Espai Joliu is a concept store and café that looks like an interior garden, and that’s because they filled their space with the plants (beautiful plants of all sizes and many cacti) they’re also selling.
But that’s not all. Espai Joliu (by the way, the name translates from Catalan into The Nice Space – and indeed it is!) has its own little bookstore with lifestyle magazines, fashion and travel publications and specialty coffee books, a carefully curated collection including everything from Kinfolk to Urban Jungle and from Cereal to Standart. In addition to plants and books, there’s also a bunch of cool illustrations and handmade ceramics, created by various artists from the same barrio of Poblenou, on sell here.
Their coffee comes from local coffee roasters and also close neighbours Nømad Coffee. The menu includes plenty of vegan options and offers simple yet super tasty toasts and bagels, plus delicious sweets, from their chia pudding with almonds, blueberries and frozen dry raspberries to various cakes and, on each Friday, the vegan donuts from La Donutería.
In addition, there are the daily homemade sweets displayed at the bar: cakes, cookies, granola mixes or croissants, with plenty of vegan options.
The space has an industrial air and the ambience is quite cosmopolitan as most people who work around Poblenou come here for a chat or to open their laptop and work a bit, and you can hear lots of languages, including French, Russian or Italian. All the seating is shared and that’s what makes the place even more welcoming, especially around lunch time when, even if it’s full, there’s always an available space, maybe at the long shared table next to the bar, or maybe closer to the plants area, where to sit, savour the coffee (excellent coffee), a sweet bite (in my case, the vegan chocolate and pistachio cake, sprinkled with dry rose petals) and enjoy the cool vibe of the place.
