours and friends will come and spend the whole day, and it will last for several days, where chorizos, ham and all other products were prepared manually and hanged to dry. The tradition was: of those neighbours who also had farms, then our parents will go to their farm to help in their 'matanza' and so on with the other neighbours, of those who didn't have a farm, you will show your gratitude for their help by given them some of the products made on the day. And again during those days everyone drank & ate together, it was hard labour but to everyone it felt like a fiesta, especially to the children.
From our mother we inherited our passion and dedication for the traditional cuisine. To all of us, cooking is a celebration and it comes naturally as a family tradition.
The journey in catering for the family goes back 25 years… In 1983 we started in the catering industry and by 1987 we acquired our first restaurant.
Currently in El Rincon Latino our mother, la yaya Sonia (as she is called by the grandchildren) keeps an eye on her recipes and gives us a hand in the kitchen, she has a section dedicated to her specialities.
The siblings' team
Chus & Alberto are the chefs. They cook following the most conventional style, and true to our principles, and considering the number of family members dedicated to the restaurant, there is at least one of us present in every process of the elaboration, with our personal touch in every dish.
| Chus | worked in Bar Management for many years prior to become the Chef at El Rincon Latino. |
| Alberto | became a chef in 1993 and has been in the Rincon since 1994. |
| Alfonso | keeps an eye on all our customers needs making sure the table service is first-rate. Alfonso's customer service track record goes back to 1989. |
| Dulce | has been in charge of the bar serving her famous Sangrias and Mojitos Rincon since the mid 90's. |
| Begoña | has been in El Rincon Latino since 1999, started in the kitchen and she took care of the 'front-of-house' meeting & greeting our customers when Fede left. In September 2009 she moved to Madrid to pursue her career as a teacher. |
| Jairo | works occasionally whilst studying at University. |
| Chony | arrived at El Rincon Latino in 1991. She deals with all the purchasing, always in the lookout for new great ingredients and making sure all is running smoothly. |
| Other family members that worked in El Rincon Latino throughout the years: | |
| Brothers: | Fede moved to Madrid in the summer of 2007 after ten years of being an absolute star as the front-of-house manager. He now works in IT. Jose worked as Chef's Assistant. |
| Sisters-in-law: | Conxi F. Palau Elena Labazuy Cristina Garcia - graduated by 'Escuela Oficial de Hosteleria del Principado de Asturias' in 1998. She works with us since 2001 as executive Chef de Pastry. |
Together with the family, we always had an excellent team of people who help us all along to provide a magnificent service keeping an eye on our customer's needs. Andoni Glez Hormaza, who has been working with us since 1992, Lili Dos Santos (head waitress) has been with us for over 8 years.
Next generation is getting ready; Veronica, Ares, Xana, Gaizka, Noah, Sasha, Gael, Aixa… some of them already have decided who is going to work in the kitchen and who in the restaurant!