elBulli opened for 2009

[Jontysc]

Hi everyone;

Looks like elBulli has opened for 2009 as of yesterday!

Any rumours of new menu items or better still if you went last night pics!

I'm going in September, so I'm really excited and keen to see what direction the kitchen may be heading.

Thanks

[tan319]

Ditto!

[The Flame]

I am very excited to hear what they do this year especially in the pastry section since Albert is "retired". Although as is regular with them, they start the menu for the new season with the ending menu for the previous year. So they start integrating new dishes until about a few weeks in, so until then we'll see what things are coming out of pastry.

Although I do not believe Albert will be completely out of it. I am sure he will discuss ideas as far as flavor pairings or concepts with the creative team and they can develop them. Who knows, but with the amount of talent that is there I'm sure it'll all be amazing as always.

[jesteinf]

I´ll be there on Wednesday. I´ll be sure to report back.

[tan319]

I´ll be there on Wednesday.  I´ll be sure to report back.

←

Very excited to hear about it!

[jesteinf]

Absolutely incredible dinner at el Bulli last night. We´re in Barcelona now and I won´t be able to post pics until we´re home on Saturday, but here was our menu:

cane: mojito - caipirinha

coniferous

spherical olives

tomato biscuit

¨averantos¨

rabbit ear crunchy

mimetics peanuts

rose frost

black sesame sponge cake with miso

pinenut shabu-shabu

oyster leaf with dew of vinegar

gorgonzola moshi

grilled strawberry

haricot bean with Joelito´s iberian pork fat

cuttlefish with pesto ravioli

parmesan frozen-air with muesli

lulo

pumpkin and almond sandwich

tomato-basil

razor clam with seaweed

asparagus with miso

abalone

sea cucumber with mentaiko and rhubarb

sea anemone 2008

gnocchis of polenta with coffee and saffron yuba

suckling pig tail

water lily

omlette surprise 2003

coco

amber

ices

Morphings...

The price was a bit higher than what I´ve read from prior years. Our menu was 230 Euros per person, not including drinks, tax, or tip.

[jesteinf]

Last October, purely on a whim, I decided to send an email to el Bulli to see if I could get a reservation in 2009. I requested a table for two, any day in June, July or August. After sending the email, I forgot about the whole thing. About six weeks later, an email arrived in my inbox stating the following:

We regret to be late giving you an answer. The demand has been again extraordinary and is difficult to go on with the management. We have found a solution and have an option for you on

Wednesday June 24th of 2009, table for 2 people at 8.30 p.m.

Ferran Adrià will prepare a personalized tasting menu. You will try many different elaborations and it means many different products. It is very important for his confection to know in advance if some problem exists, like allergies or any other product that we could not include for anyone of you.

What?!?! Are you freaking kidding me?!?! I sent an obligatory email to my wife to make sure the date was ok (her reply...OMG!). We then started planning a 10 day trip to Spain built around this dinner.

Not wanting to take any chances, we decided to arrive in Roses the day before our reservation. We took a train from Barcelona to Figueres, and then a taxi to our hotel in Roses (about 20 minutes from the train). This gave us a chance to just relax on the beach before dinner and make sure we were in peak condition for our meal.

A taxi picked us up about 30 minutes before our reservation and took us up and down the long, winding mountain road that leads to el Bulli.

Upon arriving at the restaurant and checking in, all guests are taken into the kitchen for a tour (here begin the pictures, which aren't great since my camera doesn't take very good pictures with the flash turned off):

After being shown the kitchen (and getting to take a picture with Ferran Adria) we were shown to our table.

The meal started off with two sugar canes that we were instructed to suck on (not pictured). One tasted like a mojito and the other like a caipirinha. We then moved on to a series of snacks which included the famous spherical olives:

We also had (not pictured) crispy rabbit ears, tomato biscuits, and mimetics peanuts (shaped like peanuts, these had a very delicate shell that broke easily in the mouth and oozed peanut butter).

