F o o d . F a s h i o n . V i c t i m *: El Bulli*

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

El Bulli*

"From French Bulldogs of Shillings to the world's greatest restaurant.

Miracles can happen in the hands of Ferran Adrià:

Avant-garde cooking is his preference,

meaningless molecular gastronomy at his disposal.

While magic in the kitchen is conjured!"

After reading The Gastronomist Gets Real in the New York Times, it got me thinking. Oh the irony of being taught home cooking by arguably one of the best chefs in the world- Ferran Adria. And more importantly, the reality of El Bulli closing FOREVER finally sunk in! No I am not referring to the restaurant of the same name in Surry Hills. This is the El Bulli, the first haute cuisine restaurant in Spain, whom most food critics will concur is the world's greatest restaurant.

On 30 July 2011, El Bulli will complete its fifty year journey as a restaurant and transform into a think-tank for creative cuisine and gastronomy. Demand has always exceeded scarce availability for reservations. I made a feeble attempt to secure one of these coveted reservations by making an application last July, but to no avail. Even postponed planning my Europe trip in the rare event that I may be granted a dinner reservation, which would mean a detour to Spain for a few days!

My five favourite terms as defined in the Synthesis of El Bulli cuisine:

Cooking is a language through which all the following properties may be expressed: harmony, creativity, happiness, beauty, poetry, complexity, magic, humour, provocation and culture.
All products have the same gastronomic value, regardless of their price.
The information given off by a dish is enjoyed through the senses and interpreted by reflection.
A culinary language is being created which is becoming more and more ordered, that on some occasions establishes a relationship with the world and language of art.
Decontextualisation, irony, spectacle, performance are completely legitimate, as long as they are not superficial but respond to, or are closely bound up with, a process of gastronomic reflection.