Adrià to open restaurants in 26 NH hotels

World-famous Spanish chef Ferran Adrià has announced plans to roll out his Nhube concept with the international hotel chain NH Hoteles following the early success of his first outlet, which opened two months ago in the NH Núñez de Balboa hotel in Madrid.

Speaking to Caterer last week, the three-Michelin-starred Catalan chef said NH Hoteles planned to install a further 26 Nhubes within its hotels around the world.

Pronounced "noovay", Nhube is a concept that combines a hotel's lounge bar and restaurant under the theme "better than home", where guests can drink, surf the net, listen to music or watch TV and eat.

Adrià is famous for his highly experimental cuisine, but the menu seems straightforward at first glance - homely even - with dishes such as macaroni in tomato sauce, chicken soup with noodles, chicken wings sautéd in garlic, and monkfish in breadcrumbs. "All the dishes are served in a novel and unusual way," explained Adrià, who has worked closely on the project with his head chef of 15 years, Eduard Bosch, plus Spanish design team AEC.

After Madrid, NH Hoteles will launch the Nhube concept in its Amsterdam City Centre hotel, followed by NH Zurich Messe in Switzerland, and its Wien Airport Convention Centre. There will also be openings in 10 other hotels in Spain and 13 currently under construction. Location, space, size and customer profile are among the criteria used to determine the most suitable hotels for introducing the Nhube concept.

Following the acquisition of Dutch chain Krasnapolsky in July 2000 and German chain Astron Hotels in February 2002, NH now operates 241 hotels with almost 35,000 rooms in 17 countries around Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Adrià also plans to develop restaurant concepts in other hotels. While running his flagship restaurant El Bulli near Rosas in north-east Spain, he manages the food and beverage for the Hacienda Benazuza hotel near Seville and is currently working on a new venture in northern Majorca.