Chamomile's letter
We live an exciting gastronomic moment. A moment of sad deaths but also of new airs —finally, on the table: dishes at the center, fusion of concepts, proximity and street food. Tables without tablecloths, round plates (again) and music integrated into the concept of the place, and that is because storytelling has reached the restaurant business: feed me, but also tell me something. The farmer chef, Andean cuisine, cocktails and artisanal pizza replacing the hamburger as guilty pleasure gourmet. In this scenario, the design of each of the elements takes on singular importance, it is time to transmit ideas , to communicate, to connect with the diner beyond the taste and smell of the dish.
**It is time to take special care of the design of the premises**, the gastronomic experience and of course the most essential element of a restaurant, its skeleton. We talked, of course, about the menu. The chef's Ley Tables, his letter of introduction —and the fact is that the menu is the guest's first contact with the chef's gastronomic universe. If you don't make him fall in love on the menu, we're going wrong...
According to chef Quique Dacosta, whose menu, designed in notebook format created together with Javi Antoja, was awarded the National Gastronomy Award, "unique rules cannot be established". "A seafood restaurant is not much like a steakhouse, much less like a pizzeria, much less like a haute cuisine restaurant, but there is something that I believe is essential in everything and that is that must be extremely faithful to the restaurant model it represents and its identity" , he says.
The Atrio restaurant menu
THINGS THAT YES
Keep it simple, stupid. Everything that is not a signal is noise. A letter is a letter (not a novel, not a diary, not an ego-book for the chef on duty) and its function is make the offer known gastronomy of the restaurant.
organic materials. Wood (lots of wood!), recycled paper, string, cardboard and clips. Blackboards where the menu and wines are accompanied with flowers, chalk and inspiring phrases.
Naming. Be careful with this point. We fall in love with a creative name for a dish (what do I know, "Jokes and olives, few or none" by Mugaritz) but it makes us sick that the menu is an 'even more difficult' . That a potato is a potato. Or not.
Poncelet: perfection is in the details
Perfection is in the details. Tell me the origin of that dish, who is the producer (as in the Askua menu), the history of that cheese (the Poncelet menu is fantastic) or why that wine is essential. Tell me who and why tell me something I don't know and I'll be back for more.
Design, photography, illustration and typography. If cooking is the work of a cook, designing is the work of a designer. No more letters in Word format , enough of cousins with 'Illustrator notions', enough of photographs with the iPhone camera. Works such as that of the illustrator Rebeca Jiménez for 'A walk through Ezcaray', or the photographs of Mikel Ponce set the bar where it should be.
The work of Rebeca Jiménez for Ezcaray
THINGS NOT
Dostoevsky. I want to eat, not read War and Peace. No more cards with a hundred (a hundred!) plates . Simple things, yes things.
Forbidden to eat VAT. We understand that the rise in VAT is a bitch, but one thing is one thing and another thing is another thing. The law (according to Facua) obliges restaurateurs to always report the full final price, including taxes.
Big horse, walk or not walk? We say no to the cards that occupy your table and part of the next one. We also say no to business card format mini-menus. How complicated is the middle ground?
Translations with Google Translator. I am writing to you, dear restaurateur with a terrace on the coast. Here are some examples of what you should never do:
- Rock Mullets: Fresh Mullets of Rock.
- House sole: Chef's Tool.
- Coca Coca: Cocaine Tail.
- Octopus a la Gallega: Octopus to the Galician.
Huge Octopus, huh?
Comics Sans. We don't have to explain this, do we?
No to Google Translate