Pepe Moncayo

From CETT and without a former degree, Pepe’s hard working ethics, talent and creativity was sought after so he began his collaboration with multiple prestigious restaurants in the vibrant Mediterranean coastal city. From Barcelona’s Gran casino, to via Benetto and to the city’s elite Equestrian private club. He ended up in Can Fabes,the most famous three Michelin star restaurant in Barcelona, under the direction of celebrity chef Santi Santamaria. From there, he went to work for Javier and Sergio Torres in the high-rise Hesperia hotel restaurant, but it was Santamaria, who called Pepe Moncayo back to open his restaurant in Singapore. Santamaria was an ambitious and visionary restaurateur.

He opened restaurants in Madrid, Toledo, Dubai and then Singapore with Moncayo. At the time Pepe was a young, single, and adventurous, chef so he embraced the Singapore adventure. There, he met his now wife Aisha who was managing a city restaurant at the time; they started a family and then, another untimely death changed his life. Santamaria, his mentor, passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 53, all the restaurants eventually closed. It was the year 2011, then one of his admiring customers, an investor, reached out to Pepe to offer a partnership and fund the opening of his own restaurant in Singapore.

Moncayo jumped at the opportunity, and with his wife, they opened Bam!, a Japanese Spanish Fusion Cuisine Restaurant that continues to be the rage.

The couple then seized the opportunity to bring the Bam concept to DC. They opened Crane in 2019 five weeks before the pandemic, survived the storm of closures and regulations, and in 2021 chef Pepe Moncayo received a Michelin star which then catapulted the restaurant into even more fame.

The dynamic couple always wanted to bring Singaporean food to the US. At the soul of Singapore (that is what Jiwa Singapora means) they brought back the recipes from Aisha’s family who had worked in the traditional Hawkers or open market restaurants for generations.The restaurant embraces the best of street food, traditional hawker dishes and then Moncayos version of classic Singaporean dishes.

Jiwa Singapora is a must stop at the Galleria mall. Go check out the sculpture of the merlion, the official mascot of Singapore with the head of a lion and the body of a fish; enjoy a Cocktail Singapore girl " their signature bright violet cocktail with cucumber infused gin, lemon, ginger and ube air or just jump into the delicious fragrant food I promise it is an experience you will not forget.

Jiwa Singapura is Pepe Moncayo’s third restaurant, located on the third floor of the Galleria mall in Tysons Virginia. The soul of Singapore brings you the best of that exotic cuisine. Before interviewing the chef busied in the frenzy of the restaurants open kitchen wesavored an unforgettable lunch. We started with small plates satay chicken and spring rolls then large plates Char Kway Teow was my favorite yellow noodles with Chinese sausage, shrimp and squid, some stir fry unlike any other and amazing shrimp in a coconut sauce and duck eggs. With the flavors still dancing in my mouth we moved to the sophisticated open bar area where Pepe Moncayo started answering questions.

Pepe’s experiments in the kitchen began out of necessity at the young age of 13. His beautiful mother died of cancer, the father worked long hours at a car factory and his older brother had joined the military service at 19 which at the time was mandatory in Spain. Pepe was left in charge of the kitchen, he had to cook for his seven year old sister and father.

Pepe loved every aspect of it, he found his passion! He loved roaming the open markets in Barcelona purchasing the freshest ingredients. He enjoyed going to the seafood market by the water and became quite adept at cooking for his family.

When he finished high school, he joined the prestigious CETT; Barcelona’s school of tourism, hospitality and gastronomy. The college format alternated one week in the classroom setting with one week in the kitchen. He quickly realized that he was falling asleep through the lectures, but he was alive and vibrant the week that they had to do the practices in the kitchen. He now regrets moving into the kitchen, and completely foregoing the theoretical part of his education but quickly, at the age of 19, Pepe was running the kitchen of the prestigious school, and his former companions became his students in the kitchen.