Standing outside the locked front gates of El Bulli waiting to be admitted into the restaurant, we can’t really believe we’re here. We’re 20 minutes early for our 7:30 booking and the restaurant is not yet open so we’re standing on the edge of a dusty road looking down to the coastal restaurant and getting to know four of our fellow diners who have flown in from Sweden. We feel like Charlie in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, against all odds, golden ticket holders, and with the day having arrived and the time rapidly approaching, we wait for the doors to swing open on a magic kingdom of taste sensation overseen by an innovative genius.
Remarkably, the Swedish foursome we’re talking to know that El Bulli is a top restaurant but have no idea how difficult it is to get a booking. An email request secured a table for four on their first attempt and they thought no more of it. They are shocked, surprised and increasingly delighted to know the odds of getting a table are about 1000-1. We can’t help but feel though that they have missed out on something along the way for we’ve been excited for about a year now around this visit and the journey is surely part of the fun. If this is not a food pilgrimage, what is it?
The day before we left we were chatting to a black cab driver and said we were going to Spain. The cab driver enquired the purpose of our trip; I said we were going for dinner. The expression goes that it’s better to travel in hope than to arrive and at the end of the experience, you can have a valid view on the El Bulli experience and whether it’s worth the hype, but before you go there, you’ll probably know a couple of things about your destination (unless you’re Swedish).
First, El Bulli has dominated the Pellegrino Best Restaurants in the World list (winner in 2002, regaining top spot in 2006 and staying top in 2007, 2008 and 2009). Second, Ferran Adrià is a cook’s cook with for example Joel Robuchon declaring Adrià the best chef in the world, so this is not just marketing hype. Adrià also won Restaurant Magazine’s Chef of the Decade award. Third, especially with the restaurant closing, this is a once in a lifetime experience, you will never do this again and there’s no second chance. If as a foodie you are not in a perpetual buzz of excitement before you even sit down at the table, because perhaps you like to think of yourself as a contrarian, or perhaps because you read a blog that said it wasn’t it’s all cracked up to be, well, that’s sad, and I have to think wrong. On the night before we are due to eat, we feel like children on Christmas Eve counting down the hours and giving voice to the excitement in saying things like ‘this time tomorrow we’ll at El Bulli’ followed by giggles.
Remarkably, the Swedish foursome we’re talking to know that El Bulli is a top restaurant but have no idea how difficult it is to get a booking. An email request secured a table for four on their first attempt and they thought no more of it. They are shocked, surprised and increasingly delighted to know the odds of getting a table are about 1000-1. We can’t help but feel though that they have missed out on something along the way for we’ve been excited for about a year now around this visit and the journey is surely part of the fun. If this is not a food pilgrimage, what is it?
The day before we left we were chatting to a black cab driver and said we were going to Spain. The cab driver enquired the purpose of our trip; I said we were going for dinner. The expression goes that it’s better to travel in hope than to arrive and at the end of the experience, you can have a valid view on the El Bulli experience and whether it’s worth the hype, but before you go there, you’ll probably know a couple of things about your destination (unless you’re Swedish).
First, El Bulli has dominated the Pellegrino Best Restaurants in the World list (winner in 2002, regaining top spot in 2006 and staying top in 2007, 2008 and 2009). Second, Ferran Adrià is a cook’s cook with for example Joel Robuchon declaring Adrià the best chef in the world, so this is not just marketing hype. Adrià also won Restaurant Magazine’s Chef of the Decade award. Third, especially with the restaurant closing, this is a once in a lifetime experience, you will never do this again and there’s no second chance. If as a foodie you are not in a perpetual buzz of excitement before you even sit down at the table, because perhaps you like to think of yourself as a contrarian, or perhaps because you read a blog that said it wasn’t it’s all cracked up to be, well, that’s sad, and I have to think wrong. On the night before we are due to eat, we feel like children on Christmas Eve counting down the hours and giving voice to the excitement in saying things like ‘this time tomorrow we’ll at El Bulli’ followed by giggles.
Walking up the drive to El Bulli
Because this is once in a lifetime, you plan the event with NASA like failsafes built in to the itinerary. It’s easy to take a wrong turning and find yourself heading in the wrong direction with no U-turn options and El Bulli is notoriously in the middle of nowhere. Our meal is Friday night but the one flight a day to Gerona (a Ryanair hub) doesn’t land till late in the evening. We don’t want to risk getting it wrong on the Friday drive so we elect to drive up on Thursday and therefore fly out Wednesday. We stay overnight at an airport hotel and pick up our Avis VW Golf the next morning and head to Roses where we’ll be staying.
The journey from Gerona to Roses is remarkably easy taking around an hour though if you fly to Barcelona proper, by all accounts, it’s longer and more complicated. Roses itself we had been told was run down and we thought there would be little to occupy us. Rather, we found Roses to be quite a charming little seaside town catering well for tourists of all nationalities and so we settled in to enjoy the still fine weather despite it now being out of season.
