Courses 21-25
Remaining on the truffle angle, our next dish, course 21, is 'gnocchis of parmesan with coffee and saffron yuba' with another generous shave of truffle on top. The gnocchi was the star of the show here and if you squeezed the gnocchi between your tongue and the top of your mouth, it would burst releasing its liquid filling into your mouth.
Remaining on the truffle angle, our next dish, course 21, is 'gnocchis of parmesan with coffee and saffron yuba' with another generous shave of truffle on top. The gnocchi was the star of the show here and if you squeezed the gnocchi between your tongue and the top of your mouth, it would burst releasing its liquid filling into your mouth.
Endive in papillote was another visually appealing dish as they brought the wrapped endive to the table, unwrapped it with their tweasers and then add 'walnut caviar' on top. The endive was too bitter for my taste and there was a sizeable quantity of food here also but the caviar was good and Mrs CC who likes endives enjoyed the dish better than I.
Back to simplicity next with a 'marrow and belly of tuna sushi'. The best she's ever had said Mrs CC.
The next couple of dishes presented me at least with a couple of problems, not least, 23 courses in, huge flavours and challenging textures. First up was the cold sea anemone. As can be seen in the picture below, this was a substantial plate of anemone and you don't have a knife with your fork so the anemone goes in whole. Foolishly, I put the largest piece in my mouth first and a combination of the strong flavour, a tough textural anemone and an already struggling diner, I did gag a little. This was not my dish.
Accompanying this dish but as a seperate plate was a small crab anemone. This went down okay but I've had enough anemone for the time being.
Then came clams ceviche and kalanchoe cactus. The cactus, which was raw, was surprisingly pleasant.
Courses 26-30
Carrying on the South American theme was 'ceviche' and clams cocktail. The dishes by this point were being brought out almost simultaneously so the courses are merging. This is not a front of house mistake, this is another way of showing contrasting expressions of similar ingredients. With this came an 'Oaxaca taco' (Oaxaca being a state of Mexico).
Carrying on the South American theme was 'ceviche' and clams cocktail. The dishes by this point were being brought out almost simultaneously so the courses are merging. This is not a front of house mistake, this is another way of showing contrasting expressions of similar ingredients. With this came an 'Oaxaca taco' (Oaxaca being a state of Mexico).
Moving away from the more robust South American food a "gazpacho" and "ajo blanco" followed and this was light and fluffy and even looked like snow on the plate. Just what was needed to get us back on track.
Everybody's favourite pistachios next, in two presentations. Unfortunately, we didn't really like either. This is most likely part of the 'surprise' for the pistachios in the bowl do not have a nutty texture, infact, they're rather mushy. The 'long thin yellow one' is made up small parcels of pistachio like ravioli with a liquid centre. Sort of fun but didn't really work for us.
Course 30 is listed as 'turtledove with blackberrie risotto with cardamom turtledove'. To be honest, things are getting lost in the wash at this point, we're overwhelmed by the food and dare I say, we've not really got much of a memory of this dish.
Courses 31-35
While listed on the menu as a single course, 'game meat macaron and foie gras', we received a plate of game meat followed seperately by a foie gras macaron. 31 courses in, the game meat (grouse I think) was just too much (too rich and too heavy) so we ate about half of the plate which under different circumstances we surely would have relished.
The foie gras macaron was kind of funny. You just don't expect to find foie gras as the filling on a macaron though a quick google search tells me it's not unheard of. Even so, this was amusing and enjoyable.
While listed on the menu as a single course, 'game meat macaron and foie gras', we received a plate of game meat followed seperately by a foie gras macaron. 31 courses in, the game meat (grouse I think) was just too much (too rich and too heavy) so we ate about half of the plate which under different circumstances we surely would have relished.
The foie gras macaron was kind of funny. You just don't expect to find foie gras as the filling on a macaron though a quick google search tells me it's not unheard of. Even so, this was amusing and enjoyable.
We step up a gear now to the most challenging of all items to be placed before us: hare loin with its blood! Now, this is not blood like the blood you might get on cutting into a juicy rare steak, the blood here is served seperately in a red wine glass, to be sipped like a fine Bordeaux. We both tried it but neither of us drained our glass. The hare was topped with eel and was meaty and filling (which is not perhaps what you want at this stage). Two pieces each too. We have now reached the stage of eating only half the food in front of us, not so much a tactical decision but rather a practical necessity.
(three weeks later - an addition: we've just learnt at the Ferran Adria talk in London that this was not in fact hare's blood but beetroot juice and lemon. So much goes on during the meal and it's not all explained, actually, very little is explained. The continued mystery of the meal still challenges us.)
