Mercè Navarro's favorite table at Roig Robí, the restaurant she opened 41 years ago, will always remain the boss's table. The one from which this enterprising woman, who played a crucial role in the Barcelona restaurant business, could see the kitchen and where she often sat down to eat and continue enjoying the day at home, which is run by her son Joan Crosas. Navarro passed away yesterday in Barcelona at the age of 88.
The Roig Robí, which continues to be a benchmark for restaurants in the city, has managed to survive in good health in a city that has been saying goodbye to such prominent houses as Reno, Azulete, Finisterre, Neichel, Florian or Jean Luc Figueras, among many others. others. But the Roig Robí, on Calle Séneca, is still there, unperturbed, with the pleasant garden, which she loved to contemplate from the leafy and placid terrace of her house, just above the restaurant.
Ten years ago, with that look of very clear eyes and deep voice, with a slow tone, Mercè Navarro told us that she liked birthdays and above all, to be certain that she had been born in the place and at the time that she had been born. She was happy, she assured her, to have met such interesting people who had crossed her path and to be her mother. "We can't choose when we come into the world and I've been very lucky," she said, convinced that her age had brought her peace and balance after an intense life and hard work.
Family and friends, many of them inseparable since the years when she took her children to study at Costa i Llobera, were crucial in the life of this entrepreneur, who assured that she missed the enthusiasm and energy of the previous years. to the Olympic Games in Barcelona, something that he compared to going from seeing life in black and white to contemplating it in full colour. Those were times, she said, when the city was in full swing and everything was celebrated. Times when there was more access to culture and life.
Born in Olesa de Montserrat, her parents and siblings will always be remembered, she moved to Barcelona at the age of 15, married very young and had six children. Before opening the restaurant, she ran a nursery that she herself described as exemplary, and when the children grew up, she separated from her. She was so good at cooking that she was encouraged to open Roig Robí, sure that in difficult moments you have to give your all, and although she soon realized that she had little to do with cooking at home or doing it in a restaurant, that It was not a problem for this woman who overflowed with energy. When you asked her what had been the best thing in her life, she did not doubt it: "Having my six children."
