El Bulli is a three-star restaurant near
Roses town in Catalonia, some two hours northeast of Barcelona in Spain. The
star classification is bestowed by Michelin Stars Awards owned by French-based
tire manufacturer Michelin which gives the award to restaurants for cooking
excellence. Before its closure on July 30, 2011 but with a proposed reopening in
2014, El Bulli was described as the world’s most imaginative generator of
skillfully prepared food or haute cuisine, and judged by the Restaurant
Magazine as number one of its list of the world’s top 50 best restaurants for
five times up to 2009.
Early
years.
The location of El Bulli, which is atop a hill overlooking Catalonia’s Costa
Brava was chosen by Dr. Hans Schilling, a German, who was the owner of that
piece of land. The name El Bulli came from the Schillings’ French bulldogs.
Several years after its opening in 1964, the restaurant had its first Michelin
star while it was managed by French chef Jean-Louis Neichel. In 1984, Chef
Ferran Adria, who now runs the facility, became part of it and was assigned in
full charge of its kitchen in 1987. In 1990 and 1997, El Bulli achieved its
second and third star, respectively from Michelin. Since its opening, it has
become as a holy Mecca or sought-after food center for food lovers of Spain and
other parts of the world. In 2008, some of its recipes were incorporated in the
book A Day at El Bulli, and these
were (a) Melon with ham, (b) Pine nut marshmallows, (c) Steamed brioche or
enriched bread with rose-scented mozzarella, (d) Rock mussels with seaweed and
fresh herbs, and (e) Passion fruit trees.
Foods
at El Bulli:
The restaurant has developed what is known as molecular gastronomy consisting
of foods that surprise and attract many of its guests. These are part of a
35-course taster’s menu that provides customers with a great and wondrous
experience of tastes and textures. Some of these recipes are (a) Hot gin frizz,
(b) Piña colada, (c) Cloud of carrot with tangerine or concentrate of orange-colored
citrus fruits, (d) Round mango with caramelized ravioli, (e) Apple caviar, (f)
Rabbit with hot apply jelly, (g) Sardines with fish roe or internal egg mass of
the fish, (h) Hot and cold trout roe tempura, (i) Frozen polenta or ground
cornmeal, (j) Oysters with smoked Iberian pancetta or bacon, (k) Spherical egg
with white asparagus and truffle or mushroom, (l) Clam meringue or topping of
beaten white egg, (m) Clam ceviche or raw seafood, and (n) Golden egg with
steamed shrimps and tea.
Health and art: Good foods at
El Bulli are healthy because they significantly involve good ingredients that
are best when they are available in season, or when these ingredients are
treated in simpler ways. They are good when they lead customers to satiety and
pleasure and for health benefits, or when they promote a good state of nourishment
through innovation and creativity in kitchen science. Already, the restaurant’s
cooking is an avant-garde art because of its most exciting and innovative
methods that come up with foods going beyond tasting good, and that make
cuisine as an art, and vice-versa.
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