After the snacks, we started to move through the rest of the meal…

Rose frost – passion fruit ice carved into the shape of a rose. This had a great tartness to it that really captured the essence of passion fruit

Pinenut shabu-shabu – The little packets of pinenut flavored liquid were picked up and “cooked” in the pine flavored broth in the bowl to the side

Oyster leaf with dew of vinegar – After placing this dish down, our waiter wanted us to eat it and then guess what it tasted like. After a few seconds, the answer was abundantly clear…it tasted like eating an oyster on the half shell with some red wine vinaigrette. Our waiter told us that the leaf naturally tastes like an oyster; the kitchen just adds the vinegar to enhance the experience

Grilled strawberry – These were served hot along with some gorgonzola moshi (served cold) that had to be eaten right away so they aren’t pictured. They were an excellent follow up to the moshi, in that the sweetness complemented the moshi and heat of the strawberry contrasted the coolness of the moshi.

Cuttlefish with pesto ravioli – In my opinion, one of the few misses of the night. The cuttlefish had a very strong taste, and I just didn’t “get” the combination with the pesto ravioli

Parmesan frozen-air with muesli – Following one of the night’s misses, this dish was a hit. The box was opened to reveal the “frozen air”. We were instructed to sprinkle on a bit of the dried fruit and nut muesli a little bit at a time.

Frozen-air with muesli added

Lulo – Lulo is a very tart tropical fruit. Here, gelee of lulo was topped with shavings of foie gras fat. Basically, this was a super amped up version of the traditional fruit/foie pairing.

Pumpkin and almond sandwich – The “baguette” for the sandwich was light and crispy and I believe made from pumpkin. The meat in the sandwich was pretty healthy quantity of shaved truffles (which actually didn’t add as much flavor as I thought they would).

Interior of pumpkin and almond sandwich

Tomato-basil – Absolutely delicious, sweet tomatoes coated in something (maybe a black olive sauce? I know black olives figured in this dish somewhere). Served along with the tomatoes were crispy basil leafs that had been dusted with mango.

Continued in next post...

[jesteinf]

Part II

Razor clam with seaweed – One of the most interesting things about this meal was that while there were certainly plenty of “molecular gastronomy” touches, there were also several courses which focused almost exclusively on the ingredient and not the technique. This was one of those courses. Two plump razor clams (fresh as could be) served alongside a seaweed salad made from three different types of seaweed. Delicious.

Asparagus with miso – Freakishly large asparagus from Navarra that was the sweetest asparagus I’ve ever tasted. The miso provided a nice, salty note to the dish.

Asparagus with miso (reverse angle)

Abalone – The abalone had been sliced down to cubes, and were alternated with similar-sized cubes of ham fat. Both were served on a bed on mushrooms. Probably one of the richer dishes of the night, but very satisfying (and chock full of umami).

Sea cucumber with mentaiko and rhubarb – This was one of my favorite dishes of the night. I’ve never had sea cucumber before, but the taste and texture of this preparation really blew me away. The cucumber was both meaty and tasted of the sea (in a good way). The rhubarb provided the perfect amount of sweet balance to the dish.

Sea anemone 2008 – Without a doubt, the most “challenging” dish of the night. The anemone was served with rabbit brains and an oyster sauce. Eating this dish was like swimming out into the middle of the ocean, going under water, and opening your mouth. Not my favorite, but I’m glad we ate it.

Gnocchis of polenta with coffee and saffron yuba - Similar to the spherical olives, the outside of the "gnocchis" didn't serve much or a purpose other then to hold all of the polenta inside together. Nice and clean tasting after the sea anemone.

Suckling pig tail - Another one of my favorite dishes. The pig tails were crispy, and served alongside a ham consume. What could be bad here?

Water lily - A transition course as we headed towards dessert. Very floral and a nice way to start to clean the palate.

Omelette surprise 2003 - The surprise was a skim milk/yogurt mixture, which honestly isn't the best surprise in the world. But still, it was nice to have another transition course heading into dessert.

Omelette surprise 2003 (interior)

Coco - A big, hollow sphere made from white chocolate. After being placed on the table, it was sprinkled with curry powder and then broken up. I'm not a huge curry fan, and I found this borderline inedible.

Coco (cracked open)

Amber - Another dish similar to the spherical olives, but this time made from honey.

