Victoria, “Vicky” was born in Quart de les Valls (Comunitat Valenciana), a village she left at the early age of 17 to work in Formentera. When there, by chance, she stumbled upon cooking, which she was passionate about, and she wanted to turn into her profession. She studied at the Costa Azahar School in Castellón and after a period of training in Formentera, she returned to the Comunitat Valenciana to continue learning under prestigious Valencian chefs whom she considers her teachers. She worked with the female chef Begoña Rodrigo of La Salita Restaurant, who was a great reference for her in terms of business management, with the female chef Susi Díaz of La Finca Restaurant,
from whom she learned good kitchen organization and with Vicente Patiño of Saiti restaurant, from whom she had the opportunity to learn in-depth all the workings of a restaurant.

At the age of 25, she ended her time at Saiti and decided to continue her learning path but this time on her own, opening her own restaurant. Vicky was clear that she wanted to continue in her homeland and close to her home, and she found the perfect place to open her first solo restaurant, in Sagunto, in the renovated stables of a 16th-century mansion. There she decided to give shape to her dream of having her own restaurant, and so Arrels was born.
From that moment on, everything started and only a year after the opening of Arrels, Vicky was elected as the “Young promise of the Valencian Community 2018”, an award given by the newspaper Levante and the guide of the 55 best restaurants in the Valencian Community. Arrels also receives awards, and in 2019 the restaurant entered the MICHELIN Guide, the bible of gourmets around the world, in the Bib Gourmand category.

In 2020, another important milestone in Vicky’s career happened: she was nominated for the Revelation Chef Award at Madrid Fusion, one of the most important gastronomic congresses in the world. That same year, the Repsol guide awarded Arrels with its first Sol Repsol, placing the project in the spotlight of the Spanish gastronomic forums.
And one of the best awards to date would come at the end of 2021, when Arrels
received its first MICHELIN Star, making Vicky the youngest woman in Spain to achieve it. The year 2021 could not end in a better way, as Arrels received the “Hedonista Award for sustainability”, for her cuisine based on seasonal and local produce.

The year 2023 was another great year for Vicky. In March, she received the “New Talent of the Year” award from the prestigious French list La Liste in the first edition of La Liste Mediterranean edition, recognizing her as one of the young gastronomic talents of the Mediterranean area. In April, she travelled to Argentina to participate as president of the jury in Tapeando Buenos Aires 2023, promoted by Turismo de España, which aimed to highlight the tapas tradition in that country. She took part in two international
gastronomic events in Italy during October: Ein Prosit (Udine), and in the Di che Sicilia siamo fatti?, a sustainability forum (Sicily). In November, she took part in the international event Gastromasa (Istanbul, Turkey), one of the most important international events.
In November, with the presentation of the Guide of the 55 Best Restaurants in the Valencian Community, Arrels was once again in the top 10 and the
MICHELIN Guide reaffirmed its trust in Vicky and her work, keeping its star shining brightly.

And in February of this year, she was awarded the prize for Best Chef of the Year 2023 by the Gastronomy Academy of the Valencian Community.
With her cuisine, which defends her own cuisine and searches among her experiential and gastronomic roots, Vicky has positioned Arrels as a benchmark restaurant for signature and creative cuisine, giving relevance to the vitality of Valencian cuisine outside the capital. Her gastronomic proposal is deeply rooted in the roots of the land and is represented in her dishes through the products of the environment and traditional recipes, which Vicky interprets with freedom and respect, always trying to make the
flavour the main protagonist.

ABOUT ARRELS RESTAURANT
Arrels Restaurant is located in the old town of Sagunto and is placed in the stables of the Palace of the Dukes of Gaeta, a medieval palace from the 16th Century with two Gothic arches, one Mozarabic and one Romanesque, which are still preserved.
In this place full of history, Vicky Sevilla has put down her roots to create her most personal project. She has created the perfect place to give shape to her dreams and share her work, giving the space a cosy atmosphere with modern decoration.
Vicky’s cuisine at Arrels is an author’s cuisine, whose menu is based on seasonal, market and local ingredients, and in which avant-garde and tradition come together in dishes that represent Vicky’s unique and overwhelming personality. Arrels is ranked in the Top 10 of the 55 Best Restaurants in Valencia Guide; it has 1 Sol Repsol and one MICHELIN Star, obtained in 2021, which made Vicky Sevilla the youngest
woman to achieve this award in Spain.