Renovating a restaurant can seem like a fool's undertaking, but it also can pay off big. Because once it's finished, if it works out, you can start cooking in a kitchen that may very well outlive you. That's how Enric Rebordosa looks at it anyway. Recognising the weight of history might be one of the forces that moves the Grup Confitería (La Confitería, Maravillas, Alegría, Paradiso, Dr. Stravinsky). And they've done it again: after the titanic renovations of Muy Buenas, the group have reopened the old Beltxenea (a Basque restaurant that once stood on the same spot and closed in 2012) and renamed it Rilke. Decadent romanticism sticks to the place like syphilis to Baudelaire: it's a stately building that dates back to the early 20th century, boasting an imperial dining room with views of the interior courtyard that's presided over by a Venus de Milo, a fountain with lions, and exquisitely dense vegetation. 'We either make ourselves the centre of the cosmos or we go back to peeling potatoes,' Rebordosa says, laughing. And this time they didn't go out on their own: Rilke is a joint venture with the Grupo Kafka, owners of Bananas, The Corner, and Café Kafka, which are also spaces with captivating aesthetic charm.
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