[Louisa Chu]

Fax or email NOW. NO phone calls.

The fax number is 972150717. The country code for Spain is 34.

The email address is bulli@elbulli.com.

Luis Garcia - the maitre d'hotel - and the one man solely responsible for The Book - officially starts the reservations tomorrow - October 15th. But I know for a fact that he's already started looking at the requests - we road tripped together down to an El Bulli chef's wedding Sunday morning.

He had over 300 thousand requests last year for eight thousand places.

Good luck.

[Chef Shogun]

LKL Chu, on Oct 14 2004, 01:57 PM, said:

He had over 300 thousand requests last year for eight thousand places.

Seriously? That's more 'selective' than most Universities!

[francesco]

LKL Chu, on Oct 14 2004, 05:57 PM, said:

Fax or email NOW. NO phone calls.

The fax number is 972150717. The country code for Spain is 34.

The email address is bulli@elbulli.com.

Luis Garcia - the maitre d'hotel - and the one man solely responsible for The Book - officially starts the reservations tomorrow - October 15th. But I know for a fact that he's already started looking at the requests - we road tripped together down to an El Bulli chef's wedding Sunday morning.

He had over 300 thousand requests last year for eight thousand places.

Good luck.

Louisa (or anyone else that can help),

I am about to write an e-mail but I would have a couple of quick questions: would the restaurant be open around the easter period already, or is it too early? If they are open, are these particularly difficult reservations to get?

Thank you for your help.

Francesco

[docsconz]

I have already emailed a request for next August. I will keep my fingers crossed. At this moment El Bulli is the one restaurant in the world that I feel I absolutely have to get to that I haven't already eaten at. After reading the desciption of Michel Bras on the French Board that may be another and then I am also waiting for Alinea.

[Bux]

Chef Shogun, on Oct 14 2004, 02:17 PM, said:

Seriously? That's more 'selective' than most Universities!

Hey, I got into college. I'm a better eater than I was a student. I'm not only a better eater, I take my food more seriously than I ever took my academic studies.

[Louisa Chu]

They expect about half a million requests for next season.

And the restaurant's open about April 1st through September 30th - and ALL the dates are difficult - the first three months there's dinner only five days a week - and August is traditionally the most requested.

[MiguelCardoso]

Thank you so much, LKL Chu, for the heads-up!

This is just to say that only two days after I e-mailed asking for a reservation, I received a reply from Luís Garcia:

"Apreciado Señor,

Le escribo sólo por su tranquilidad de que recibimos su mail. Acabamos de iniciar la gestión de reservas para el 2005 y son incontables las peticiones que están llegando. Tardaremos un poco en leerlas y organizarlas todas pero intentaremos darles una respuesta lo antes posible. Debo explicarles también que la demanda es extraordinaria y nos será del todo imposible poder atender la gran mayoría de peticiones recibidas.Le ruego me indique para cuántas personas desean reservar.

Gracias por su interés.

Atentamente,

Luis Garcia"


I thought this was very polite and prompt, arguing against those who've imagined it was useless even to try. I wish a lot of lesser restaurants were as careful and gracious. Kudos to El Bulli!

I hope it encourages other eGullet fellow members to keep up hope and get their bids in.

This post has been edited by MiguelCardoso: 19 October 2004 - 07:40 PM

[Louisa Chu]

Miguel -

You are so welcome - and best of luck. For non-Spanish readers/speakers, the email basically says rest assured, we got your email, it's going to take a little time for us to go through all of them, but we'll let you know as soon as possible. And yes, careful and gracious are great descriptors - I'll let Luis know - I think he'll appreciate that his sincerity comes through.

Louisa

[docsconz]

I haven't received any reply at all yet. I sent my email on the 8th. I hope that it has been received. Miguel when did you send yours?

[nimzo]

No reply here either but it has taken up to 4 weeks in the past and has always worked out OK in the endso am not panicking yet, just get a bit twitchy when opening my mail in the morning.

[MiguelCardoso]

John: I wrote on the day or day after Louisa posted her kind reminder.

[Schneier]

I just sent in my request: any date, any time.

Bruce

[Silly Disciple]

I am out of luck three out of three. The first one the day after Louisa posted here, and then more or less once a week since...

Silly.

[docsconz]

I still haven't had a response. Unfortunately, as a result my window has narrowed to the last week of August.

