Few diners ask where their tomatoes grew. Filandón, a restaurant in the woods of El Pardo on the edge of Madrid, wants them to start. Its entrance is a glass greenhouse farm shop, stocked with the vegetables the kitchen cooks.
Every crate of potatoes and string of dried chilies on the shelves comes from the restaurant’s own farm. Diners can eat the dish, then buy the ingredients on the way out.
Barcelona-based Trenchs Studio designed the structure. Its silhouette follows the classic European glasshouse, with an aluminum frame, a pitched glass roof, and decorative cresting along the ridge. Founder Ricard Trenchs has worked on restaurant interiors for roughly two decades.
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Circular bronze pedestals outside hold baskets of produce, and staff can rearrange them as the seasons change. Inside, a wood-and-stone table serves as the counter. It also guides shoppers through a single open space with no interior walls.
A name from León
Filandón is an old Leonese word for the winter evenings when villagers gathered by the fire to spin thread and trade stories. The word comes from the Latin filum, meaning thread. Writers in León still stage literary filandones in its honor.
The restaurant’s link to León runs through the García Azpiroz family, which runs it. Their roots trace back to the muleteers of Maragatería, the mule drivers of the region.
Where the produce grows
The produce comes from Granja de los Monjes, the owners’ organic farm in El Bierzo, in northwestern Spain. The name means “the monks’ farm.” The farm sits roughly 240 miles (385 km) northwest of Madrid by road.
Tomatoes, potatoes, piparra peppers, artichokes, lettuce, and asparagus grow there organically. The harvest supplies the group’s Madrid restaurants. This glass greenhouse farm shop lets diners take some of it home.
The family also bought Granja de Santullano, a 12th-century monastic grange in San Esteban de Valdueza. The property has long been tied to farming and winemaking. The family is regenerating about 148 acres (60 hectares) there, and restoration crews found an 18th-century wine cellar beneath the old buildings. The available reports do not explain how Granja de Santullano and Granja de los Monjes relate, so that link remains unconfirmed.
The company behind the restaurant
Filandón belongs to Pescaderías Coruñesas, founded in A Coruña in 1911 to bring seafood to Madrid. The group also runs El Pescador and O’Pazo. In 2021 it rescued Lhardy, a Madrid institution dating to 1839, from insolvency.
The shelves of this glass greenhouse farm shop carry Pescaderías Coruñesas preserves alongside Lhardy liqueurs. The mix of brands gives the shop a range that extends beyond the vegetables.
A frame built for the forest
The silhouette recalls 19th-century European glasshouses, which used cast-iron frames and plate glass to shelter exotic plants. Here the frame is slim aluminum in dark olive. The finish is meant to sit quietly against the woodland of Monte de El Pardo, one of Europe’s best-preserved Mediterranean forests.
Gooseneck lamps glow above the doors. Dried chili ristras hang inside the frame, and the bronze pedestals show what is for sale before a visitor reaches the door.
Managing the sun
Glass in Madrid’s strong sun creates a heat problem for any glass greenhouse farm shop. Trenchs answered it with wooden shutters built into the roof, which regulate how much light enters.
The shutters are alicantina blinds, a traditional type of wooden slatted blind. They are common on windows in Alicante, Valencia, and Murcia. Spanish architects are now bringing them back as a low-tech way to cut heat gain.
Spain’s architects are still finding fresh ways to tackle heat and light, as seen in Valencia’s green hub by RSHP and ERRE, a rail project built around green design ideas.
The olive-green slats hang on cord and can be adjusted through the day and across the seasons. They shade the glass, and air moves between the slats without any motor. The shop stays usable year-round as a result.
Inside the glass greenhouse farm shop
Inside, a dark herringbone timber floor runs through the space. An oak cabinet in a warm tobacco tone lines the back wall and displays preserves and bottles under focused light. Ceramic lamps with linen shades sit on the stone-topped table, which gives the room a domestic feel.
The glass greenhouse farm shop makes a simple argument. The tomato on the plate and the tomato in the bag come from the same field, even though that field sits 240 miles away. For a diner, that connection is the real product.
Source: yankodesign.com
Frequently asked questions
Where do the vegetables sold at Filandón’s farm shop come from?
The produce comes from Granja de los Monjes, the owners’ organic farm in El Bierzo, in northwestern Spain. The harvest supplies the group’s Madrid restaurants, and the shop lets diners take some home.
Who designed the glass greenhouse farm shop at Filandón?
Barcelona-based Trenchs Studio designed the structure, and its founder, Ricard Trenchs, has worked on restaurant interiors for roughly two decades.
What are the wooden shutters on the greenhouse roof called?
The shutters are called alicantina blinds, a traditional type of wooden slatted blind common on windows in Alicante, Valencia, and Murcia. They hang on cord, can be adjusted through the day and across seasons, and let air move between the slats without a motor.
What does the name Filandón mean?
Filandón is an old Leonese word for the winter evenings when villagers gathered by the fire to spin thread and trade stories. The word comes from the Latin filum, meaning thread.
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