Where does a 'sapiocomensal' eat?

Prioritizing mental connection above any other stimulus, even physical, is the hallmark of sapiosexuals. In the same way, there are diners who not only seek to satisfy hunger, but wish to nourish the mind. For them, a good conversation at the table is as pleasant and stimulating as the most sophisticated dish on the menu.

These sapiocomensales find their ideal refuge in small bars. What begins with a certain initial coldness soon transforms: bodies relax, conversations flow, and, little by little, a natural complicity emerges. This phenomenon becomes especially evident in places like Sensato or Suto where, at first, a sepulchral silence reigns, but, as the menu progresses, dialogues develop at the perfect temperature.

Then there's Virens, where the eight-diner bar is not only a space to eat, but also to learn. Once a month, Rodrigo de la Calle offers an authentic master class in haute cuisine there, but with the closeness of a conversation among friends. One can discover, for example, the value (or existence) of blue spirulina, the texture of Catalan tofu, or consider whether vegetables should be a garnish or the protagonists of the dish.

While the taste buds enjoy, the brain also activates, questioning everything we thought we knew about the natural order of things. At this monthly bar, in addition, new menu dishes are previewed and recipes are experimented with that, depending on your reaction, could end up being part of the final menu. At the end of the night, you realize that you have left with more questions than answers, but with your mind and stomach completely satisfied.

The bar at Assalto Bar de Vins, run by Matteo Bertozzi, also challenges dogmas, but does so through unexpected flavors, inquisitive textures, and combinations that make you quiet and raise an eyebrow. The seemingly classic Ultramarinos Marin, for its part, also hides singularities. One of them is the touch of homemade garum they add to their oil, a trick shared only with those who are willing to listen to a team with encyclopedic knowledge.

Lovers of experimental wines, for their part, find their place in the Galerie Art Nomade. It is a shop that sells Breton t-shirts and exhibits artistic photographs, yes, but also organizes tastings paired with marine ingredients. The founder, winemaker Olivier Verdier, has so much personality that he is even the protagonist of documentaries such as Du vin dans les voiles, where he explores wine production under the Mediterranean islands.

Academic sapiocomensals, however, prefer the tranquility of Philosophia, at the entrance of the Grand Hyatt Barcelona. Among bookshelves, specialty coffee and napkins decorated with a pixelated Descartes, there are cups with the faces of Nietzsche, Wittgenstein or Freud, and even notebooks that play with phrases like Thus Ate Zarathustra, Critique of Pure Culinary Reason or Discourse on the Method for Cooking. And it is that, as a modern René would tell us: "I eat, therefore I am".