Nobu Hospitality, Nobu Global’s chain of hotels, will open a five-star hotel this September 12 in the city of Barcelona, Spain. The initiative represents a joint effort between Nobu Hospitality – founded by the prestigious chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa, renowned actor Robert De Niro and film producer Meir Teper – together with Selenta Group, a Spanish hotel group owned by Jordi Mestre. Nobu Hotel Barcelona will be located at the current Gran Hotel Torre Catalunya and will feature the first restaurant by prestigious chef Nobu Matsuhisa in the city.
According to Nobu Hospitality, this new exclusive style hotel will be aimed at “sophisticated travelers.” The renovation was carried out by the Rockwell Group architectural firm, who managed this project valued at 30 million euros.
About the Nobu Hotel Barcelona
The new establishment has 23 floors with 259 rooms and suites. It also contains an auditorium, customized event space set-ups and six private meeting rooms for corporate events or social gatherings. Other services include a spa, fitness room and the Kozara bar. There the guests can taste a menu of local tapas, Japanese entrees, as well as a variety of cocktails, sakes and whiskeys.
The top floor will house a new Nobu restaurant, the first in Barcelona, which will offer 360-degree views of the Catalan capital and the Mediterranean Sea. The kitchens will be commanded by chef Hervé Courtot, who will follow the philosophy of founder Matsuhisa, renowned for its fusion cuisine that combines traditional Japanese dishes with Peruvian ingredients.
Reservations for Nobu Hotel Barcelona are now open for parties interested in booking their stay, ranging from 250 euros per night.
De Niro and Nobu: The Friendship That Founded an Empire
Nobu Global and its divisions originated from a friendship worthy of a movie plot. Matsuhisa worked as a young man in a sushi restaurant in Tokyo, where a regular customer of Peruvian descent pushed him to open his own restaurant in Lima. It was in Peru and Argentina that Nobu developed the culinary fusion style that would make him famous. Nobu moved to Los Angeles in 1977 and opened a new restaurant in 1987, where he met De Niro a year later as a client. De Niro thanked Nobu for a delicious meal and between cocktails they forged a close relationship from the start.
The Hollywood star tried to convince the chef to open a restaurant in New York. After four years of suggestion, the two teamed up with Teper and restaurant executive Drew Nieporent to launch Nobu New York in the neighborhood of Tribeca. Their successful collaboration evolved into an international conglomerate, formally established in 1993, which will soon encompass 43 restaurants and 18 luxury hotels around the world.
Nobu Hotel Barcelona will be the third Nobu Hotels establishment in Spain and the fourth in Europe, where it already operates similar establishments in Ibiza, Marbella and London. Internationally, Nobu Hotels offers luxury stays in New York, Peru, Argentina and Alaska, among others. In addition, the hotel chain will continue its worldwide expansion with new projects in Riyadh, Chicago, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Atlanta, Tel Aviv and Warsaw.
