Samsha, a restaurant in Valencia, Spain, run by Víctor Rodrigo and Aroa López, has spent more than a decade building immersive dining shows that combine food with lighting, aromas and audiovisual content. Its fifth show, Quinto Elemento, is running in November 2026, and Rodrigo told ABC the effort has paid off commercially.
How the shows work
Each show is a staged tasting experience rather than a plain tasting menu. Rodrigo said he wanted to create something new for the diner that went beyond a simple tasting menu. ABC's lead photo shows chefs plating in front of a wall-sized underwater scene, and photos from a 2024 Almanaque Gastronómico feature show coloured patterns, including a purple grid and a hexagon pattern, projected onto the white tabletop around the plates, with a projector housing visible in one image. A 2024 feature credits programmer Pascual Berná with supporting the restaurant for several years, and says developing each show involves computer programming and audiovisual solutions.
Format and scale
- Each seating is limited to twelve diners at two shared tables, according to the 2024 feature on the earlier Cromas show.
- A visitor's April 2026 social media post describes Quinto Elemento as lasting about three and a half hours.
- Each show is designed to run for about three years. Cromas, which followed shows 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, was in its second year in July 2024, and a co-owner's April 2025 post said it would end in early August 2025.
Operations and business
Every new edition requires updating content and replacing some equipment. Before each service the team checks the devices and keeps spare equipment on hand to deal with breakdowns. Rodrigo said the investment has been constant and gradual across each show, that many years passed before Samsha became a profitable business, and that returning customers come back for the next edition. He added that the challenge is that each show must be innovative.
