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Nappuccino: a Spanish bar that offers you a cat nap with your coffee

Lobster Roll restaurant in Barcelona allows customers to take a siesta after lunch

The siesta is as synonymous with Spain as the sunshine or the beach, and there’s nothing better than putting your feet up for a doze after a big meal. In fact, studies show that a quick nap lasting around 30 minutes works wonders for cardiovascular recovery and improves learning ability.

However, if you’re eating out then a siesta is usually out of the question… Unless you choose to dine at Barcelona’s Lobster Roll, that is.

This unique restaurant offers an authentic taste of the “US coast,” according to manager Xiaoyong Chi, and if you order it’s signature dish and namesake, you’ll in turn be offered an hour-long snooze in one of its bunks. The bespoke beds have a blind for privacy, a comfy mattress and even a lamp for reading, but the cubicles are strictly solo affairs and are “not shareable, under any circumstances.”

Tourists, naturally curious about the tradition of the siesta, are the most taken with the concept, the restaurant owner explained, but city commuters are now some of the Lobster Roll’s regular customers.

So successful has the ‘Nappuccino Corner’ idea become that its designer has turned it into a mini-franchise: "We were able to take advantage of it. We get along very well with the owners of Nappuccino and we have made the first franchise in Spain with them, we are the first. Tourists usually take advantage of it a lot to rest."

If a bustling city isn’t your idea of a restful environment you might want to grab a bite to eat further south in Huelva’s Finca Alfoliz instead. This secluded Michelin-starred restaurant is located on a 10,000 square metre family estate steeped in nature, and there are dozens of snoozy spots dotted around the property, from a corner to lie down right in the open and enjoy the day or a starry night, to a dedicated area full of hammocks designed specifically for siestas.

“I always wanted to have a corner to take a nap because my father always sat quietly under the shade of the vine,” the owner explained.

“It may seem a bit freak, but these things are what excite us and what we value… because we are in a world with so much noise and so fast-paced that it is very difficult for us to stop,” he concluded.

Images 1&2: Nappuccino

Image 3: Finca Alfoliz

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