Emblematic restaurants in Menorca, some with chefs trained alongside Joan Roca or Ferran Adrià, become improvised movie theaters this week at the Cooking Films Festival, which has kicked off with chef Felip Llufriu, from Mon de Ciutadella.
As the director of the festival, Barcelonan Inés Garrell, who has lived on the island for twenty years, explained to Efe, "the main course of Cooking Films 2022 is four sessions at sunset in well-known restaurants in Menorca, which open their doors to the event with unique dinners, accompanied by screenings of titles linked to gastronomy".
This cycle began with the screening of the author comedy El brindis, directed by Laurent Tirard, which has been screened at the Mon restaurant, one of the most unique establishments in Ciutadella, where chef Felip Llufriu recovers the memory of the island's cookbook from the influences of Arabic, French and British cuisine.
After studying hospitality in Menorca, Llufriu went to the Basque Country and finished his culinary training at Celler de Can Roca with the Roca brothers for fourteen years, first in Girona and then as head chef of the Roca Moo restaurant at the Omm hotel in Barcelona. where he was awarded a Michelin star.
This commitment to the highest Spanish gastronomy culminated in 2014 with the opening of his own restaurant in his native Ciutadella, which for the first time hosts a screening of Cooking Films, although Llufriu had already collaborated with the festival externally.
In an interview with EFE, Llufriu is satisfied with the result and describes the experience as "informal and nothing corseted" and his only concern is "trying to extend the food and the service so that the menu lasts the entire film and that there are no down times , let it be dynamic.
He has taken advantage of the occasion to "reclaim Menorcan cuisine, without necessarily looking for the island's traditional recipe book", with a mantra that is always repeated: "Valuing local products, something that is not always easy considering that we are on an island ".
This philosophy also inspires the Mon line, which deliberately did not want to increase its capacity of 30 diners: "In the summer months of July and August, when there are more tourists, we could multiply our business tenfold, but then it would be impossible to use the product from here.
And this dimension has been decisive in having survived the pandemic, which "has affected the large restaurant and hotel businesses the most, although Menorca has never had mass tourism, 100% taken over by the English or German market, like in Majorca".
And adds Llufriu: "We depend a little on everything and that has allowed us to survive well, above all, thanks to zero kilometer tourism.
Regarding Balearic cuisine, the Menorcan chef believes that he is going through "a fantastic moment, with Mallorca, which has become an important gastronomic destination; Menorca, which is trying to get its head out; and Ibiza, which is also standing out a lot. Yes, fifteen years ago was a sun and beach destination, now a gastronomic tourism offer is being added, with restaurants and local producers that show that not everything is Mahón cheese".
In the second session, the Tast de na Sílvia, also in Ciutadella, the only Balearic restaurant with a Slow Food and Km.0 certificate, hosted the screening of the Danish film An exquisite bite, by Christoffer Boe.
Sílvia Anglad directs the kitchen of this unique establishment, which gives "a personal touch" to recipes of the island's gastronomy with a menu and a letter that she designs every day after going to the market.
On this occasion, the cinematographic-gastronomic evening will be introduced by the local actress Ruth Llopis, who currently lives between Madrid, Barcelona and Menorca.
Speaking to Efe, Llopis has advanced that he wants to convey "the need for people to get used to going to the movies" and believes that "Cooking Films promotes that habit, although in this case it is watching movies while enjoying a meal that will make the experience unforgettable."
In the actress's opinion, "the combination of cinema and gastronomy is the best plan, watching a movie and commenting on it all in one".
Completing the cinema program in restaurants are the films Delicioso, by the Frenchman Eric Besnard, set in pre-revolutionary France, which was screened at the Cristine Bedfor hotel in Maó; and on the last day of Sunday, lemon bread with poppy seeds, by Benito Zambrano, which can be seen while enjoying dinner at the Biniarroca restaurant in Sant Lluís.
