The first impression that Sandra Tarruella Interioristas meant to create when entering restaurant Mordisco [Bite] was that of being “at home”. For that purpose, the renovation of this old residential building in Barcelona’s district of Eixample, close to Paseo de Gracia, where a family used to live, deliberately preserved all its original elements and proportions, including the floor distribution, the large staircase and all the ceiling cornices. By covering the patio with a large greenhouse-like structure, they could create a new dining room which expands the contiguous rooms and offers the possibility of enjoying the vegetation.
The entrance to this new restaurant is through a small grocery of fine products that the customer may buy to cook at home, but that are also used to prepare the dishes served at the restaurant. Fresh vegetables, cheeses, preserves and other goods are displayed on a set of wooden cubic blocks inside the renovated structure of a shelving unit that was once part of the furniture of a jewellery shop located at the entrance of this house. From the small grocery, one can see the patio and main dining room in the back, after passing by a waiting area with a long bench and low small tables, or by the main staircase, with a new volume resembling a wooden merchandise box that conceals the lavatories.
The bar, where it is also possible to dine, is located in the former living room of the house. It is a clean white marble volume, with a large white iron structure hanging above it from the ceiling, with wooden boxes that serve as bottle shelves, similar to those in the grocery shop, as well as parchment paper lamps.This project also recovers a few elements from the first Mordisco restaurant of Grupo Tragaluz, like the communal table under the painting by Mariscal, photographs and other souvenirs of the various artists that were regular customers of the restaurant, as well as the salad bar, now placed in the patio.
The new concrete flooring that also forms the bench in the patio, the combination of tables and chairs, the t-shirt fabric pillows, the plywood and white-lacquered iron, together with a few restored pieces of furniture give this project a Nordic, fresh, youthful and dynamic flavour, while preserving a very homey atmosphere. The first floor, unlike the ground floor, was designed to create a warmer and more elegant atmosphere in the lounges, with a new stone-covered cocktail bar. These former sleeping rooms have been furnished with sofas upholstered in aged velvet, different lounge chairs and low tables. There is also a reading area with a fireplace, all covered in aged wood.
