Eat Vacuum Cooking
As you park in front of Cases de Son Morro’s sturdy walls, the mood changes instantly. Gone are the asphalt, the haste, and the dinners where you barely dare to raise your voice. At Eat Vacuum Cooking, you put on your apron, cook recipes brought back from the souks of Morocco or the streets of Thailand, and discover that the best dish you have ever tasted was made by you. It is unlike anything you have ever experienced before. Welcome to Mallorca’s most unique dining experience.
There are many different ways to reach this corner of the island: by redeeming a gift voucher, heading there with friends, or going as part of a corporate team-building retreat with colleagues. The reason why you made the booking does not matter. What matters when you walk in through the door is that you are raring to go. At Eat Vacuum Cooking, there is no menu to peruse and no waiter to take your order. The experience is much more visceral and down-to-earth: you put on your apron, stand in front of the stove and rediscover the sheer joy of getting your hands dirty.
CEO and owner Estiven Arráez León and his team have spent exactly a decade perfecting what they call the ‘oasis effect’, which works in an almost hypnotic way. In less than ten minutes, strangers are no longer strangers. Jackets come off, aprons are put on and work, worries and screens are left behind. People come to Eat Vacuum to have fun. It’s pure creative adrenaline: the rhythmic sound of the knife against the chopping board, glasses clinking as an emulsion is whipped up, and the absolute freedom to work with top-quality ingredients under the supervision of professional chefs. Here, the magic of the kitchen proves that anyone can cook, as Eat Vacuum’s slogan says.
Globe-trotting experiences
If there is one thing that sets this project apart from any other experience, it is its commitment to R&D. Eat Vacuum’s recipe book is the result of their travels and experiences around the world. The team simply packs their bags and hits the road. From the maze-like souks of Morocco to the humid pavements of Thailand, they have now documented 74 destinations, brining authenticity down to the finest detail. This intense fieldwork is supported by key figures such as David Sánchez, who has showed unwavering loyalty to the project for nine years, and chefs Gerard and Miquel. This level of self-discipline explains why others on the Spanish peninsula are already trying to copy them, even when it comes to the names of the dishes. The original always inspires.
Eat Vacuum’s appeal turns the rules of Balearic tourism on their head, with their peak season falling right in the middle of winter. The colder season is when Son Morro comes alive with team-building events, ranging from the more laid-back to the more competitive, and groups who find putting on an apron to be a universal language. But the true measure of its prestige comes from its most discerning clientele: the island’s very own chefs. On their rare days off, they escape the pressure of the kitchen and slip into the kitchens at Eat Vacuum, purely for the pleasure of it. ‘They come to cook with colleagues, have a good time and be reminded why they chose this profession’. says Estiven Arráez.
The experience comes to a climax with the plating. The silence of that first mouthful immediately gives way to a collective euphoria. The flavour of what you just created is magnificent, but its intensity increases tenfold because it embodies your instinct and the time you have spent on it. Eat Vacuum Cooking is living proof that the best restaurant on the island has no menu, because you are the one who writes it.
