Social distancing in bars and restaurants will be one of the trickiest elements to navigate in a post-COVID-19 world. However, one restaurant in Amsterdam has come up with a clever solution. Mediamatic Eten is a waterfront vegan restaurant, and it plans to take in guests from 21 May.
The guests will be seated inside enclosed glass structures that the restaurant calls ‘serres séparées’ or separated greenhouses, each equipped with a table for two. Naturally, the chambers are recommended only for people who are already living together. However, they can cater for three people if required, or for solo diners. This location offers stunning city views, and the restaurant has already conducted a test run of serving its visitors four-course, plant-based meals in their own little greenhouses.
Mediamatic Eten is part of a larger arts and entrepreneurship center, Mediamatic Biotoop, which focuses on sustainability. Where possible, it offers locally-sourced food and creates the courses based on the availability of seasonal ingredients from selected producers. Consequently, it picks herbs from its aquaponics garden and ferments products in the Mediamatic Clean Lab. Its courses are meant for sharing; therefore, it encourages guests to experience them with their hands rather than using cutlery. Mediamatic Eten aims to provide a new concept in safe hospitality, although whether it opens to the public using the glass cubicles is fully dependent on obtaining permission from local and national authorities.
If it gets the go-ahead, the restaurant plans to offer time slots from 6pm to 8.30pm or from 8.30pm to 11pm. For further information, visit Mediamatic Eten’s official website here.
