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daniel, thank you so much your great photos and report. i will be in san sebastian and bilbao in june. as i won't be travelling by car i was wondering if it's possible to reach extebarri by either public transport (which i doubt) or taxi?

We stayed at Almadraba Park hotel near Roses as well last year and would go there again. Good fruit selection for breakfast and a big swimming pool. And if you have two hours time you can walk right along the coast to El Bulli.

marc, can you remember which other courses were part of your surprise menu?

Gabe, I just wanted to thank you for your explanations on how the different meringues were made. I went to the German 3 start restaurant Dieter Müller this weekend and it was the first time that I was asked if I wanted to have a look at the cookbook during the meal. This would have distracted me too much at El Bulli but it was quite nice to be able to look up how parts of the food I was eating had been perpared.

Hello Yin, thanks a lot for uploading your photos. I'm very impressed by the number variations from the dishes I had. With the exception of the raw shrimps and the blueberries with milk skin the courses seemed to be different, even the rasberries with beetroot look unlike the ones I had. I will definately be back, hopefully rather sooner than later.

I think you had the icy truffle of meringue instead of the fever tree tonic. Can you elaborate on the technique (since when Adria has used it etc)? And do you know if the sweet frost fruits or the rasberry with wasabi were done similarily?

I noticed that at El Bulli this year there was an unusual high number of dishes that included meringue. There's a beetroot meringue, a fever tree tonic meringue, a pistachios meringue and I think the fresh pine cone was a kind of meringue, too. Does anyone have a any ideas of why there are so that many meringue dishes? My speculation would be that the meringue's at El Bulli are done with the freeze drying techique (though I'm not sure about this) which I think is a relatively new introduction to Adria's repertoire. Another reason might be that the meringues add an element of crunch and crispness to the dishes an aspect that is sometimes missing in Adria's preparations.

thank you for the feedback, yin. it would be great to see photos of the extra dishes you had. as you've been to noma in different seasons did you have any meals there that you preferred to others? i really liked how fruits und fruit juices were included in the dishes and was wondereing if you missed them in a winter meal.

The Manchester International Festival is a biannual event that tries to only feature newly commisioned work. Under these circumstances I think they wouldn't invite the same restaurant/chef again.

you're right. it seems that i had the dinner menu for lunch. what did you have?

thank you, sillydisciple. this explains why the building looked both old and new. here's a photo of the exterior of the building.

Heston Blumenthal’s Chilled Summer Treats It’s already been a month now since Blumenthal served his summer treats as part of the Manchester International Festival but I still wanted to post some photos of the dishes. Mushy Pea Sorbet with Candied Bacon and Mint Syrup The pea sorbet was very mild and it’s smooth texture was a nice contrast to the sweet strips of bacon. Strawberry & Vanilla Sundae with Olive and Leather The leather aroma that came in the form of an articficial (and therefore vegetarian) oil was barely noticeable compared to the taste of olives. I guess it was mostly there for the fun and for the attention it would get. I would have found this out of place at Fat Duck but I think it fitted under these circumstances. There was also a surprise element to this dish: some poppy candies that exploded in your mouth. Chocolate Wine Slushicles with Millionaire’s Shortbread The chocolate wine slushicle was extremely rich. And what made the shortbread a „millionaire’s“ one were the gold flakes placed on top of it. The snack was served with a napkin on which a culinary history of the chocolate wine slushicle was printed. The thing that most struck me the day I visited Blumenthal’s beach hut is how many parents took their children there. It was great to see the children’s reactions to the mushy pea sorbet and the sundae. Some were reuctant and didn’t want to try pea sorbet. Others got a kick out of the fact that they were eating leather and seemed very excited. Assuming that not many kids are usually dining at Blumenthal’s restaurant I found this a great way of introducing unusual flavour combinations to children and have them think about what they are eating. I also found that Blumenthal’s event at the Manchester International Festival would have been a good alternative to Ferran Adrian’s decision to participate at Kassel’s Documenta by simply hanging a menue at a wall and flying two diners to El Bulli every day. To have a snack stand in addition wouldn’t have compromised the cooking at his restaurant while giving more people an idea about his take on cooking.

