Dos Cielos, the restaurant of the Torres brothers in Madrid
Pure question of design. The relationship between the way you sit and food is so obvious that most of the time we don't even notice it.
Rather, we only pay attention to it when the chair is not as comfortable as it should be, which means that we do not fully enjoy a meal.
'Eating well seated', a marriage of design and gastronomy
that's what the book is about Eat Well Sitting , published by Planeta Gastro and presented within the framework of the ** Madrid Design Festival **, in which some of the best restaurants in the world are related to their chairs, armchairs and stools.
Pure question of design.
“There is a parallelism between design and gastronomy. No chef today opens a restaurant without taking into account the decoration, and offering a high-level gastronomic experience requires paying attention to all the details, of which there are many, but There are two things that cannot go wrong: the dish has to be succulent and the chair has to be comfortable”.
This is how the new edition of the book starts C eat well seated , a marriage of design and gastronomy based on a selection of 51 restaurants chosen by the Valencian chair manufacturer ** Andreu World , responsible for the design of this fundamental piece of furniture in some of the best restaurants in the world.**
"There is a parallelism between design and gastronomy"
The idea of this pairing is the less original, the more considering that the chair is by no means a recent invention.
There is evidence of it from the time of the Ancient Egypt ; the Romans made it a symbol of distinction and class with the curule chair, reserved only for consuls and important personalities.
In the Middle Ages the usual use of benches and stools, because the chairs were too expensive for the poorest classes –which were the majority–; and it wasn't until late nineteenth when it became a common fixture in European homes.
The chair continues to make a difference, even speaking in gastronomic terms
But the chair continues to make a difference, even speaking in gastronomic terms.
Because it is not the same to sit down to eat a quick hamburger or some tapas with elbows at the bar, a twelve course tasting menu.
“Sometimes the menus are long, we talk about about four or five hours sitting, plus after-meal”, points Sergio, one of the two Torres brothers, confirming that comfort is the key to fully enjoying food.
Both his ** Dos Cielos de Madrid ** and his new restaurant in Barcelona, Torres Brothers Kitchen, they appear in the book along with 49 other addresses.
Among them ** Audrey's by Rafa Soler ** in Calpe; ** Glass Mar by Ángel León** or ** Cebo , by Aurelio Morales,** both in Madrid; or ** Jaleo , by José Andrés,** in Las Vegas.
And if they are in this book it is because They all have one of the chair models from the Spanish manufacturer Andreu World.
“For us, who make chairs, comfort is essential”, points out Jesús Linares, the general director of Andreu World.
“There are times when design is confused with aesthetics, but for us the key is that they are comfortable. They have to fulfill a practical function.”
And taking into account that, after almost 65 years of experience, they already export more than 80 percent of their production, "We are looking for a world-class product, which is valid for Tokyo but also for Berlin and for America", attending to factors such as "the different ergonomics, the average height, the widths and of course the trend and style".
Bar or table? What do you prefer?
Anyways, “making seats that are comfortable is part of our DNA”, he holds.
If we add to this the fact that making beautiful books is in the food planet, the label specialized in gastronomy of the Planeta group, the result is this editorial marvel.
“We have gone from making photo-recipe books to most vivid books says David Figueras, director of Planeta Gastro.
“At a time when it is no longer sold as much, we have opted for quality, making books to read, making beautiful books”. And boy is it.
It is illustrated by Antonio Solaz and written by the food journalist Alvaro Castro.
The exhibition that accompanies the presentation of the book