Ices - Under the layer of ice show above was a mixture of mainly watermelon and fruit-flavored yogurt. Sweet and cold, this was a very satisfying dessert.

Tea service, el Bulli style - My wife, needing something to settle her stomach innocently ordered tea. What came out was the table of plants shown above. One of the staff came out to clip individual leafs off of each plant and place them in a French press along with honey and spices. Needless to say, after witnessing this, I had to order a tea of my own.

Morphings... - Our waiter came out and placed a huge box of chocolates on our table. The box contained 19 individual types of chocolate (I believe that most, or all, were meant to recall previous course). Our waiter told me that they make over 500 individual pieces of chocolate each day to keep the boxes stocked.

Morphings II

Morphings III

el Bulli is considered by many to be the #1 restaurant in the world. It is likely the hardest reservation to get. Did the restaurant live up to all of the hype? In a word...yes. I would say this was probably the greatest high-end meal of my life. The flavors were bold, the ingredients were of unbelievable high quality, the plating and serving pieces were gorgeous, and the service was friendly and refined (I would actually rate the service as comparable to Alinea). Not every dish blew me away, and some were clear misses, but this is one of those meals that should be viewed as a whole. As a whole, I can't think of any high-end meal that I've had that could approach this one in terms of overall taste, presentation, and just the general ability to make the diner really think about what they're eating.

This was a great experience, and I'm glad I decided to send that email back in October.

[Jamsie]

Great photos Josh thanks for posting them.

I was waiting to see what this years menu would look like. i wonder how it will evolve into the autumn

[TimmDavis]

Great pics! I just finished reading "A day at elBulli".

[Rogelio]

Very good report indeed, it is a very accurate resembling of a meal at El Bulli.

I don't find the less mindblowing dishes as transition courses sometimes they are more interesting than the other though they need a different approach. A meal like thgis is a challange for the senses.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Rogelio (log)

[lesliec]

Morning, all.

In this post and a couple of following ones, Josh described his recent meal at El Bulli. My wife and I were there a few days later and I'd like to talk about some parts of the experience which DIDN'T add up to the best restaurant in the world for us.

There is no question that getting a 'yes' email back from the restaurant feels like (I imagine) winning the lottery. Ferran's going to prepare a menu just for me? Wow! With this, and from almost everything we've seen about El Bulli, we had, it's fair to say, heightened expectations. But then, isn't a 3-star rating very much about expectations?

To start with, they were late opening the gate! Our booking very clearly said 7.30 and our taxi from Cadaqués dropped us off in good time, but the gate to the parking area wasn't opened until some 10 minutes after our booking. The 'pedestrian' gate remained padlocked, so my wife was forced to negotiate the rough slope down to, and the gravel surface of, the car park in high heels. I'm told this wasn't much fun. How hard would it have been to open the other gate for those who hadn't planned to drive themselves?

Once we got to the door we were welcomed warmly, taken through to have our photos taken with Ferran and ushered out to the terrace. This part was probably the highlight; it was a lovely evening, our table overlooked the bay and we had a veritable swarm of people looking after us. The first seven or so courses were served out there and fully met our expectations - where else might we have got to try and enjoy rabbit ears (sorry, Peter)? However, once this first part was over and we were shown through to the main dining room, things went somewhat downhill.

We find the interaction with the waiting staff to be a major contributor towards our enjoyment of a restaurant and this is where El Bulli fell down severely. Our waiter was very young and very severe. Granted, bringing out 30-something courses in a reasonable timeframe ensures the waiting staff can't afford to linger too much, but we would have hoped to have at least a brief conversation about some of the dishes. No; 'Prawn. Two bites. Eat' was about as talkative as she got. We put this down, perhaps, to inexperience and/or nervousness; at one stage an older staff member saw us looking at the 'family photos' of bulldogs and came over to tell us a bit about them, which was better.

