Fusing culinary success in Barcelona

IKIBANA I PROFILE

Barcelona’s Ikibana restaurants are a phenomenon: The company’s menu offers a unique culinary style that it calls Japanese and Brazilian fusion, which blends Japan’s culinary precision and freshness with Brazil’s tropical fruits and exuberant culture. The Ikibana groups’ General Manager, Leandro Ybalo, spoke to Richard Hagan about how this unusual concept has flourished into a successful restaurant business so popular that its store openings have become local news events.

The Ikibana group of restaurants is based around a culinary style that is pretty unusual, even by its own admission.

“Japanese-Brazilian fusion is not a very popular or well-known concept; it’s still emerging,” admitted Leandro Ybalo, Group General Manager at Ikibana. “Its origins are based more in Brazil, in San Paolo’s Japanese community.

“The story of this fusion is that the Japanese landed in Brazil and brought their gastronomy with them, which they combined with local ingredients. That’s where it was born. What makes JapaneseBrazilian fusion great is the combination of these two gastronomies: the pure technique of Japan mixed with the tropical fruits of Brazil.”

The group opened its first restaurant almost 15 years ago and enjoyed almost immediate success.

“Our first Ikibana restaurant opened in 2007 in El Born, a neighbourhood of Barcelona,” Mr Ybalo recalled. “It was a surprising restaurant for the area and something new for the town, because our Japanese-Brazilian concept was something that nobody was familiar with. That curiosity got people coming in to see what it was all about. They liked it and it became a hit.”

The success of that first restaurant convinced the company that it was on to something big, and so its second, bigger restaurant, Ikibana Paral.lel, opened its doors in 2012.

The fusion of Japanese and Brazilian cuisines introduced an interesting challenge in the design of the restaurant, particularly based on the search of shared singularities between two cultures that, at first glance, may seem antagonistic when combined: the quiet and minimalist approach of the Japanese; and the lush and bustling style associated with Brazil.

The restaurant received a finalist award in the 2013 edition of the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards. This success and concept has been echoed in more than 70 specialised publications worldwide. One prominent worldwide publication in the hotel business and restaurant sector selected Ikibana as one of the 25 most amazing places in the world.

The success of Ikibana Paral.lel and El Born lead to the group opening its third and also its biggest location, in December 2015.

Flagship store

That third restaurant, Ikibana Sarria, is a fascinating marvel of restaurant interior design. The massive 2,000sqm space is spread across two terraces surrounded by a lush garden. The upper floor is conceived as a relaxing indoor/outdoor restaurant space on a timber deck. The tables are encapsulated by greenery and filled with slightly shaded natural light.

The terrace below that deck is the restaurant’s club space. Here, seating is arranged into colourful ‘bowl’ shaped islands with large irregularly-shaped tables. Each island is brightly coloured to represent fruits. These spaces are designed to be modular so that they can be pushed together to create even bigger social spaces for larger groups.

The restaurant’s menu is designed to encourage the social atmosphere of this seating arrangement, with dishes that are made for sharing.

The club hosts party events over weekends, specifically on Friday nights and on Sundays during the day. Some of these events include Japanese fusion events and Brazil-themed parties.

Ikibana’s unique gastronomy mixed with its fun, entertaining and unusual interior spaces have guaranteed that its store openings are a media event in and of themselves, as Mr Ybalo noted: “Our store openings are full of famous people including footballers, singers, actors and artists. We had 1,500 guests at the one opening event so it’s a big moment for the city.”

IKIBANA I PROFILE

High-end dining

Alongside its reputation as a party destination and popular club, Ikibana is ultimately a high-end restaurant, and diners arrive expecting the very best.

“Guests these days are more prepared and more knowledgeable about the food business; everyone knows more about what to expect in the quality of the products which personally, I feel is a good thing,” remarked Mr Ybalo.

“It’s very rewarding when you have a good customer who can appreciate highquality food and differentiate it from bad quality products; it makes us better. It pushes us forward and encourages us to try things that we may not have considered before, to push the limits and test the boundaries.”

In order to ensure that its menus stay interesting, continue to meet customer demands and that they stay at the top of current food trends, Mr Ybalo said Ikibana has an ongoing process of regularly reviewing and revising its menus.

“Normally, we make changes to our food and cocktail menus every nine months to a year. Our signature dishes are relatively permanent, but we always try to change other menu items to give returning diners different options. We also use this opportunity to try new things that we call ‘Iki Specials’; these are dishes that our chefs are testing for customers’ reactions. If we receive positive feedback on those items then they can be permanently added to the menu.”

High-quality suppliers

Producing those high-quality dishes to satisfy guests expecting the high-end restaurant experience that Ikibana is famous for, requires sourcing some of the best ingredients available anywhere in Europe. To make this happen, the company makes use of a range of raw ingredient suppliers with whom it has enjoyed very long-term relationships, such as Balfegó, who “provide us with the best tuna quality,” Mr Ybalo acknowledged.

He added: “We stick to the same suppliers for our meat, fish, fruit, vegetables or spirits because they’re all so professional and always deliver exactly what we need, precisely on time. The only issue we do experience from time to time is in the availability of tuna for our sushi. We only work with the best quality tuna, and it’s the most difficult thing to find.”

GRUP CANO

Experts in fresh fruit, vegetable and a range of gastronomic products, Grup Cano has been supplying customers for over 50 years.

Throughout our journey, we have established excellent relationships with a number of key customers and partners. Ikibana is one such customer. We thank Ikibana for their continued support.

Expansion plans and challenges

Mr Ybalo noted that the Ikibana restaurant group is actively expanding and in particular, is actively exploring new opportunities outside of Barcelona.

“A year ago, we opened an Italian restaurant called Velissima, so that’s a new brand that we’ve added. With regards to Ikibana, our dream is to be part of the London gastronomy scene; we travel there a lot and love the restaurants it has to offer.

“We’re also looking at opening an Ikibana in Madrid, which is a natural step outside of Barcelona. Madrid is a great city and the restaurant trade there is booming right now. If everything goes well, that will definitely be the next step.”

The company is optimistic about its market segment, but it also recognises that achieving continued growth and

maintaining its popularity requires an ongoing effort.

“The biggest challenge, for me personally, is maintaining our success,” outlined Mr Ybalo. “We’ve been operating our brand in Barcelona for 14 years and over that period of time, a lot of people have grown used to us and have visited us many times. The challenge is to keep reminding people that we are still relevant and still the place to be, even when there are new places opening in Barcelona.”

He added: “We care a lot about our customers and the quality of our service and food. We’re a passionate team, so all things considered, I think we’re currently achieving that objective.”

Mr Ybalo concluded with the company’s thoughts on the coming months: “We’re optimistic; restaurants in Barcelona are generally doing well and things are good. We’ve come through a tough time but for now, everybody is happy and the numbers are looking positive. For the time being, we’re expecting that we’ll have enjoyed a strong finish to 2021, and a super 2022.

“The last year we realized that the brand was really consolidated, and we understood that it was time to start expanding.” n