(three weeks later - an addition: we've just learnt at the Ferran Adria talk in London that this was not in fact hare's blood but beetroot juice and lemon. So much goes on during the meal and it's not all explained, actually, very little is explained. The continued mystery of the meal still challenges us.)
Sticking on the hare theme, we are then served hare consomme with strawberries. Cute, tiny squashy strawberries that dissolve in your mouth. The consomme itself is lovely, deep and flavourful and I can only manage it because it has no real volume. Would have made an amazing fifth course.
While eating the hare consomme, we are brought 'mimetic chestnuts'. Since mimetic means imitation (as in mimicry) or make believe, perhaps these were not real chestnuts. By this stage, we don't know and we little care, but we are appreciative that they are small and can be eaten in a single bite. We polish them off. I think they were nice.
Courses 36-40
On the home straight now but at the time, it's hard to know exactly where you are in the meal. "Marron glacee" with truffle is next, again, appreciatively small, two on a plate, one each. Marron glacee is a desert of candied chestnuts so having had mimic chestnuts, are we now getting the real thing? We just don't know and still don't care. The white flag is not far off, we are so struggling.
On the home straight now but at the time, it's hard to know exactly where you are in the meal. "Marron glacee" with truffle is next, again, appreciatively small, two on a plate, one each. Marron glacee is a desert of candied chestnuts so having had mimic chestnuts, are we now getting the real thing? We just don't know and still don't care. The white flag is not far off, we are so struggling.
Finally a change in pace of the onslaught as we move into a fresher frutier mode. Grilled lulo, or 'little orange', this one seeped in Talisker whisky though this is not that obvious. The fruit in mine though seemed firmly connected to the peel so I couldn't really eat this. However, since nothing goes back to the kitchen at El Bulli, they brought me a fork to go with the spoon. I struggled, then I gave up, moreover, I really didn't mind.
Course 38 was a real winner though called 'pond'. The bowl is brought to you and it's unclear immediately what's going on. The bowl has depth but a flat surface. Sugar and tea are sprinkled on the surface of the bowl. You're then given a spoon to break the surface for the flat surface is in fact ice (hence pond though at the time we didn't know that much). A joyous moment follows of breaking the desert top till everything rests in the bottom of the bowl, all mixed up, and then it's time to eat. The extra twist is that the ice is mint ice and the tastes come through of refreshing mint but ice cold and crispy, with some sweet from the sugar. It's like the ultimate glacier mint. We loved this.
It's audience participation time next in a dish called 'sugar cube with tea and lime'. Three sugar cubes each and a syringe of tea and lime and it's up to you how much solution you want to inject onto the cube. Go on, knock yourself out! With this came a pine nut brittle though the brittle never made it onto the 'official' menu. The brittle was really tasty and the sugar cube a nice bit of fun.
Dish 40 is called cristal cocoa gold leaves. The fun here is that as the bowl is brought to the table, it is rippling like quicksand. The reason for this is that the bowl is actually full of espresso on which the cocoa powder has then been placed giving it the appearance of a solid when it is in fact a liquid at heart. Chocolate, sugar and gold leaf give some extra surface texture and taste and overall, this was another bowl full of fun.
You lose count of the course and you're never quite sure if you've really finished. With the waiter saying we only had 'the box' left, we retired to the terrace. The box is perhaps one of the best box of chocolates you'll ever have put in front of you in your life, it's El Bulli style after all. And it's not just a case of take two and the box is whisked away, the box stays with you till you leave so if you have any capacity at all you can graze away till your heart's content. There were few if any surprises in the chocs (but the quality and variety is exceptional) and that made them an ideal end to the meal - course 41, something relatively ordinary, back to familiar territory. I tried a few till I could face nothing more.
We rolled out of El Bulli around 12:15, very very full but not very drunk as the focus here is so much more on food than drink. Ferran came out to say goodbye to us which was nice and since he only speaks Spanish and French, I dusted down the 'O' level and tried to effuse about the experience. But I hardly know what to say in English let alone schoolboy French so made a few noises and relied on the international symbol of grinning inanely.
It's impossible to know what to make of the meal while you're eating it, there's too much sensory overload, and even when we left the restaurant and discussed it the following day, we had no firm conclusions. In the next post therefore, with the benefit of more time and more drink, we'll try to put a few thoughts down on what the El Bulli experience now means to us.
Click for chapter 4 post meal reflections
It's impossible to know what to make of the meal while you're eating it, there's too much sensory overload, and even when we left the restaurant and discussed it the following day, we had no firm conclusions. In the next post therefore, with the benefit of more time and more drink, we'll try to put a few thoughts down on what the El Bulli experience now means to us.
Click for chapter 4 post meal reflections