The food was, I'm sorry to say, variable. Some was brilliant - I have no idea how they did the 'fake peanuts' which were one of the early courses outside on the terrace, but they were fabulous. We enjoyed the twice-cooked prawn very much; the parmesan air with muesli was hilarious and I don't expect ever to eat a better bit of fish than the mackerel belly. But we were slightly insulted by 'aguaciete'. Imagine a small glass bowl. Into this, with due ceremony, some water is poured. Over the top, a similar quantity of hazelnut oil. Then a flake of salt is placed precisely (with tweezers) here, here and here. The instruction is to drink it while turning the bowl - this mixes the contents. So we did that, put the bowl down and for the next few minutes could think of little but 'I've just had a bowl of oil and water'.

And the 'Water Lily' (actually, the waiter called it 'lily water' which somehow seems more accurate). Have you ever poured out the water from a vase you've had flowers in for a few weeks? This dish tasted like that smells. (Tastes vary, of course - in the review linked at the beginning of this post, Josh liked it.)

There were unexplained 10-minute gaps between some courses - we amused ourselves by improvising with the wrappers from the parmesan air. And although we knew what to expect, we found 30something courses was just too much to process - sensory overload was setting in after 20 or so.

Having said all that, it was an amazing experience, particularly since it was our 30th wedding anniversary. But we feel once is enough. We had the distinct feeling of being simply elements of a production line, and that's not a feeling I like to have at a restaurant.

Having unburdened myself - apologies for the length - has anybody else got stories to share of where the expectation was sadly different to the reality?

- Leslie

[Jamsie]

I think a problem with it may be expectations, especially at a place like el bulli when you've heard so much about this best restaurant in the world, when you walk into it what are you expecting from the place? Is it to be floatted on dry ice to your table and have the dessert course descend from the ceiling.

I remember the first time i ever went to a 3* restaurant (i had never been to any 2*) i was expecting something above and beyond food, and on leaving i was slightly disappointed with the meal because my expectations had been so high. On looking back i realised every single dish of the meal had been very good and some exceptional but the problem was with what i was anticipating.

When i went to el bulli i tried to go with as blank a canvas as possible and just let the meal happen and see what came. We were lucky in that our waiter was superb and the interaction and fun was one of the best parts of the meal (OK it helped that Barca had won the champions league the night before).

In summary i think a moody server will ruin anyone's meal and that el bulli pushing boundaries will always have some courses that don't work and that no restaurant is going to be perfect no matter how much it has been garnered with praise.

P.S. I am trademarking that dessert descending from the ceiling idea

[lesliec]

I think a problem with it may be expectations, especially at a place like el bulli when you've heard so much about this best restaurant in the world, when you walk into it what are you expecting from the place? Is it to be floatted on dry ice to your table and have the dessert course descend from the ceiling.

...

In summary i think a moody server will ruin anyone's meal

Hi Jamsie.

Yeah, the dry ice would have been good ... and when you introduce the ceiling dessert thing at your restaurant, let me know!

I think you're right about expectations - if you go to a new restaurant with none you can be very pleasantly surprised - but my naive belief was that 3*/best in the world restaurants couldn't afford to have off-nights. I feel older and wiser.

Something I didn't mention was that we were still on last year's menu, which we found surprising. They opened a couple of months later this year, so they've had eight months in the lab and they still haven't got the new stuff sorted out? Come on, guys ...

Anyway. Over it now. I wanna go to the Fat Duck.

[PhilD]

Something I didn't mention was that we were still on last year's menu, which we found surprising.  They opened a couple of months later this year, so they've had eight months in the lab and they still haven't got the new stuff sorted out?  Come on, guys ...

←

I understood the new menu is introduced gradually as the season starts up, it isn't a big bang change over, so the menu will morph from 2008 to full 2009 over a couple of months. It also looks like there are a couple of older dishes in the menu like the 2003 Omelette. For me the combination of the best from the past with innovation looks pretty good - we are there in a couple of weeks.

[marc at fraiche]

what day are you ther phil? im there in couple of weeks too

[eatenmess]

Hi all,

wonderful pictures Josh!

I have to totally and utterly agree with the problem of hype in restaurants of such calibre.

i have a hatred for hype, something that has been built up inside of me through various let downs. I feel hype is created by people who eat at the restaurants, work at the restaurants and own the restaurants and the owners case its the worst possible thing to do.

