The pop-up restaurant boom
The pop-up project trend seems to have become one of the most vivid hallmarks of this time, having spread from retailing to the restaurant business. 1 April 2011 saw the first Cube pop-up restaurant opened in Brussels, on top of one of the city's most significant landmarks - the 30-metre tall arc in Parc du Cinquantenaire. It's stay in the Belgian capital will only last three months and will be followed by a 'European tour', choosing to stop at some of the most beautiful and surprising locations featuring the most breathtaking panoramic views. The future will see the restaurant, a transparent 140-square metre structure featuring a centrepiece open kitchen and a communal table that is lowered from the ceiling for the duration of the meal and disappears afterwards so as not to obstruct the view, find its temporary home on monuments and mountain tops and even float on water. For instance, in Sweden the Cube will be sitting on a cliff by the fjord. A different chef will be running the restaurant in each venue, using only locally-sourced ingredients in the menu.
The idea of the Cube pop-up restaurant was born under the wing of the Electrolux Company as a sequel to the household appliance manufacturer's earlier campaign of combining design and food that brought us the Nomiya restaurant on the rooftop of the Paris Palais de Tokyo museum of contemporary art in 2009.
The Cube Restaurant seats 18 and opens for lunch and dinner only; a place at the table can only be book online (at www.electrolux.be/cube). Lunch for one costs EUR 150; dinner will set you back EUR 200.