World-renowned ROKA will bring its contemporary Japanese robatayaki cuisine to Barcelona’s waterfront as part of the ephemeral dining concept.
Hotel Arts Barcelona, an architectural landmark on Barcelona’s buzzing waterfront, has joined forces with the award-wining restaurant group Azumi Limited to bring their London-born restaurant concept ROKA to the Catalan capital. For a limited time during this summer season, ROKA Barcelona will be inside the resort’s exclusive Marina Coastal Club serving its signature, immaculately presented sushi and sashimi alongside dishes from the robata grill.
The brainchild of co-founder and creator Rainer Becker, ROKA initially launched in London in 2004 and has since expanded to 4 restaurants in the English capital as well as locations in Dubai, Istanbul and more. Becker is widely known as being the first to bring the robata grill to Europe.
The robata grill is a traditional Japanese cooking method inspired by fishermen cooking fish over charcoal on the boats of the Northern coastal waters of Japan.
On ROKA Barcelona’s menu, guests can expect to find the likes of Yellowtail sashimi with yuzu-truffle dressing, Wagyu sushi with oscietra caviar and exceptional King crab, black cod and prawn dumplings with roasted chili dressing. From the robata grill, standout seafood, meat and vegetable dishes include the exquisite Sea bream fillet, ryotei miso and red onion, Lamb cutlets with Korean spices and Asparagus with sweet soy and sesame. ROKA’s sophisticated desserts – such as its famed Sweet miso crème brulee, roasted figs, pistachio ice cream – are constructed with flair and promise the perfect finale to a memorable night out with Barcelona’s sparkling sea as a backdrop.
Promising to be a culinary highlight of the summer season, the open-air ROKA Barcelona will be nestled beside Marina Coastal Club’s infinity pool overlooking the world-renowned Frank Gehry’s statue ‘Fish’. Encapsulating the epitome of Mediterranean living, the breezy club at Hotel Arts Barcelona is the city’s favourite summer destination for eating, drinking and socialising to live music and DJs sets and further enhanced by the addition of ROKA. Casual yet refined, the restaurant’s spacious terrace is framed by palm trees, with easy teak furniture and nude colour palette.
Said Andreas Oberoi, General Manager at Hotel Arts Barcelona:
“We are extremely excited to welcome ROKA to Hotel Arts and the city of Barcelona. ROKA is an uncompromising dining experience that will blend in very well with the culinary attractions that Barcelona provides by creating an unparalleled concept.”
Sven Koch, Azumi Ltd CEO, commented: “We are delighted to be making Roka’s debut in Barcelona and thrilled to be opening the Hotel Arts. Barcelona has such a vibrant culinary scene and is a city where we see Roka being very much at home, albeit for a short period of time. We are very much looking forward to the summer season.”
ROKA Barcelona at Hotel Arts Barcelona will be open daily for dinner only. For additional information about Hotel Arts Barcelona or ROKA, please visit hotelartsbarcelona.com or rokarestaurant.com.
About Hotel Arts Barcelona
Hotel Arts Barcelona boasts stunning panoramic views from its unique location on the waterfront, in the heart of the city’s Port Olímpic neighbourhood. Designed by renowned architect Bruce Graham, Hotel Arts features 44 floors of exposed glass and steel, making it a prominent feature of Barcelona’s skyline. The waterfront hotel’s 455 rooms and 28 exclusive The Penthouses feature sleek, modern design complemented by an impressive 20th century collection of works by contemporary Catalan and Spanish artists. Hotel Arts is one of the premier culinary destinations in Barcelona with 2 Michelin-starred Enoteca helmed by the illustrious, 5 Michelin-starred chef Paco Perez. Guests seeking a serene escape may enjoy signature treatments overlooking the Mediterranean Sea at 43 The Spa. Recognized as one of the top business hotels in Spain, Hotel Arts provides over 3,000 square-feet of function space overlooking the Mediterranean in Arts 41, for board meetings and conferences as well as social events, weddings and celebrations. The hotel offers an additional 24,000 square-feet of function space, with the main meeting space located on the lower ground and second floors. For more information, please visit hotelartsbarcelona.com.
About Azumi Ltd
Azumi Limited is an award-winning global restaurant business with proven brands offering a contemporary dining in key cosmopolitan locations. Created by Rainer Becker, and co-founded with Arjun Waney, Azumi’s journey began with the opening of Zuma London in 2002. This was quickly followed by ROKA London in 2004. There are now 21 Zuma’s and 9 ROKAs across the globe with further restaurants in the pipeline. In addition to the Zuma and ROKA Japanese concepts, Oblix, was opened in The Shard in 2013. ETARU was launched in Florida in 2017 and offers the East coast of the USA a take on the ROKA concept under a different guise. INKO NITO, an approachable unconventional Japanese robatayaki, followed in 2018 with a location in Soho London.
About ROKA
Following the enormous success of Zuma London, Rainer Becker quickly recognised the huge popularity of robatayaki cuisine and opened ROKA Charlotte Street in 2004. The ROKA Group quickly expanded and now has a portfolio of restaurants in the most sought -after locations across London. The principle cuisine comes from the Robata grill. Located amid diners the grill forms an integral design element of all the restaurants but more than being a stunning feature, the robata is truly the heart of ROKA. The current ROKA portfolio includes the following restaurants (in order of them opening): London Charlotte Street and Shochu Lounge (2004), London Canary Wharf (2009), London Mayfair (2014), London Aldwych (2014), Dubai Business Bay (2020), Midtown Riyadh (2021), Mallorca Spain pop-up (2021), Galataport Istanbul (2022) and The Avenues Kuwait (2022). For more information visit www.rokarestaurant.com
