An Evening with Soil × fofo

On July 4th, SOIL and fofo welcomed a small group of guests to a private home overlooking the coastline just outside Barcelona. More than a dinner, the evening became a conversation between food, cocktails, design, and the people gathered around the table. 

Born from a shared appreciation for craftsmanship and ingredients, the collaboration explored what happens when a menu is designed from the inside out. Rather than building cocktails to complement finished dishes, every course and every drink evolved together, telling the story of an ingredient through different textures, temperatures, techniques, and expressions.

At the heart of the evening was SOIL, inspired by this philosophy, the team at fofo designed a five-course menu that mirrored SOIL's approach. Each course focused on one ingredient, exploring its versatility while paired with cocktails created by Eric using SOIL's inaugural expressions: Fresh Chilli and Toasted Corn.

Course One: Potato

The evening opened with an exploration of the potato in its purest and most playful forms. Potato bread, potato butter, relish, and crisp potato skin chips.Alongside it, the Fresh Chilli cocktail was a carbonated blend of lime leaf, green peppercorn, cucumber, fino sherry, and citrus. The drink highlighted the green, floral character of the chilli spirit, bringing freshness and brightness without overwhelming the dish.

Course Two: Tomato 

Tomato became a study in ripeness and preservation. Fresh tomatoes, pickled cherry tomatoes, semi-dried tomatoes, tomato essence jelly, homemade queso fresco, bay leaf oil, and red currants created layers of acidity, sweetness, and umami.

Its cocktail pairing continued the dialogue with Fresh Chilli, joined by red bell pepper, shiso, lemon, and rosé pét-nat, a vibrant expression that echoed the freshness of the plate while adding depth and gentle effervescence.

Course Three: Zucchini.Thin zucchini carpaccio sat beside cooked zucchini, melon, lemon verbena, nori salad, and ajo blanco cream.

The cocktail introduced Toasted Corn, layered with gentian, parsley stem, kola nut, petitgrain, and citrus, which was then carbonated to enhance its savoury and aromatic flavor profile, bringing a surprising herbal complexity to the drink.

Course Four: Corn

Perhaps the clearest reflection of SOIL's philosophy, the corn course celebrated the ingredient through cornbread, corn cream, corn salad, local goat cheese, and oregano.

Eric paired it with Toasted Corn, buttered apple brandy, peach, lemon, and cardamom, clarified with milk, with a burnt corn husk garnish to complete the sensory experience.

Course Five: Stone Fruit

The evening concluded with poached Earl Grey peaches and plums, apricot granita, date cake, and crème fraîche.

Served neat as a digestif, SOIL Toasted Corn invited guests to experience the spirit on its own, revealing its layered notes of toasted and earthy grain, nutty popcorn, and savoury depth without distraction.

More Than a Pairing

What made the evening memorable wasn't simply the quality of the food or the cocktails, it was the shared intention behind them.

SOIL challenges the conventional way we think about spirits by placing ingredients at the centre of the conversation. fofo responded by treating each ingredient with the same curiosity, transforming familiar produce into multiple expressions across every plate.

The result was a menu where food and cocktails were never separate elements, but chapters of the same story.

It was a reminder that hospitality is at its most meaningful when it creates space for people to gather, discover, and share. And, much like SOIL itself, the evening proved that extraordinary experiences often begin with the simplest ingredients.