Figueres’ Motel Empordà has marked its 65th anniversary, with the celebration held on 4 June and timed to coincide with what would have been founder Josep Mercader’s 100th birthday on 14 April. The event was organised by the family’s third generation and included the presentation of Sílvia Subirós’ book, Josep Mercader, creador del Motel.
The evening also paid tribute to Jaume Subirós, Mercader’s son-in-law, who had just received the National Gastronomy Award in the traditional cuisine category from the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition. Subirós took over the restaurant at the age of 30 after Mercader’s death in 1979, and led the Motel for 47 years.
Subirós said in an interview a year ago that Mercader had come to his family home in Pont del Príncep, near Vilamalla, beside the N-II, and told his father that a son could work as a bellboy. He recalled cycling to the Motel every day at 7 am, after first finishing school and then working in both the kitchen and dining room.
He later went to Barcelona to learn the trade, gaining experience at Glacier in Plaça Reial, Hotel President, the seafood restaurant El Crab, and Restaurant Finisterre. He returned to Empordà, married Anna Maria Mercader in 1974, and the couple have four children: Albert, Jordi, Sílvia and Lluís. Subirós still works at the Motel at lunch and at Almadraba Park Hotel in Roses for dinner.
Among those present were Joan Roca, Paco Pérez, Fina Puigdevall, Manel Puigvert, Mateu Casañas, Joan Juncà and Jordi Jacas. Speaking for the group, Joan Roca described the Motel as the “kilometre zero of Catalan gastronomy”, saying it was there that Nouvelle Cuisine met local products and helped shape modern Catalan cuisine. He also recalled visiting with his family and tasting peuada, a pig’s trotter terrine that later inspired an early dish at El Celler de Can Roca. More Catalonia news
The anniversary menu paid tribute to the restaurant’s history with Kir Royal, an aperitif and three of Mercader’s creations: anchovy spine, garum canapé and cold escalivada mousse canapé. Guests were also served a trolley of appetisers and crudités, followed by dishes including melon and Iberian ham skewers, Terrades cherry gazpacho, celery stick with blue cheese, foie gras swan, bread with tomato and anchovy in thyme oil, and a miniature cod with garlic mousseline.
For dessert, two cheese trolleys were presented, along with mint sorbet and Empordà cake, a house pastry brought back for the occasion. The evening also added to the Motel’s literary record with the launch of a biography of Mercader by his granddaughter, filmmaker and screenwriter Sílvia Subirós. The event closed with Pla per Roig, a play by Ferran Utzet based on Montserrat Roig’s 1972 interview with Josep Pla.