“Assumed Courage: A Stamp on Memory”

For years, we’ve welcomed guests of all kinds — many of them eager to share their opinions. The exchange of impressions with those who visit us has always been a challenging and rewarding source of learning.

But in 2024, we began to play with a different idea — a game inspired by a relic from Spain’s past: the evaluation cards used decades ago to assess those doing their military service. These cards measured traits such as conduct, devotion to service, character, cleanliness, or level of trustworthiness. For each, the recruit had to mark the box: good, average, or poor. Except for one item: valor. In that case, no self-assessment was allowed. Instead, the best outcome was a pre-stamped phrase: “PRESUMED” (SE LE SUPONE). In short, one’s courage was taken for granted — and that was that.

This sparked a thought: restaurants and gastronomic projects are constantly being evaluated based on criteria that often rest on shaky, deeply subjective ground — even as food critics continue to defend the idea that the complexity of a restaurant’s work (the sheer effort, time, and intention behind it) can be reduced to a definitive, unassailable score.

And so, restaurants “pass” or “fail” the test depending on how well they meet expectations in categories such as lighting, decor, atmosphere, the state of the restrooms, the coffee or bread they serve (or don’t), the quality of their table linens, the sourcing of their ingredients, the refinement of their cooking techniques, or the execution of their desserts.

The world moves at breakneck speed, and gastronomy, in step with it, has done nothing but adapt, evolve, and propose new formats for mediation, enjoyment, and — why not — provocation.

So what if we also evaluated intangible, yet essential, dimensions of a gastronomic experience — especially in those projects where creativity is the true raw material? What would happen if, instead of rating “noise levels” or the pedigree of the wine list, we took into account attributes like curiosity, risk, or the personality of the teams behind a given proposal?

And if we turned the lens around for once — and placed the guests themselves in focus — what then? Is the value of each diner also something to be presumed? Or not?