this girl’s in love – a perfect evening at elBulli

elBulli
cala montjoi
Roses, SPAIN
www.elbulli.com

I was prepared to not really enjoy dinner elBulli.

I knew I’d find it challenging and possibly inspiring. But I wasn’t so sure it was actually going to taste very good. All those gels and foams.

While I am thankful that Ferran Adria has revolutionised the image of my humble profession (food science) to being seen as something creative and glamorous even, I wasn’t so convinced that I was going to like eating his food.

But on the 15th December 2009 I fell in love with a chef and had the most mind-blowingly-delicious meal of my life. We’re talking a-f**king-mazing.

I can safely say that I’ve never gone to bed after a meal and been happy to lie there for at least an hour, thoughts jumping from vibrant food memory to vibrant food memory. What about the gorgonzola globe? Or the bone marrow tartare? Or the white truffle? Or the pistachio? Or the lentils? Or the consomme? Or the balsamic vinagar? Or the chocolate? I could go on.

Of course there were a couple of dishes that didn’t exactly rock my world like the grape and cassis tea or the cockles with preserved yuzu. But overall everything not only looked beautiful and had brilliant texture, it tasted so very very good.

If only it wasn’t so damn difficult to get a reservation.

loved

absolutely everything
attention to detail
use of texture
being encouraged to eat with your hands – didn’t see any cutlery until about course 15
lack of pretension in all aspects of the experience
engaging, passionate and multinational staff
homey old school decor and comfy chairs – a brilliant contrast to the modern food
the wine
‘creativity is not copying’ – a quote from Ferran Adria – words to live by

didn’t love

bright lighting – in serious need of a dimmer switch
the pace – especially up front it was a stressful having one dish after another fired at you. I’m a slow eater though so others may enjoy it.

