There is a new juice bar in town. Mother was the first to offer cold pressed juice amongst the kebab shops of the Raval. Teresa Carles has their Flax & Kale branch that has fridges full of the stuff. (My favourite being Vanilla Marcona – an almond milk studded with vanilla, salty from Himalayan salt.) New to the game is Hammock Cafe. They bring all the things that one can see via the likes of Green Kitchen Stories, Hemsley Sisters, Anna Jones or the Goop Newsletter.
Abundant avocado on toast. Lots of bowls – Acai among them. Smoothies, fresh pressed juices and cold pressed juices. You can add-on super – ingredients: Goji berries, chia, Spirulina and matcha. There are raw nut balls. And there is coffee from Onna Coffee.
It’s a firmly on trend and the stuff they are sending out looks as it should, brimming with ingredients likely to make you feel virtuous for the rest of the day.
That would probably be enough for this city. Europe, especially southern Europe has been slow in picking up on this turnaround movement, of consuming ever larger quantities and varieties of superfoods. But they didn’t stop there. They’ve hung rich coloured hammocks from the ceiling, a couple of clusters and named the shop literally: Hammock Juice Station. Bikes have been dismantled and refashioned into furniture accents.
There are a few fresh-faced young women working there. One of them asks permission to give my daughter an oat cookie. Among them is a pale man, Adidas cap on backwards, in a man’s drop armhole tank – tattoos creeping out and up.
There is a steady stream of people coming in on a sweltering Sunday July afternoon. All kinds. A French family with 3 children. An Israeli couple taking turns cuddling a gurgling baby. Some American teenage girls who were “not at all impressed with Sagrada Familia or Barcelona in general”. A few local women who are getting their juices to go. Except for the teenagers and children, most are eschewing sitting in the hammocks, which although novel, make for cramped seating.
If you ask me, they’ve got a concept and product good enough that they don’t need what could be seen as a gimmick. On the other hand, Hammock Juice Station has only just opened and is already doing a decent trade by the looks of it. So perhaps the hammocks were a savvy way to make a lasting impression fast? And if what you are after is a boost or nigh on impossible to find vegan and raw food, this is probably the place for you.
See this and more addresses by location on my Foodie in Barcelona Map or in alphabetical order on my Best Eats page.
Hammock Juice Station
Calle Mallorca 308
08037 Eixample
facebook.com/hammockjuicestation
instagram.com/hammockjuicestation
[…] Hammock Juice Station. Si lo que te apetece es salir de la cama y volver a tumbarte este es tu lugar. Hammock Juice tiene hamacas en las que te puedes balancear mientras te tomas el desayuno, ¿mola eh? No es barato (precio medio ronda sobre los 10 euros), pero solo por la experiencia yo ya pagaba. Hay que tener en cuenta que es un sitio muy pequeño y que se llena enseguida, si quieres asegurarte plaza mejor reserva. Para los que no saben inglés puede ser un hándicap el que sólo tengan camareros que no hablan en español, o al menos cuando fui allí los camareros del momento eran todos extranjeros. […]