Words Steph WadeImages Maximilian MairFilm Jonas BakDate 15 August 2024
Naiara Sabandar and Zana Josipovic, a cook and a designer respectively, are full of talent and humility; traits that are felt across each element of their business. After meeting at university and spending time traveling across Japan together, the pair refined their ideal restaurant concept through a shared passion for food, design, and creativity. Eventually, they quit their jobs and opened Oficina: a minimalist, modern café with an open layout, functional materials, and a calm atmosphere—a triad of hospitality principles that makes their unassuming shopfront so impactful when you walk through the door.
Zana Josipovic, left, and Naiara Sabandar, right, bridge together their backgrounds in design, architecture, and food at Oficina in Amsterdam.
“It’s a venue where guests can enjoy breakfast, lunch, or a mid-afternoon pause,” explains Naiara, “with dishes inspired by the food we like to eat ourselves”. Naiara composes Oficina’s dishes with an eye for color, contrast, and simplicity, garnishing them with little nastursium flowers from the summer garden. Having spent six weeks at a Korean temple among Buddhist monks, three hours south of Seoul, Naiara was able to learn about Korean temple food from Buddhist Monk Jeong-Kwan Sunim.
She realized that her philosophy and approach to food was already oriented in the same measured way as her Buddhist peers. “It was interesting to spend a lot of time around monks because I felt super at home there,” she shares, “and in how I related to their way of being. I also learned a lot about cooking, using different vegetables and fermentation techniques that aren’t common in Europe”. For example, she says, “monks avoid the five pungent vegetables—garlic, onions, leeks, chives, and shallots—because they are believed to disrupt meditation by stimulating passion and agitation, and can upset the body's energy balance.”
Oficina’s menu, like its team, boasts a variety of cultural influences—(Naiara is Spanish, Moluccan, and Dutch; Zana was born in ex-Yugoslavia and raised in the Netherlands; and their chef Rita is Taiwanese-Canadian), meaning one might enjoy an omelet with furikake, matcha-infused soft serve, or Dutch trout with sushi rice and roe. Dishes are vibrant and seasonal, and their selection of tea spans a dozen different terroirs and cultivars from Japan, China, and Taiwan.
While Naiara brings the culinary arm to Oficina, Zana brings its strong visual aesthetic and design focus—the pair are often busy designing packaged goods, and conceptualizing and realizing dining situations and identities for clients including Loewe, Valentino, and Dutch Design Week, among many others.
Naiara: My family have a Basque restaurant in Ibiza called “S'Oficina”. So it’s an ode to my memory of food, and to my uncle who taught me a lot. But for both of us, Oficina is more than a restaurant, it’s also our office.
Zana: Yes, the word “Oficina” means office in Spanish. It’s an open and functional space with big tables for eating together, there’s no counter that separates us from customers. We wanted to create an environment like this, so the name flowed from this thinking. We were missing a place in Amsterdam where you could enjoy a seasonal lunch, drink tea, and appreciate the calmness of a space.
Naiara: We offer comforting, seasonal dishes for breakfast and lunch, and specialize in tea. It’s connected to what Zana said about creating a calm energy; it’s about being present and in the moment, and to reflect on what is placed in front of us.
Zana: I love to cycle everywhere, to be quick, but also to see the city.
Naiara: What I truly love about the city is that it's compact and bike-friendly, and I really appreciate its open-mindedness.
Naiara: Paon Bali; it's run by a couple—she's from Bali and he's Dutch, and they cook from Wednesday to Saturday. It's the best Indonesian food in town. They make these boxes, and you have to pre-order by text. That's the food I love to eat the most.
Zana: I like to go to a Chinese restaurant, like Taste of Culture, that serves traditional cuisine. Also Rijsel is great, it’s Flemish-French cooking, very classic.
Zana: Our matcha sets! [Laughing]. We always travel with a whisk, a scoop, and matcha powder everywhere we go, so we can make our own, no matter where we are. We agreed that we really can’t live without it; we’re addicts.
Naiara: Zana bought me a little traveling tea set for my birthday, with two little cups that you can take everywhere. I flow on the tea energy. You feel really sharp and it’s constant, it’s not like the heart palpitations you get from coffee.
Naiara: I really try to remind myself to constantly be aware of where I am in this moment. Because we all think too much of the past or future.
Zana: What I also try to appreciate during the day is to not only look at the bigger picture, but also at the small things that can make you happy, like sitting here in the garden.
Zana: Running, or just being outside walking. I love to be in nature, just moving.
Naiara: Even though I cook the whole day, sometimes I still like to go home and cook again—a meal for my family or friends, because I see it really as two different practices.
This story is part of a partnership between American Express and Design Hotels, who have joined forces to host a gastronomic series with three summer events across Germany. The collaboration aims to create value for our hotels, while providing guests with a memorable, next-level experience. To keep up to date with the next events, click here.
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