Speciality coffee, cuisine, and atelier
“More than just opening a coffee shop, I wanted to create a place where cooking would be a way to tell stories and where people could pause for a moment amid the daily hustle,” explains Villanueva. The result is a space that’s somewhere between a coffee shop, a kitchen, and an atelier.
The description may sound ambitious until you see how they work. Here, speciality coffee coexists with experimentation, design, and a constant search for new ways to interpret gastronomy. Each dish is conceived as a design piece or a work of craftsmanship, crafted with time, intention, creative freedom, and its own narrative. It’s not just about serving food, but about creating an experience around it. This philosophy reaches its peak in the Weekend Specials, one of the establishment’s hallmarks.
What’s interesting about these limited-time offerings is that they seldom start with a recipe. Inspiration can come from a sculpture seen in a museum, a book, a conversation, a Japanese tradition, or an image observed while travelling. “For us, food is always the answer; curiosity is the starting point,” says Fer.
That statement sums up much of Otsu’s spirit and helps explain how its famous ice creams – which have won over customers around the world – were conceived.
The idea took root while Villanueva was browsing through a Taschen book. “The illustrations, the level of detail, and the beauty of each card made me want to flip through it over and over again,” she explains. However, it was the almost magical ritual of opening a page at random to discover which card appeared that sparked the key question: could that enigmatic sensation be translated into food?
The answer was a delicious – and esoteric – collection of ice creams.
