El Bulli needs little introduction. Out of all the great places to eat in this huge planet, it has not only gained the title of world's best restaurant, but it has held it for four years running.
Just like the two million other people who this year joustled for the eight thousand lottery tickets to experience foodie elysium, I want a piece of Ferran's 3 Michelin starred pie.
I write this post to unveil an opportunity to eat at El Bulli, and to capture my own story thus far.
So first things first - the opportunity. I have been pondering whether or not I should share this, to increase my chances (yes, I have applied), but then I thought - may the best person deserve it.
The short story is this - life has opened and closed a couple of doors for Jules, a fellow food blogger at The Stone Soup. As a result, she has a spare seat at (.....wait for it.....) El Bulli.
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2009/10/help-jules-find-a-date-for-el-bulli/
Hopefully my entry is better than yours. Only joking. Sort of.
To give you some background information, I recently went overseas, with a glimmer of hope to eat at the promised land of El Bulli. Even on my luckiest day, I knew I had the odds against me. I tried to study Ferran's A Day at El Bulli for clues. I hounded the El Bulli cancellation list. I tried for a good 5 weeks in Europe to make my culinary eating dreams come true.
The verdict?
I returned weary and empty handed from my quest for the holy grail.
But being the optimist, I had to settle for any consolation prizes I could gather. While I was unable to beat the odds this time round, my chase for El Bulli gave me some minor flashes of inspiration to whet my appetite. Part I explains:
If I can't get the rockstar, I will settle with the drummer. The drummer in this instance was part of the Adria bloodline - Ferran's very own brother, Albert.
Albert Adria is the pastry chef for El Bulli, and along side his other interests, is his very own restaurant in Barcelona - Inopia.
Inopia
C/ Tamarit 104
08015 Barcelona, Spain
Tel: +34 934 245 231
Menu: http://www.barinopia.com/Carta_Inopia.pdf
The rumours were true. It is packed. I arrive around 9:30pm, and put my name on the door. Finally a seat at 10pm. It's beautiful. Cosy buzzing setting, full of life and colour. In a sentence - very cool with a touch of style. The waiters are decked out in Boss for crying out loud! (pat on the back to whoever sealed that sponsorship deal)
I read the menu with joy like I'd found a secret manual of food. In Spanish. Research tells me to choose certain dishes, which I order along with a list of my tapas favourites and some surrounding diner's recommendations
The Highlights
1 - Patatas bravas con salsa mixta (€3,50)
Whenever I eat Spanish food, I loosely use the patatas bravas dish as my litmus test to judge how good the food will be. I was particularly excited as this dish was listed as one of the restaurant's specialities (especialidad). The dish arrived to my huge anticipation. The presentation didn't stand out, but call me crazy, the dish almost glowed with aura. I dug in. The potatoes left off a beautiful crunch noise to reveal a soft fluffy interior. The tomato sauce made the dish with its kick and full depth of flavour, and all together with the mayonaisse harmonised into one of the top 3 patatas bravas I've ever tasted. Order this if you ever come to Barcelona.
2 - Ravas de pollo con patatas (€5,50)
The waiter recommended this dish. There are times when I regret listening to the waiters, but this was definately not one of the those times. These chicken ravas were essentially deep fried battered chicken strips. What made me smile was the concept. Shards of thinly sliced crispy potato coated the outside, and was served with a flavoured mustard. While it wasn't a spectacular dish, it was enjoyable, creative and had the clever texture of soft tender chicken contrasted with a crispy random exterior.
Beautiful texture!
Supporting cast1 - Ensalada de tomate con cebolla tierna y ventresca de bonito (€9,50)
This dish was beautifully presented - a tomato salad with sweet onion and tuna belly. I never heard of samphire until I used it in a restaurant in London, and I saw some lined across the top of this dish. It provided a nice burst of light saltiness, but even so, I found this dish a tad bland and unexciting. Overall though, it was enjoyable.
2 - Ensaladilla rusa (€3,85)
I ensured I tried as many of the restaurant's signature dishes I could stomach. This was another especialidad. Wonderful play on textures with soft mash, cabbage, capsicum, and crunchy grissini bound together in mayonaisse. The salade russe was propped up with an interesting array of tastes - salty, slightly sweet, some sour and a hint of bitterness. This dish intrigued me but also at times when my palate was used to the taste, made me feel like it was simply just a lazy mash up. Would order again but to share.
3 - Desserts
Flan de huevo de la casa (€2,65) and Tarta de Santiago (elaborada en Inopia) (€3)
I have to admit I was quite full by this stage, and I had already eaten dinner about an hour beforehand. But it was going to take a lot more to stop me from ordering dessert at arguably one of the world's best tapas bars.
The Spanish flan was another especialidad, using house made egg custard. While it wasn't mindblowing, it was a fantasticly light and creamy.
The Santiago tart came with a shot of some sort of almond tasting liquer (which seemed to be common in the tapas bars I went to). It was a good finish to the meal because it wasn't too sweet, and the beautiful crunch then melting texture combined with the bite of the shot left me a very generous man when it came to the tip.
The down side of the experience was missing out on several highly regarded recommendations on the menu. This included the fish sandwich (flauta de sardinillas, “el mejor”) and the pineapple and lime peel dessert (Piña con piel de lima y melaza de caña).The verdict
For each and every time I am in Barcelona, this has made it as a permanent fixture. I felt a great Spanish spirit and ambience in the bar, and in a sentance, it's just a funky little place with great food. A must visit if you haven't already!
Part I end.
Part II will take a peek at some minor encounters with El Bulli Alumni and El Bulli products. To be continued....
Mentioned in this post
El Bulli RestaurantCala Montjoi - 17480 Roses
Tel: +34 972 15 04 57
E-mail: bulli@elbulli.com
Web: http://http://www.elbulli.com/
2009 Season - Open from June 16th to December 20th
Hot tip: I discovered that all reservations are confirmed 10 days in advance. If the moons align with someone cancelling, and you manage to call them after 3pm that day, your chances of success are high. That being said, the days I tried, not surprisingly, there were no cancellations.
I forgot to tell you, I ate at El Bulli!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.elbulli.com.au/
Unfortunately it has no affliation to the real place and eventhough the food was good, it was overpriced for what you get.
The closest one can come to eating the kind of food served at El Bulli without having won the "El Bulli lottery" is to eat at La Alqueria in Seville. It's in the El Bulli Hotel, owned by Ferran Adria.
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