[nimzo]

I got an immediate no for a request anytime in May or August.First time I have failed to get one and wrote shortlyafter midnight on the opening day.

[dfunghi]

I also got an apology and a no. Tried for April on the first night requests were taken.
I was a little supprised but not entirely. Only 8000 seatings available for 300,000 requests. Unfortunetly I would guess at least a portion of those 8000 will go to people with better access but less of a palete than some of us. They will go and then complain. We have it here in California with French Laundry in Napa area. They use influence or patience to get in then do not understand the food. Or try to BYOB with a $10 bottle of supermarket wine and get upset when told it will be $50 corkage. Keller is very talented and inovative bu tnot to everyones liking. Their loss. Oh well!
Fortunetly in BCN there are many fine alternatives to enjoy. And I plan on doing so.

David

[robert brown]

Every serious foodie I know has had the opportunity to dine at el Bulli. I don't know how this happens, but it does. It flies in the face that with the odds 30-1 against, people who are serious do get in. I know that some such people have their ways of getting a table and, like any other desireable restaurant, a table or two is left aside for friends or friends of friends. Maybe Louisa can tell us differently, but another way to do it is to not make el Bulli the only reason for your going to Barcelona or Catalunya. Then when you are there, keep calling Luis for a "last minute" cancellation; i.e. 2-48 hours before. Remember, if you are in the region and you don't get into el Bulli, it's not the end of the world. There are so many wonderful places to dine. Also, your odds of getting in to el Bulli are better in the shoulder season.

[Bux]

The odds seem to decrease greatly every year. They were also doubled against getting a reservation the year they stopped doing both lunch and dinner. Four years ago I don't recall having a problem getting a reservation. Two years ago, we didn't make them early, but gave them a week or ten day span and they replied with a date outside our window. And that was after we met Alberto in Paris and propably required luck and a cancellation. We're overdue for a meal there. I only hope Luis appreciates that as much as we do.

There's no doubt that there are other great restaurants in Catalunya and several of them are truly destination restaurants in every sense of the word. I'm beginning to suspect there are plenty of non destination restaurants that will make you happy to be there as well.

[docsconz]

No doubt that the dining in Catalunya is superb and there are many other reasons to travel there for culinary adventure and delight than El Bulli. For me though, right now El Bulli is the only one for which I will make a special trip for primarily because I haven't yet been there and so very much wish to try it for myself. I'm not quite sure how to take the lack of a response. The fact that I haven't received a "no" isn't bad, but then maybe they never received my request.

[butterfly]

I also haven't received any response to my email. I asked for any date or time...

[francesco]

docsconz, on Nov 9 2004, 04:14 AM, said:

No doubt that the dining in Catalunya is superb and there are many other reasons to travel there for culinary adventure and delight than El Bulli. For me though, right now El Bulli is the only one for which I will make a special trip for primarily because I haven't yet been there and so very much wish to try it for myself. I'm not quite sure how to take the lack of a response. The fact that I haven't received a "no" isn't bad, but then maybe they never received my request.

I received a "no" this morning. I had given them a 15 days in April + 60 days in the summer window. I had made the reservation a couple of hours after Louisa's original post.

I get the impression that they are slowly working the list backwards so that they get all the "no"s out of the way before finally getting to those they can accept. If I am right, then no news is good news.

Francesco

[docsconz]

Francesco, I am sorry for you, but at this point, selfishly, I hope you are correct. Time may tell.

[Louisa Chu]

Robert, for better or worse, El Bulli does not keep aside a single table for friends or family. We had two harsh lessons in that this season - one of the favourite chef de parties asked for a table for his parents - and a sous chef asked for his longtime fiancee - both were unfortunately denied.

Francesco and John, that is how it works - Luis gets "the ones with no possibilities" out of the way first.

If it's any consolation, Luis is a man haunted by this responsibility. He takes no requests lightly.

[francesco]

LKL Chu, on Nov 10 2004, 07:36 AM, said:

Francesco and John, that is how it works - Luis gets "the ones with no possibilities" out of the way first.

If it's any consolation, Luis is a man haunted by this responsibility. He takes no requests lightly.

Well, all I need is to be able to get in eventually, it doesn't matter that much if it's this year or the next.

However, it would be helpful to know exactly when you should start to ask for a reservation for a given season: the suggestion that you ask for a place if you happen to be in the area doesn't really work for me as I would probably arrange my meals in advance and would hate to cancel someone with little notice just because a table is suddenly free at El Bulli.