I'd be interested to hear what you had. I went to Noma for lunch so it might be quite different. If you have either the lobsters or the vegetables on the rock: I'm wondering what spices the lobster was prepared with and how the malt earth on the vegetables was done.

It’s been taking a while to post this – almost six weeks in fact. We walked to Can Roca from the city centre which I can only recommend. It’s A nice 24 minutes walk through a park and over a bridge and the restaurant was easy to find. We had the lunch tasting menu, which cost €78 (a bit more I think than in previous years). Because our menu was in most parts the same as docsconz’s and fromagophile’s on their recent visits I don’t write a dish by dish report but just comment on some of the dishes. Overall, the meal was of very high quality and made for a fantastic dining experience. Apart from El Bullli it was the most memorable meal we had on our trip to Catalonia where we also ate at Sauc, Hisop and Espai Sucre in Barcelona among others. Here is the menu we ordered: Snacks Parmesan chips with truffle oil Crunchy Cod Fish Black olives crunchy Sesame crunchy Tapas Fennel Veloute with sea water and barnacles Parfait of pigeon, Bristol Cream, orange and spices Fig’s terrine with bitter tender almonds and foie gras Menu Spring Mushrooms cold soup with avocado and pines ice cream Artichokes with sunflowers and orange White asparagus souffle on embers Codfish with pumpkins and red paprika oil Kid with goat milk parmentier and mint Dessert Lactic dessert Roses souffle Trip to Havana With one exception I liked all dishes a lot. Some particular favourites were the foie gras bon bon, the artichokes, the asparagus souffle, the kid, lactic milk and trip to havana. Very good bread selection as well. I had to restrain myself not to eat too much of the bread and butter. White asparagus souffle on embers This was the best asparagus dish I’ve ever had. I thought that the smoke was not just a nice effect but actually enhanced the taste of the dish. Our waiter was very young and eager to help in explaining the dishes to us. When we asked how the smoke was put under the dome he said that it’s the same pipe that’s used for marihuana pipes... Codfish with pumpkin and red paprika oil What I did like about this course were the caramelized pumpkin seeds that added some bite to the dish and were a nice and surprising sweet contrast to the red paprika oil. However, for the rest I didn’t care much about and I agreed with BrianZ, docsconnz and fromagophile: this was the most disappointing part of our menu. I don’t think that it was tasting bad just quite bland. Because of this (and because I knew that another main course was still to come) I returned the half full plate. The waiter was truely concerned about this, asked if I didn’t like it and offered to have another fish dish prepared (which sounded tempting but I declined nevertheless. What happened next took me a bit by surprise. The plate was brought back into the kitchen. Because of the placement of our table I could look into the kitchen from where I was sitting. A few people people in the kitchen glanced the returned plate and then one member of the kitchen staff looked at me through the window and then shook his head in disapproving disbelief. The not empty plate seemed to have truely shocked him and it left me with a mixed feeling of amusement and being unpolite for not having eaten everyting. Vegetables with potato purée This was the vegetarian course that my girlfriend got instead instead of the codfish. I would have much preferred to get this as well. It was just potato mash and cooked vegetables but judging from the two bites I could steal from my girlfriend it was the best I ever had. The next vegetarian course (as a replacement for the goat kid) was equally traditional and excellent at the same time: a risotto with Spanish mushrooms that were just in season and white truffles. Unfortunately i didn’t take a picture of this. Trip to Havana I couldn’t resist asking for this Can Roca classic, despite being a non-smoker. The cigar smoke that was pumped into the vanilla icecream lingered in your mouth for a good while after you ate a bit and the deconstructed mojito provided a refreshing contrast to the cigar taste. A great way to finish a meal. After this we were asked by the waiter if wanted to have a look at the kitchen. We were introcued to the youngest of the three Roca brothers Jordi who is the patissier at Can Roca and created Trip to Havana. He showed us the devices that he used to put the cigar smoke into the cream and the smoke that got in the dome for the asparagus dish (the first one was a simple mechanical pump, the second an electric pump). We walked back to Girona’s city center. Around the corner of Can Roca we saw a big building site of a house with a big glass front that said Torre de Can Roca. So could this be their new location?

gabe, do you have any idea how they are made? that's wat i was wondering when i ate them.