ate

-margarita cactus* – cactus leaf filled with margarita complete with a salty finish
-sugar cane infused with mojito*
-sugar cane infused with caiprinha
-handkerchief**- a wafer thin sheet of pop corn bread with big lumps of sea salt – sweet & salty heaven
-grape tea and cassis – prepared in the style of a japanese tea ceremony – very elegant but also very bitter
-shrimp* – tiny steamed shrimp with green tea on a bed of seaweed. super succulent and sweet with the green tea giving a lovely savoury accompanying flavour
-gorgonzola globe** – the ultimate blue cheese experience. a globe of frozen blue cheese about 10cm diameter that was sprinkled with nutmeg and eaten with the fingers. smooth, salty, creamy, cold. savoury icecream could be my new obsession
-cherry umeboshi – dried sour japanese cherries
-mimetics peanuts** – delicate little white sugar crusted ‘nuts’ that melt in your mouth to release the most heavenly smooth peanut butter filling. divine
-sesame cracker – a white circular ‘cracker’ with black sesame seeds topping it. look unremarkable but the texture is amazingly fluffy and light and melt in the mouth
-parmesan crystal** – an irregular, very fine rectangular sheet of parmesan dusted with a little coffee and uzo – melts away for a parmesan flavour explosion – seriously delicious
-flower nectar – pretty pink flowers that you bight the bottom off and suck out the nectar – very primal
-coconut sponge* – a light as air chunk of coconut milk – semi frozen, light, fluffy – like chewing on a coconut cloud
-olive oil caramel* – a tiny square of glassy crunchy caramel scented with hazelnuts
-raspberry cookie – wafer thin sheets of tart tart raspberry
-tea biscuit
-apple baguette – a baguette made with apple meringue that resembles both bread and polystyrene. tastes far from plasticy though. light as air.
-‘joselito’ ham and ginger canape* – tiny square of the most amazing, most melt-in-the-mouth pork belly
-montjoi lentils* – our first course with a spoon. Bowl of blue green tiny ‘lentils’ that melt into creamy lentil heaven with a lovely savoury broth
-tartare of marrow** – an oyster shell served with choped raw beef bone marrow, oysters and a warm sauce. rich, complex, luscious. bloody delicious
-wood pigeon consomme* – the most fully flavoured broth ever. meaty, savoury, intense and rich without being the slightest bit salty. seasoned by a master
-tender pistachios** – a tasting plate of ‘pistachios’ in many forms – iceream, gel, cream, real pistachios etc served with a side of truffle icecream (another excellent example in the argument for savoury icecream)
-land fin -
-cockles with yuzu – my least favourite dish of the evening a plate of cockles with a transparent jelly sauce served with fresh fennel and preserved yuzu (Japanese citrus)
-soya milk with soya* – a surpsizingly delicious dish – a long streak of soya milk in an almost soft cheese form served with all different forms of soy beans – roasted, fresh, ground – who knew soy could be so yum
-sea anemone with tea* – my first time eating sea anemone – looks a little like a mini old fashioned mop head but tastes divinely of the sea. something like a firmer more meaty scallop. one of the few dishes to come with foam
-roses / artichokes* – this was one of the few dishes served without explanation – we were told to guess. turned out to be a dish of rose petals from a rare rose in the amazon served with a lovely artichoke sauce so it tasted of artichoke with the petals resembling the most dainty tender artichoke leaves. really fun. we were then given a smell of a fresh version of the rose – beautiful.
-hare brained – literally tiny hare brains in a savoury broth – gorgeous melt in the mouth but a little bit icky if you think about it too much
-hare rib with hare reduction*- the most succulently lovely meat ever – tiny tiny ribs that make a lamb cutlet look like a brontosaurus steak
-pinenut shabu-shabu* – three little ‘ravioli’ parcels of pinenuts in various forms with a rosewater sauce. dip the parcels in the sauce before eating. really lovely more molten nut goodness but a little scary on the presentation when the ravioli look like they’ve been made out of heat sealed plastic (which apparently is a japanese potato starch and not plastic at all – it did taste lovely)
-ceps 2009** – more potato starch plastic ‘pasta’ this time encasing a log of cep mushrooms to form a ravioli served with a mushroom broth and one raw and one grilled piece of cep. fungi heaven
-passion – a whole passionfruit that had been injected with a savoury sauce then grilled over coals. served whole with the top removed at the table. intense passionfruit.
-chicken skin canape** – not one for the diet crowd – the crispiest tastiest piece of chicken skin – like a super light pork crackling served with pieces of chicken cartlidge (also known as the breast bone and my all time favourite part of the chicken) so excited to be served chicken cartlidge in a restaurant – haven’t seen it on a menu since I was in Tokyo.
-game meat canape* – tiny pigeon drumsticks still on the bone wrapped in jamon
-tartufo glass** – a great reason to come to elBulli during truffle season. a simple dish of white truffles shaved at the table and put in a special Ridel glass for us to smell only and appreciate the aroma. really wish my dad had decided to turn the sheep farm into a large trufferie rather than selling.
-parmesan ravioli** – three little ravioli with our friend the potato starch skin – only this time cut in a round shape so not so plastic looking. deliciously cheesy served with a little marscapone parcel and another gold parcel of the most intense balsamic vinegar ever – flavour explosion
-sweet potato gnocchi* – 4 little sweet potato dumplings served with the truffle from the glass – seriously
-pond* – pretty name for a pretty dish – bowl with a frozen layer of ice across the top to form a shell. scattered with green tea, mint and raw sugar. the best palate cleanser ever. smash into pure ice with the occasional sweet crunchy sugar hit and refreshing mint. simple but effective
-puff pastry of pineapple – not something that sounds very exciting – until you try it. glassy, transparent light-as-air ‘pastry’ encasing pineapple cream and a little sour tamarind – best asian style dessert ever.
-chocolate marshmallow* – looks like an innocent macaroon but so much more – two hemispheres of chocolate marshmallow encasing rich rich chocolate cream – marshmallows are the new macaroons – you heard it here first
-shellfish* – a little surprising to be served a bed of ice with closed shellfish at this point in the meal. Of course with such a playful chef one there is a surprise of delicious icecream inside of each with a wedge of perfect orange. a brilliant last dessert.
-morphings – I’m still not sure why Ferran chooses to call his chocolate selection ‘morphings’ – possibly something to do with the effect on one’s waistline? let’s just call it the best chocolate selection in a restaurant ever. and the all time best thing is that they leave the beautifully laquered multi layered box on the table for you to sample as little or as much as you desire. of course I had to try at least one of everything:
— eucalyptus & dark chocolate leaf* – wafer thin, slightly crunchy and delicately scented with eucalyptus which surprisingly complements the chocolate
— dark chocolate with a leaf of fresh mint – the best chocolate mint pairing ever
— dark chocolate log with yuzu – this confirmed that yuzu is not the cirtus for me – especially when it comes to chocolate
— pistachio & white chocolate bar
— strawberry & white chocolate bar
— cookies & cream – white chocolate disc with cookie chunks
— dark chocolate & peach – disc of dark chocolate with a slice of freeze dried peach that works surprisingly well
— yoghurt chocolate sponge** – the most airy spongey tart chocolate yoghurt – think aero bar on steroids – went back for thirds of this
— dark chocolate ‘coral’ – insanely pretty pieces of dark chocolate in coral shape decorated with freeze dried raspberry pieces sitting on a bed of cocoa nibs
— freeze dried strawberries coated in white chocolate
— freeze dried raspberries coated in dark chocolate
— classic chocolate truffles – chocolate ganache dusted with cocoa powder
— dark chocolate & black sesame balls** – my pick of the chocolate selection – black sesame could be my new favourite thing
** Favourites marked with an asterix

drank

brut nature gran reserva 2005
agusti torello @ cava-penedes DO

finca doft 2000
alvaro palaxios @ priotat DOQ

lustau solera reserva
moscatel sherry

infusion of digestive herbs

value

excellent – although I guess it depends on your perspective.
230 euro per person (+ drinks) for a 5 hour marathon meal at the best restaurant in the world is amazingly good value in my book – especially when we are charged for 2 glasses of cava and 2 glasses of sherry but have multiple refills of each – incredibly generous.

reservations

mission critical – email in the 1st 2 weeks January for the 2010 season
for more details see how to get a reservation at elBulli

perfect for

A mind-blowingly-amazing special occasion food experience – although if it was possible, I’d be happy to be fed by Ferran Adria on a weekly basis

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And I guess I’d better report on my date.

Every bit as charming as his application letter would suggest, I don’t think I could have chosen a better dining companion for such an outrageously food focused meal.

I’d be hard pressed to say just who enjoyed the meal more. It was great to be eating with someone who appreciated the experience as much as I. And also lovely to be challenged by someone with a fearless stomach. While I was getting a little freaked out by the hare brains – Jason was going into raptures about how delicious they were.

It was also lovely to be travelling with someone organised who did things like printing out directions and studying up the wine list on line before he left home. Tasks that I would never have gotten around to but very much appreciated them being done.

And was there any romance? A lot of laughs, certainly. Friendship, definitely. But chemistry – not so much. A good thing considering we live on opposite sides of the globe.