Restaurant Manager Alex Molina
Alex Molina has extensive management experience from the food and beverage industry in Puerto Rico and Miami, United States. His major professional influence came from Chef Edgar Leal while working at Cacao Restaurant in Miami. After a period as a spirit consultant with clients including the Miami Mandarin Oriental, Alex was inspired to travel to China where he helped introduce the Nuevo Latino cuisine at the Garden of Delights Restaurant in Beijing.
Most recently Alex Molina has worked for Torres Wineries, a Spanish company that is the second largest wine distributor in China, with wineries in Spain, Chile, and the United States. With his considerable knowledge of wine and spirits, Alex is in charge of the beverages served at MOSTO. He will gladly guide you to the perfect selection from the restaurant's wine cellar, but you may also find him behind the bar where he will tempt you with a mean Screwdriver or his signature Mojito!
Chef Daniel Urdaneta
As a partner in Mosto, Chef Daniel Urdaneta can exploit all his creative talents and cook the food that he loves, which can best be described as contemporary cuisine with latin influences. Daniel most recently was Executive Chef at Salt Restaurant, voted Restaurant of the Year and Best Contemporary Cuisine in That's Beijing, as well as Beijing's Best New Restaurant in Time Out Magazine.
Chef Daniel Urdaneta has studied at the Instituto Culinario in Caracas, Venezuela, and apprenticed under Chef Sumito Estevez, one of the best chefs in the Latin world.
In 2002 Daniel's career brought him to Miami - birthplace of the revolutionary Nuevo Latino cooking style. Daniel worked as sous-chef under Chef Edgar Leal at Cacao Restaurant - voted one of the best new restaurants in the USA by Zagat Magazine and highly praised in the Miami Herald, the New York Times, Time Magazine and Wine Spectator. Daniel has twice been honored to cook alongside Chef Leal for the James Beard Foundation Awards Dinner, the "Oscars of the food world" according to Time Magazine.
After three years with Chef Leal, Daniel traveled to Barcelona to connect with his Spanish heritage. Daniel's experience and exceptional talent led to the Hoffman Institute, the only culinary school in the world with a Michelin Star, where he became familiar with the new techniques and latest innovations in European cuisine.
In 2006 Daniel came to Beijing to serve as Chef Consultant for Garden of Delights, a Nuevo Latino restaurant.