Pantone Yellow U. Or maybe Pantone Yello 012C. Whatever it is, it’s not a natural colour. I joked it looked like a Minion had exploded in there the first time I saw an interior shot of Cafetería Industrial on Instagram. But when I visited the cafe I realized that there is something else about it that makes it odd: the yellow is on the wrong way around. It’s painted on the floor and inches its way up the walls, stopping halfway up to give way to white tiles.
There are other things. The La Marzocco coffee machine is huge. Huge and full of corners. The way JVC stereos used to be.
“How old is your coffee machine?” I ask Miguel.
He squares his shoulders with pride. “1999. It’s the only one like it in Barcelona.”
His hair is cut in a style vaguely reminiscent of Will Smith circa 1997 but somehow contemporary. I have a feeling that Miguel likes the 90’s.
I order a cafe con leche and one of the orbs in the display. It’s an enriched bread filled with cream cheese. He squirts some chocolate mousse on the side and sprinkles it with roast almond flakes.
“Which coffee roaster do you use?”
“I roast myself.”
When I say that I am a food blogger by way of explaining why I am snapping pictures – he tinkers behind the counter and gives me a small glass of hot chocolate. Gritty and aromatic. Made with water instead of milk – it’s more Aztec, jungle and a beating heart than curled up on the sofa with something too sweet and marshmallows floating on top. “It’s from Venezuela.” His own brand – Liquid Biscuit – which he has been running for almost a decade. It turns out Miguel was the man behind the short-lived Señor Brown on Enric Granados.
Not a chance that this place is going to be short-lived. You can’t walk past it and not have your curiosity lead you in. And then once inside – well who doesn’t want to spend time in a yellow room that has been painted upside down. And they do a lunch box, their own riff on a Bento box for 8.50€
Cafteteria Industríal
C/ Pallars 154
instagram.com/cafeteriaindustrial
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