Any ideas?

Thank you,

Francesco

[MiguelCardoso]

For what it's worth, I did what I usually do when a reservation is difficult and my interest is high: I will take any day, as long as I have a week's notice. Then I'll plan a whole trip around the meal. I figure it's much easier for me to adapt to El Bulli's impossible schedule than vice-versa.

I've done this only twice before and, thanks to serindipity and a lot of pleasurable planning (which I love), I've been rewarded with very memorable gastronomic excursions.

In case I'm lucky, I wonder whether it would be smarter to fly to Barcelona from Lisbon and hire a car or drive directly from Lisbon? My instinct would be to drive, as I very much enjoy picking up enormous and heavy quantities of food supplies and other useful stuff. When I travel, I do absolutely everything to reduce stress so I don't move from hotel to hotel. Where should I be based? I'd like the most comfortable hotel or parador within decent distance of El Bulli.

I appeal to my Spanish brothers for the name of a nice hotel with an interesting radius of not more than 50 kilometres. I'd much rather extensively explore the area around El Bulli than have to drive longer distances (as my wife and I do enjoy our wine) or have to move luggage from onr place to another.

What I usually do is trace a 50 kilometre circumference with a compass and choose the central point which has access to the the greatest number of interesting restaurants. In the case of El Bulli, I'm stumped.

Does any kind soul have any ideas? Thanks beforehand.

[Rogelio]

I have enjoyed very much this medium prized hotel : http://www.hotelcanet.com in Castelló de Ampurias, about 5Km from Roses and 15Km to El Bulli.

[MiguelCardoso]

My admiration for Luis Garcia just grows and grows. It's truly remarkable that the most requested restaurant on earth finds the time to carefully go through every application and goes to the trouble of not only acknowledging one's e-mails but of actually responding, in such a courteous way.

We have now been offered a firm reservation in Mid-May (greedily accepted and confirmed, of course!) and, since I asked no one to intercede in my favour, I am very impressed and humbled, being a complete stranger to El Bulli. I was told by many friends that you could only get a table if you had connections - something I always refused to believe, given Adrià's and his team's philosophy. I'm glad to be a witness that the "mafia" slur is indeed a load of tosh. Those I know who've actually been there all say they made their way on their own or with a friend who invited them.

El Bulli could easily take the easy way and fill their restaurant with establishment types, insiders and media people - or just fill up with the classic first-come-first-served. But no - Luis Garcia makes a point of reading each submission and answering them personally, so that enthusiastic people like me who will make the trip at any available date just for the experience of dining there won't be forgotten, even if this means refusing so many more local customers.

I think this is admirable and I have to say, even before the first bite, it's contributed most positively to the El Bulli experience. Seasoned diners know that the way one's treated as a complete stranger is an integral part of the enjoyment. "Getting in" through subterfuge or connections somehow taints the pleasure.

Furthermore, being unwilling to assassinate the beautiful Castilian language - much less make a mockery of my purely instinctive Catalan - I always wrote in Portuguese, my natural language. I was perfectly understood and received elegant replies in lovely, old-fashioned Castilian. I imagine the same would have happened in English, French or Italian - in El Bulli's case, its cosmopolitanism is absolute - another wonderful example. I would encourage others not to attempt garbled or perfunctory Catalan or Castilian and go with their own languages - given their sincere internationalism, it might even count as a plus when considering submissions.

The "little old me factor" is extremely important and bless Luis Garcia, Ferran Adrià and the whole team for showing such solidarity and not forgetting themselves - the privilege of true nobility.


P.S. Thanks for the suggestion, Rogelio - it sounds ideal!

This post has been edited by MiguelCardoso: 18 November 2004 - 01:17 AM

[pedro]

MiguelCardoso, on Nov 18 2004, 10:03 AM, said:

My admiration for Luis Garcia just grows and grows.  It's truly remarkable that the most requested restaurant on earth finds the time to carefully go through every application and goes to the trouble of not only acknowledging one's e-mails but of actually responding, in such a courteous way.

We have now been offered a firm reservation in Mid-May (greedily accepted and confirmed, of course!) and, since I asked no one to intercede in my favour, I am very impressed and humbled, being a complete stranger to El Bulli.

Miguel, you should have told Luis the truth: you're going to visit Rafa in Roses and as a secondary topic, you wouldn't mind to pay a visit to El Bulli.

