In the tourist heart of the Gòtic, where each square meter is priced at gold and where so many shutters fell due to the pandemic, a few weeks ago a restaurant, La Pau, that at first glance could be another proposal in the dense gastronomic panorama of old city, But it is quite the opposite. Beyond the desire to conquer the public through the palate and reconnect it with the local cuisine, the singularity of the establishment is its template. In addition to three professionals in the kitchen and dining room, another 14 young workers have undergone the training provided by the El Llindar Foundation. A school of new or second chances that has restored the desire to dream, assure its promoters, who were once in risk of social exclusion.
The foundation, with 18 years of experience in Cornellà and a specific school that already has its own restaurant in L’Hospitalet (El Redistribudor), is now leaving that comfort zone to complete job placement in capital letters and without a safety net at Calle de Anselm Clavé, 19. He does it hand in hand with Enjoy Barcelonaa group specialized in tourist apartments and spaces for events, which has wanted to turn into a project social and sustainable where the foundation contributes a symbolic rent and the expected benefits will revert to the project. They will soon open a La Pau hotel and will also have this quarry.
It is a unique case in the district, they say, because their vocation is not for customers to come just out of solidarity or social empathy, but because they enjoy the table. As operational manager of the room (led by Moisés Masías), the Senegalese Cheikhou Bucket It is an example of other stories of new opportunities. She came to live badly on the streets of Barcelona, with health problems and about to exhaust her hope for a better life. He crossed his very hard path the foundation, where he was trained and found a vocation that, he assured this Thursday, he hopes to deploy in his country one day with a similar project.
Difficulties in ESO
For Eloin, from the Dominican Republic, arrived in L’Hospitalet in 2015, the outlook was bleak after failing to finish ESO and finding himself without a future. “I couldn’t stand an hour in class, I couldn’t, I lost concentration very quickly and I need some manual activity,” he tells this newspaper. He tried it first with the Automotive itinerary that the foundation teaches (there is also Personal Image and Digital Manufacturing, in addition to Restoration), but it was not his thing. So he switched to the hotel industry, specializing in dining rooms, and passed several training phases that have culminated in La Pau, where at 19 years of age he has a decent salary and the “Illusion to continue learning, climbing” and one day fly alone.
The founder of El Llindar, Begonya Gasch, It emphasizes that more than 80% of its budget comes from private patronage, although there are similar public initiatives in other countries. They win public competitions and are always on the verge of viability, self-supporting, but they presume to train 480 students every day, of which 66% will achieve a positive outcome: work or continue training, he says. Always, under the premise of a labor “quality” that “flees from precariousness”.
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The gastronomy de La Pau is based on traditional Catalan cuisine reverted by Joseph Santiago –executive chef of the Tragaluz group– together with the chef Xavi of Love. The first says that he wanted to escape the offer of the environment, where tatakis, falafels and industrial paellas without local DNA abound. Instead, seasonal and local products, with a double offer of a midday formula-type dish with a drink and dessert for 10.50 euros, or a tempting menu where very homemade croquettes, local tomato carpaccio, meat cannelloni parade d’olla’, esqueixadas, tuna belly with tomato sauce, suckling lamb with parmentier and parsnips… with an average price of around 30 euros.
Behind the arm that serves, always a smile (which is appreciated more than ever in the current crisis in hospitality staff), like the one who reaches a goal after a race full of obstacles.