For nearly 30 years, Dieter Koschina has headed up Vila Joya’s restaurant, earning it a Michelin star in 1995 and then a second in 1999 — and holding it for more than 20 years.
Originally from Austria, Koschina was working as a sous chef at the Hilton Vienna Plaza when he received a call from Vila Joya’s owner in 1989. After a kitchen was built to suit him for the hotel’s restaurant, he arrived in Portugal’s Algarve region and has never looked back.
