La Taberna Leeds: Meet the chef behind the family-run Spanish tapas restaurant in York Place

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The chef behind a much-loved tapas restaurants in Leeds has shared what it’s been like to run the business with her husband. 

Viviana Vivas opened La Taberna, an underground Spanish restaurant in York Place, with her husband Andres six years ago. 

It is Viviana’s third business venture. The 40-year-old, who used to work as a medical assistant in New York for many years prior, first opened her own restaurant in her home country Colombia.  

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Chef Viviana Vivas with husband Andres outside their restaurant La Taberna in York Place, Leeds. Photo: James HardistyChef Viviana Vivas with husband Andres outside their restaurant La Taberna in York Place, Leeds. Photo: James Hardisty
Chef Viviana Vivas with husband Andres outside their restaurant La Taberna in York Place, Leeds. Photo: James Hardisty | James Hardisty

Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Viviana explained: “I just didn’t know what to do when I got back to Colombia.

“I got lost - and food was my salvation at the time. That was 14 years ago. 

“A friend of mine said, ‘you don’t know what you want to do with your life, but you like to cook, you like feeding people’. And I was like, ‘I think I am good at that’. 

“So I became a professional chef, I went to cooking school for a few years. I didn’t know I could do that, at the time.”

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Viviana was running her own restaurant for a year before she got an unexpected phone call from Andres that rekindled their friendship. 

The couple had met online nearly two decades ago and became good friends. They had often spoke about opening something together in the future. 

Viviana Vivas with one of her best selling dishes at La Taberna - crispy Spanish prawns. Photo: James Hardisty Viviana Vivas with one of her best selling dishes at La Taberna - crispy Spanish prawns. Photo: James Hardisty
Viviana Vivas with one of her best selling dishes at La Taberna - crispy Spanish prawns. Photo: James Hardisty | James Hardisty

Viviana said: “We started talking again. And the dream of opening a restaurant was still there, I had opened it but I didn’t have my friend [Andres].”

She added laughingly: “Our story is like a soap opera.”

The couple tied the knot in 2014 and just a year later, they opened La Rumbla, a Spanish restaurant in East Parade.

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Despite a wonderful two-and-a-half years there, the couple decided to leave the site and look for something smaller.

Viviana explained: “You get to have control over the tables here. We like to feed people but we don't take out food straight away. We want to go slow, we want you - the guest - to not feel rushed. 

“That’s why it’s so good to have a place that is so small compared to the one on East Parade.” 

The intimate environment in La Taberna means Viviana and her husband - who works front-of-house - can really get to know their customers.

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Viviana said: “We’ve been doing this for so many years and we love what we do. 

“Knowing that we have regulars, people that keep coming back, or new people who fall in love with what we do - it’s just a blessing. 

“I’m really grateful to God for the love that people have been showing us throughout these years. 

“It’s been tough but it’s very rewarding. You meet so many people from different backgrounds. 

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“We have developed so many good relationships with our clients, who then turn to be our really good friends - you can barely find that and you cannot buy that. 

“Friendship and people being loyal to you - it’s precious.”

Viviana Vivas said she is incredibly blessed to be doing what she loves alongside her husband. Photo: James HardistyViviana Vivas said she is incredibly blessed to be doing what she loves alongside her husband. Photo: James Hardisty
Viviana Vivas said she is incredibly blessed to be doing what she loves alongside her husband. Photo: James Hardisty | James Hardisty

Viviana also finds herself incredibly lucky to be working with her husband and achieving what they spoke about two decades ago. 

She said: “We have been working together for so many years. We spend time together, we see each other and that doesn’t regularly happen in hospitality.

“Normally, if you are front-of-house, and your partner is in another industry, you never get to see each other. So, it is such a blessing that we are working together.

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“You have to have faith - that whatever you dream of, one day will be possible.”

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