The journey from Gerona to Roses is remarkably easy taking around an hour though if you fly to Barcelona proper, by all accounts, it’s longer and more complicated. Roses itself we had been told was run down and we thought there would be little to occupy us. Rather, we found Roses to be quite a charming little seaside town catering well for tourists of all nationalities and so we settled in to enjoy the still fine weather despite it now being out of season.
When the Friday came, what, foodwise should be our strategy? Knowing that we had 40 courses to come at dinner, should we starve ourselves during the day or nibble? We chose to eat breakfast and take a light lunch but nothing adventurous. The taxi to take us to El Bulli came at 6:45pm and as bundles of excitement, we got in. Driving into town before heading up through the national park, the taxi driver managed to drive his cab over the curb which is not great but for the most part not a cause to worry. However, as we climbed the mountains of the national park into the misty peaks, we found ourselves on single track highways with a sheer drop to a ravine below. The wheels of the car looked perilously close to the edge, and with legitimate questions around whether our cab driver could actually drive or not, both of us later agreed that this was one of the scariest car rides of our lives. This is not how we’re supposed to die, especially before we’ve eaten at El Bulli.
From Roses, the journey time to El Bulli is around 20 mins and as the taxi slows and we see the restaurant name plate, the excitement is taken to a new level. We have a ‘pinch me, I can’t believe it’s real’ moment.
The gates to El Bulli swing open at 7:25 and we walk down the driveway, ocean to our left and what looks like a sizeable charming villa nestling behind palm trees in front of us that is our ultimate destination. Through the front door, staff line the hallway and greet us as we enter. We’re asked ‘would you like to see the kitchen?’ Well, since we’re here... The first thing you notice in the kitchen is Ferran Adrià waiting to greet you standing in front of a giant bull’s head (not a real one, and El Bulli is actually a bull dog, not a bull). I fumble for the camera, lens cap off, I remember that I turned the flash off when I was outside (doh!), it’s all running away from me; I’m feeling the pressure of meeting genius. Having snapped my picture of Ferran, we then line up alongside Ferran for our picture with him. Normally, our food groupie pictures see us with a silly grin, often worse the wear for drink and are something of an embarrassment. We benefit here from not being drunk though I think we’ll still keep this picture for the family album only.
From Roses, the journey time to El Bulli is around 20 mins and as the taxi slows and we see the restaurant name plate, the excitement is taken to a new level. We have a ‘pinch me, I can’t believe it’s real’ moment.
The gates to El Bulli swing open at 7:25 and we walk down the driveway, ocean to our left and what looks like a sizeable charming villa nestling behind palm trees in front of us that is our ultimate destination. Through the front door, staff line the hallway and greet us as we enter. We’re asked ‘would you like to see the kitchen?’ Well, since we’re here... The first thing you notice in the kitchen is Ferran Adrià waiting to greet you standing in front of a giant bull’s head (not a real one, and El Bulli is actually a bull dog, not a bull). I fumble for the camera, lens cap off, I remember that I turned the flash off when I was outside (doh!), it’s all running away from me; I’m feeling the pressure of meeting genius. Having snapped my picture of Ferran, we then line up alongside Ferran for our picture with him. Normally, our food groupie pictures see us with a silly grin, often worse the wear for drink and are something of an embarrassment. We benefit here from not being drunk though I think we’ll still keep this picture for the family album only.
Ferran Adria in the kitchen
While we’re in the kitchen, we don’t really get to see the kitchen, though we do see a lot of industry. From the moment you walk through the door, you step into a well oiled machine, a phrase we would keep coming back to. The photograph with Ferran is part of the routine and the next part is for the staff to steer you back out again so that the next group of groupies can have their picture taken also. When you think of it though, this whole thing is pretty good of Ferran, over the evening, 50 guests will receive 40 courses, 2,000 dishes will leave that kitchen, and immediately before service, he’s taking time out so that you can have your picture taken with him.
Moving into the restaurant dining area, we take our seats and the first course is immediately upon us, really, it’s that quick, bam. It’s a cocktail of sorts, but in the El Bulli way – a frozen strawberry Campari. ‘Eat it now’ they urge us, ‘one bite’, we do as we’re told. They don’t have seat belts on the chairs but perhaps they should for you really do need to strap yourselves in, the pace will be unrelenting, faster than anything that you will have ever experienced in a restaurant. This is his house and his rules, you’re along for the ride with Ferran driving. The evening has begun.
click for chapter 2, courses 1-20
Moving into the restaurant dining area, we take our seats and the first course is immediately upon us, really, it’s that quick, bam. It’s a cocktail of sorts, but in the El Bulli way – a frozen strawberry Campari. ‘Eat it now’ they urge us, ‘one bite’, we do as we’re told. They don’t have seat belts on the chairs but perhaps they should for you really do need to strap yourselves in, the pace will be unrelenting, faster than anything that you will have ever experienced in a restaurant. This is his house and his rules, you’re along for the ride with Ferran driving. The evening has begun.
click for chapter 2, courses 1-20