You arrive with such expectation that your mind is playing tricks on you before you even sit down.

When i ate The Fat Duck (i'm sure i do not need to be another person telling you to go lesliec!) on Feb 13th 2007 i went in a car with three friends harking on about 'ohh what's the bread going to be like i bet its some right random flavours' (it was a very pleasing question by the one young girl just serving bread...'white or granary?') or 'i cant wait to experience this sound of the sea dish' they were sucked in by the hype of it all. I refused to be and i was the one who left the happiest even though my share of the bill took me over my overdraft and the cost of that was another £70 extra, thank you Lloyds TSB.

They left disappointed which disappointed me in a way. I thoroughly believe hype is the single worst thing about high end restaurants, although most of the time unavoidable it never does anyone any good.

nevertheless i continue to gawk and Josh's photos and read endless reviews. I will also try for the 3rd time to get a table for me and my friend at the ever changing El Bulli.

[bmdaniel]

I in some ways had a similar experience to Leslie. Our service was very good (although not outstanding in the way that it was at Cracco in Milan, for example, with nice personal connection), but the food was very hit and miss.

The water lily course Leslie mentions may have been the most inedible thing I've ever been served at a haute cuisine restaurant, period. Just like eating a perfume bottle, in a gross way. The coconut "dessert" was interesting in that it was just like eating raw, unsweetened coconut - but who wants to do that?

Nonetheless, some things were spectacular - the sea cucumber in particular was revelatory. However, I'm not sure the average level was equal to some of the other places we went on our (admittedly extravagant) honeymoon.

[Andy Fenn]

I had a similar experience too - I thought there were too many misses and not enough hits (this was two years ago). And the service was too frenetic to enjoy, which is inevitable I suppose, given the number of courses. I was actually very impressed with the room and location, which don't usually get much mention.

As for expectations and reputations, I think it's an odd thing. Sometimes people do expect too much. But I actually think the reputation of a restaurant can sometimes make you too forgiving. Take my meal at Mugaritz a couple of weeks ago. The first few dishes came out, and they were not good. But it took us a good few dishes before we let ourselves believe they were not good. Until then, you assume that it is you who is at fault. That you're not getting it. That you must be missing something.

Truth is, if you were served the same food in a regular restuarant in your home city, you'd be much less forgiving.

[jesteinf]

I would agree that there were hits and misses on the menu I was served, but I think a meal like this needs to be considered as a whole. I guess my view comes down to the belief that the whole of my meal was greater than the sum of its parts. I also think that individual reactions to individual dishes can vary widely with this type of cuisine since there are so many flavors, flavor combinations, textures, etc that we just aren't used to experiencing on a regular basis.

Also, I had absolutely zero issues with service. I actually thought our service was right on par with what we've experienced everytime we've been to Alinea (which is what I consider to be the benchmark).

[mis]

Did any of you eat at Rafa's while you were in Roses? How do reservations work? From what I read you call a week in advance, and then on the day itself to see if the catch is good, and the restaurant is actually open

[jesteinf]

We ate at Rafa's the night before el Bulli. We had our hotel in Madrid call and make our reservation for us (about a week in advance). The day we arrived in Roses we had our hotel call over to make sure they were planning on being open that night and to confirm our reservation.

Hope that helps!

[PhilD]

what day are you ther phil? im there in couple of weeks too

←

Marc: Thursday 13th for lunch, and you?

[marc at fraiche]

what day are you ther phil? im there in couple of weeks too

←

Marc: Thursday 13th for lunch, and you?

←

close yet so far im there next monday for dinner 10th of aug, is it your first time phil?

should be some more new dishes showing up now with luck going to roca which i am very excited about too, so good there!

[bmdaniel]

Amateur Gourmet has a nice post about his recent trip to El Bulli:

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2009/08/dinner_at_el_bu.html

The courses are almost completely different from what I had in June (only overlap is hot gin fizz, sesame sponge, oyster leaf, abalone, suckling pig and coconut ball so 24 out of 30 were different).

Interesting that he says the coconut ball tastes like coconut ice cream - doesn't match my experience.