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Ferran Adria in lab phase.
AP Photo
Day two of my gastronomic tour began with a side trip to Cadaqués, a gorgeous fishing village that's been a chic getaway for the well-heeled Spanish and French ever since Salvador Dali put it on the map (it's close to the French border). I had heard a lot about it from friends and loved its maze of whitewashed buildings and restaurants along the harbor, which is touristy during summer but still charming.
We checked in at the Rocamar, just outside of town. The hotel, which seems like a relic from the 1960s, has incredible views and both a little beach and a pool on the promontory. After a nice swim in the sea to work up an appetite, it was time for the meal for which we'd made the pilgrimage: dinner at the three-Michelin-starred El Bulli, Ferran Adria's destination restaurant (about half an hour from Cadaqués, outside the town of Roses). We'd been told there was a two-year waiting list for a table, but Jamie had managed to secure one in each of the past four years, and we were the lucky friends who received invites this time around. Adria's distinctive approach to food is more like that of a scientist and, in fact, he has a laboratory where he puts together his unusual combinations and liquid nitrogen concoctions. The kitchen is a chef's dream, a state-of-the-art facility that you can gaze into from a window on the steps outside. He has 45 chefs working with him and 23 wait staff, all for about 50 clients a night who feast on a 35-course tasting menu.
Before going into the cozy dining room, we sat on a beautiful terrace overlooking a pine-lined
cove and the sparkling Mediterranean--an incredibly atmospheric spot. Then it was time for the
extravaganza, a five-hour epic feast that started with a martini served in a tree tomato from Ecuador and ended with a "pine tree," a meringue made to look like the warped trunk of a tree. In between those, we had
dishes like gorgonzola "moshi," a ball of creamy cheese lightly poached like an egg; a razor clam that had been split open with a raw clam on one side of the shell and a gelatin soy sesame shot on
the other to chase the mollusk; and bean jelly with caviar and raw egg yolk gnocchi. Everything about the dishes, from their order (there were lots of dessert-like plates early in the rotation), to the strange
ingredient combinations, to the temperatures to the presentation, was unexpected to the point that my stomach and taste buds were in shock the whole meal. Good shock, but shock nonetheless. It was like
my whole body was involved in a culinary workout.
And the wines! His list is sensational, especially the small producers that are hard to find elsewhere. We loved the Nun Vinya dels Taus 2006 and Doix 2001. El Bulli was advertised as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it lived up to the billing.
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