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La Favorita: A Night of Opera Over Dinner
Marisa Casado-2009-04-20
When evening falls, this charming restaurant situated in a typical Madridrian street, transforms to provide the ultimate dining surprise…waiting staff who delight diners with beautiful operatic arias as they serve.
La Favorita is a place that will always manage to delight guests with its decor, atmosphere, food and, most importantly perhaps, its music. Equally popular with couples, families and large groups of friends, La Favorita specialises in cuisine from the Navarre region in northern Spain and, for people who enjoy dining out with a difference, makes the ideal choice for a meal full of surprises.
The entrance to La Favorita gives an early indication of what to expect inside. The location is situated in an early twentieth century mansion house that is accessed via a very pleasant garden area. The building features a cafeteria, an auditorium and a private meeting room with a seating capacity of seventy, as well as a library and a terrace for 18 people.
The main dining room holds up to ninety and offers intimate, welcoming, candlelit surroundings perfect for special occasions. In one corner sits a piano that, no mere decoration, will serve as a companion to the show set to unfold over the course of the evening.
A Very Special Front of House Team
La Favorita’s menu focuses heavily on the produce of the villages and farms of the Navarre region.Diners can choose from a broad range of dishes and the menu is updated every three months or so, a nice touch that keeps things fresh for return visitors.
Pan fried pork with sautéed mushrooms, almonds and piquillo peppers, Foie Gras La Favorita style, cod ajoarriero (tomatoes, garlic, onions), whitebait and Roncal cheese. If narrowing down the choice proves too difficult, there is also the option of a buffet option or the tasting menu, perfect for those who want to try a little bit of everything.
So, once the diners are seated, relaxed and enjoying what seems to be a perfectly pleasant, though, up until that point, not particularly unusual, evening... the pianist strikes his chord. This is the signal foreverything to fall silent and for the waiter who has just served your table to begin singing some of the most beautiful arias from some of the world’s most famous operas.
The ‘secret’ is that restaurant’s front of house team is largely comprised of soloists from the opera society of Madrid who, from Monday through to Saturday evenings, will exchange the stage for the restaurant, where they will don their aprons, serve the tables and host dinner with their incredible voices.
More than just a restaurant
La Favorita was born in February 2000 as a very special project to create a small, but smart, local cultural and gastronomic embassy for the Navarre region.
As well as a restaurant, this beautiful mansion in the city’s Chamberí neighbourhood is also the headquarters of the Opera Foundation of Navarra and the Opera Society of Madrid. Little wonder then that the venue’s elegant surroundings make the ideal setting for music and food.
The waiters at La Favorita are all members of a 25-strong, Madrid-based group of young opera singers and pianists of various nationalities and La Favorita is just one of the group’s many ongoing musical projects. As well as performing in auditoriums and concert halls across Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France, England and Uruguay, the group has even performed recitals at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
La Favorita offers an original experience and a wonderful atmosphere and all at a very affordable price. Between food, conversation, wine and champagne, what better than an opportunity to enjoy beautiful opera and the voices of an excellent group of performers.
Restaurante La Favorita
c/ Calle Covarrubias, 25
Madrid
Reservations: 91 448 38 10
