Stylish and deliciously fresh take on Puerto Rican classics

A woman is an emblem of beauty - an enigma that harbours a myriad thoughts and emotions. She will drive you crazy and yet one cannot fathom how insipid the world would be without her and indeed Mount Lavinia Hotel has taken this to heart and now welcomes one of a few female executive chefs in the world: Germania Maria Diaz from Puerto Rico who defines her culinary style as contemporary and a multi-sensorial cuisine and certainly will endorse why women reign in culinary excellence from June 21 to 26.

She is known as Germania María and in her 21-year career has spent 13 of them in the kitchens of what was formerly known as the Condado Plaza hotel (today the Conrad Condado Plaza).

Her discipline and passion for cooking have allowed the Dominican Republic-born chef a culinary evolution. Before working at Conrad, Chef Germania María worked at El Conquistador in Fajardo. Today, she is one of a few female executive chefs in Puerto Rico’s hotel industry and the second to occupy the position in what is today the Conrad Condado Plaza.

She studied Culinary Arts in the Escuela Hotelera of Isla Verde, Carolina and will soon complete her BA in Marketing and Sales.

Although Puerto Rican cooking is somewhat similar to both Spanish, Cuban and Mexican cuisine, it is a unique tasty blend of Spanish, African, Taíno and American influences, using such indigenous seasonings and ingredients as coriander, papaya, cacao, nispero, apio, plantains and yampee. Locals call their cuisine cocina criolla or creole cooking well MLH calls it a ‘Burst of Puerto Rico’.