From Roland Garros to Malaga: Claudine Paulson goes from racqueta to the kitchen at Clomada | Gastronomy: recipes, restaurants and drinks

Tennis. During his childhood, his life was tennis. He started playing for six years and was Ecuador’s number one under-18 player. He traveled throughout Latin America and Europe from one tournament to another. With 16 years brought me a great opportunity: the dirt tracks of Roland Garros. Caio in the first round. “I got to a point where I couldn’t go any further,” says Claudine Paulson, a 35-year-old Ecuadorian from Malaga. “I left with the whole world in opposition, but I couldn’t play and travel.” This is where he opened his first restaurant, Clómada, after passing through Aquilarí, Zubiróa and José Carlos García, with a showcase of Malagueño, Basque and Spanish touches. “La presión la llevo muy bien gracias al Tenis, que me ha enseñado todo,” the support that celebrates that in just seven months, the space has been recommended by the Michelin Guide.

Clomada is intertwined with the name by which she refers to Alijados—Clo—and her nomadic life. It is located in the heart of the historic center of Malaga, in a bright corner where a dark brewery once stood. With the help of his family, he reshaped, painted and decorated the place, which played with the idea of ​​two air balls floating among the green landscape. There are tables and a bar overlooking the street. Behind the frosted glass, Paulson forgot about it. Driving And a setback to focus on the kitchen. Allí escudriña his customers and share the fire with the best women, a large team that works with local flavors such as quiquilla or el gazpachuelo, but also with chicharrón, mote, choclo or pan de yuca to claim the gastronomy of Ecuador. Piquillo pepper sauce, goat cheese and even pacharan (€4.50) are a good start to understanding this house.

Everything in Guayaquil was empty. His parents have had a tennis court for six years since. If you read it well. Enter and enjoy the best. I spent three months in school and spent the rest of the year traveling to compete. Luigo recited the number one of his class, his predictions, and the hours upon hours he spent on the track every day. “A lot of hard work,” explains Paulson, who remembers from his time at Roland Garros – in the junior category – all the time he spent in the players’ area where he could take pictures with Djokovic, Nadal – the then current champion, in 2006, a win that he repeated this year – and his idol, Federer. To the disappointment of his family and his coach, he decided to put the last point in his professional career. “I can’t do more,” he asserts.

Don’t give up on the tracks completely. Two years later, at the University of Arkansas in the United States, he was allowed to study hotel and tourism while competing in the state university league. He graduated 23 years ago and spent the last six months preparing meals and washing dishes in a restaurant. The experience was enjoyable, so he decided to continue studying cooking for two years at Johnson & Wales University in Miami. Then their priests decided that their gastronomic tastes were becoming Americanized. As a graduation gift, he takes her to San Sebastian, where he promises to discover a new world. It is eaten in Zubiruwa, Akilari and Arzaq. “I was impressed, and yes, it was a new world. But I was hallucinating any pinchos place in the city,” he said. He returned to Ecuador, but later returned to the gastronomic restaurant Olympus, where he practiced at Zubiróa and Aquilarí before working in other restaurants. “The first time I learned background, home cooking, and personal treatment. Secondly, art and service. It completely changed me,” he said with a never-failing smile during the conversation.

From Zubero to José Carlos García

One day I traveled to Malaga and hallucinated the city, its people and the climate. “The sun is happiness in the Basque country, it has come a little,” he says. So he decided to leave all that and move away. If you’ve been to a hotel, you’ve found the grounds and Googled Michelin-starred businesses. One week, he interviewed Daniel Carneiro, the chef at Calleja, and José Carlos García, who runs the restaurant that bears his name. Congenió with the latter and I started cooking on Monday. For six months he was the boss: relishing the pressure to demonstrate his value and trust the chef so he could make suggestions, develop ideas and improve each dish. “It was the effort it took,” Paulson said, realizing that the person he left behind the most was Hilario Arbelaez, the chef at the missing Zubero restaurant. “As a person, a boss, a priestess, a chef… it was incredible,” Subraya said.

At the beginning of 2025, he decided it was time to launch his own restaurant. We looked for a place, redesigned it, and on April 9, opened with a team — three people in the kitchen, three more in the living room — and it hasn’t changed since. Allí serves dishes from his personal journey, with influences from the countries he has visited but with a special interest in the gastronomy of the Basque Country and Ecuador, always with Malagueño touches. Here comes the scallop gazpachuelo with green goudas, yucca and Iberian papada (€26) or the Basque bikini with texistura bizcocho, idiazábal queso and peppara (€12). There’s queilla with red salsa and pipirana (€24) or lobina with hinojo in four textures (€27). Everything on the plates plays into beauty, too: “Instagram gives me the same thing, but I’m happy to have those beautiful, perfect plates. First you eat for your eyes.” Fish ceviche with manioc sauce (€23), yucca frying pan (€10), chancho (€27) – with chicharrón, oloroso and mozo, a type of corn – or locro bomb (€4.50) – a type of round croquette with paba and agucat – allow you to discover classic Ecuadorian ingredients and flavours. “It seems that my cuisine is just ceviche, but there is much more. That’s why I want the names of the ingredients as they are known there, so that people will ask them and enjoy them better,” highlights Paulson, who offers the possibility of eating the scene a la carte or in a full and wonderful tasting menu (90 euros), until the main moment that diners prefer. “So, if you like something special, you can come back and enjoy it a la carte,” insists the chef, who has installed some high tables so you can enjoy wine — his winery has about 60 references per hour — or a cocktail with a couple of dishes, in a more informal setting.

Everything was fit for November entry as recommended by the Michelin Guide with just seven months of life. “I’m still learning to be a chef and my work is constantly evolving. We’ll see if we’re betting on going for the star,” he warns you since you’ve opened the restaurant and don’t have time to play paddle tennis. “But I am a tennis scientist, and that will never change,” he concludes.