Francis Mallmann

Discover Uruguay, a hidden gem where delicious cuisine meets a rich cultural heritage. A place famous for its great beef and wines, the warmth of its locals and progressive and safe lifestyle.

This enchanting destination promises a unique blend of natural beauty and charm, in the company of your host, chef Francis Mallmann.

Nestled 20 kilometres inland from the Atlantic Ocean and the vibrant shores of José Ignacio lies Pueblo Garzón , a serene town that is home to just 200 locals. Founded in 1892 by Fermín de León, Pueblo Garzón once served as a crucial staging post near the Garzón stream and the historic Royal Road to Rocha. Pueblo Garzón has preserved its distinctive allure despite its decline from its heyday in the 1920s following the railway’s cessation.

Nowadays, it has transformed into a remote haven for visual artists, drawn by its peaceful atmosphere for creative pursuits in painting and sculpture. Here, stately trees, wild ponies, and armadillos meandering along the streets create a picturesque tableau of rural tranquillity.

In this serene backdrop, Satopia Travel invites you to discover the enchantment of Garzón , a place where history and art intertwine with the world of Francis Mallmann to create an experience that is truly unforgettable.

Francis Mallmann (born 1956) is an Argentinian celebrity chef, author and restaurateur who specialises in various methods of barbecuing food with open-fires. Without a doubt, Mallmann is South America’s most famous chef and he has been featured on numerous international television programmes, as well as on the Netflix original series Chef’s Table focusing on his life and cooking techniques.

After a career in gastronomy built on fine-dining French cuisine, Mallmann went back to his roots in the mid ’90s, learning local techniques from his childhood home of Patagonia and bringing them to the high-end food scene. Francis Mallmann is a man whose approach to cooking and living feels like a homage to a forgotten time and place. While many influential chefs around the world have engaged in an escalating competition to be as creative and forward-thinking in gastronomy as possible, Mallmann has swerved in the opposite direction, forsaking haute-cuisine. Mallmann instead is focusing on a primal style of hospitality whose core comes down to one-syllable words: smoke, fire, air, stone, salt, rain, meat, wine.

With deep roots in Uruguay, Francis Mallmann’s heart belongs to this region. With decades of experience around art, vineyards and cooking in Garzón, expect each day to be a true reflection of Mallmann’s passion and rich repertoire of culinary masterpieces.