La Mochila Clandestina Restaurant

I transformed my Brixton flat in London, UK, into an underground restaurant called “La Mochila Clandestina” (The Clandestine Backpack). Every two months, I hosted pop-up dining events inspired by my food experiences while backpacking around the world. These experiences were transformed into gastronomic journeys, featuring three to four course set dinners that reflected memorable moments from my travels, such as the Mekong slow boat river journey from Thailand to Laos, the nomadic Tran-Siberian train journey from Moscow to Mongolia, and a tapas night out in Granada, Spain. Each dish was carefully selected to reflect a stage of the trip, and we explored the experience together through smells, tastes, music, storytelling, and visual color matching.

The evening included not only a food exploration of cultural and historical traits of the cuisine but also guest exchanges of wisdom and mingling with 12 other strangers. In 2012, La Mochila Clandestina” was recognized as one of the BEST 10 Underground Restaurants in London and was featured in the Evening Standard.