Now on a more serious key, I really look forward to your report about Rafa. You shouldn't miss it.

[MiguelCardoso]

Teehee, Pedro! :)

In fact, I'll be going just for El Bulli though, as the old lazybones I am, I'm planning at least two weeks to gastronomically explore a part of France I've somehow missed so far.

My current doubt is as follows: should I make El Bulli the starting-point or the climax to a fortnight's excursions into the surrounding areas? My heart tells me to leave El Bulli till last - as I feel it will be a crowning experience. We'll give Spain a week and France another week (within a 100 kilometres radius). The idea is to gain some insight into coastal Catalan cuisine, whether Spanish or French.

May is a good month and perhaps the most charming of all. I'll be ruthless seeking out what we can't get here in Portugal (sea cucumbers; thumb-sized octopiii, "dactiles del mar") but I'm more interested in the attitude to food than in the food itself. What fascinates me is the treatment and reception, rather thsn the things themselves.

If I do write about El Bulli, I'd very much like to gain even the slightest notion of Adrià's gastronomic and culinary bearings, regardless of how inventive he is. People focus on his creations but it's often forgotten that his lived-through experience as an eater and a cook is probably essential to whst he devises. From what I gather, he's a "gourmet" through and through and - not only that - has a profound respect for great chefs who build on these simple notions.

By eating wherever Adrià himself ate, I hope to find myself a little more able to appreciate what he's trying to do. The whole cultural soup is important, even with him.

I haven't yet contacted Rafa. Oh but I will - in fact, I'll mention you! Hey, it's only fair! :)

[Marco_Polo]

LKL Chu, on Oct 14 2004, 06:57 PM, said:

Fax or email NOW. NO phone calls.
...He had over 300 thousand requests last year for eight thousand places.

My dear Miguel,

Oh dear, I am afraid I am about to expose myself as an ignoramus (and not for the first time, I hear you chuckle), but excuse me, am I understanding this thread correctly? Has it really reached the point where one has to 'apply' for the privilege of being able to dine at this hallowed temple of gastronomy. And that such applications are vetted by Luis Garcia, the maître d', presumably in consultation with the Adria's? And is it indeed common public knowledge that El Bulli works in this fashion? I can't help but wonder on what basis such decisions are made? Obviously by some particularly obvious basis or criteria if, as reported, "Luis gets 'the ones with no possibilities' out of the way first." How come these poor dumbs have 'no possibilities'? Do they have three heads or just one potato head? Are they too young or too old, or not clever enough? Do you have to provide proof of financial solvency when you apply (rather like filling in a mortgage application - surely it's not that expensive?)? Do you have to provide ocular proof, a photo perhaps, that one is decorative enough not to offend the sensibilities of other diners? Is it based on ability to prove gastronomic seriousness, whatever that is - perhaps by supplying photocopies of receipts from other of the world's greatest restaurants? Or perhaps (and maybe, just maybe this might make sense), could such a decision be made on the basis of writing skills, the ability to craft an engagingly compelling, not overly obsequious but respectful letter that will prove without a shadow of a doubt dining street cred and ensure that only the righteous, the true believers are allowed to enter into the shrine to worship?

Oh dear, oh dear. I can feel you all throwing back your hands in horror that I care to question, and I do honestly and truly have the greatest respect for Ferran Adria and what he has achieved in pushing back the boundaries of food and how we experience and interact with it. But as I've already intimated (and furthermore now proved), I'm just a simpleton and I can't help but find the whole process, well, just not to my taste. Ferran Adria may be God, but I guess by nature I am essentially polytheistic. I can't help but feel that there are so many good meals to enjoy, so many GREAT meals to enjoy that if I were to have to jump through such tortured hoops (and in any case would never pass Luis' arcane and mysterious Masonic tests to gain entrance), well, I guess I just wouldn't bother. Which is just as well, after all, for the rest of you clambering to be let in, not to mention poor Luis, saved from having to choose from 300,001 for 8000 places rather than just from 300,000.

That said, Miguel, as always, I admire your utter single-minded madness: two weeks of travel and eating in an ever narrowing Catalan gyre to focus and pinpoint yourself on that one anticipatory meal! That is true dedication and I will look forward to reading and sharing with you every single morsel and bite in due course.

No doubt it's the closest I will ever get to the place.

MP