TDG: Eight at El Bulli

[Fat Guy]

I'd love to write up the courses, but to be honest, I don't think I have either the time or the skill.  I will try and return to this thread later in the week and post some highlights if people are interested.

Here's one vote for "interested."

[inventolux]

I'd love to write up the courses, but to be honest, I don't think I have either the time or the skill.  I will try and return to this thread later in the week and post some highlights if people are interested.

Come on now, spit it out pal! Thats what this thing is all about were all friends here.

[sladeums]

I'd love to write up the courses, but to be honest, I don't think I have either the time or the skill.  I will try and return to this thread later in the week and post some highlights if people are interested.

Here's one vote for "interested."

Another interested vote.

Anything you can say would be appreciated here.

[Fat Guy]

Also is the El Bulli survey project still in play? If so please do fill out a survey.

[tan319]

I'd love to write up the courses, but to be honest, I don't think I have either the time or the skill.  I will try and return to this thread later in the week and post some highlights if people are interested.

Here's one vote for "interested."

you have my vote.

Please post it!

[dallardice]

Té de Rosas al Jengibre, Miel y Melocotón

The “welcome cocktail”. A warm tea with roses, ginger, peach and pearls of honey. Served with a rose to sniff to accentuate the rose scent of the tea.

Patatas con Aceituna Negra y Acido Citrico

Thin, crisp (Pringle-sized) slivers of potato with a deep tangy citric flavour.

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Crema de Cacahuete con Tostados

Two crispbreads served with a little tube of fabulously creamy El Bulli peanut butter with two little bowls, one of crushed peanuts, one of salt.

Obleas de Frambuesa

Translucent red discs of pure raspberry flavour, infused with basil

Oreja de Conejo Crujiente

Crispy rabbit’s ear

Ruibarbo a la Pimentia

A long thin strand (8in) of rhubarb tossed in mixed pepper

Témpura de Limón con Regaliz

Spicy lemon peel tempura

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Caviar Imitación el Bulli

A little tin labelled Iranian caviar, stamped ‘Imitation of el Bulli’. Little pearls, with exactly the texture of caviar, tasting of melon, passion-fruit and mint.

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Cerezas al Jamón

One large cherry each, served on stalk, coated in some sort of ham jelly

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Sobres de Piel de Pollo a la Flor de Azahar

Fantastically savoury crispy crepes with chicken skin scented with orange flower

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Sardinas bronceadas

“Suntanned sardines” – flattened sardine fillets infused with tomato

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Gelée de Lentejas con Aire de Foie-Gras y Mazapan de Almendreas Frescas

My favourite course – a cup, topped with the essence of foie gras with a deeply unctuous lentil jelly underneath. Just at the lip of the cup was a disc of fresh, sweet marzipan, which – oddly – perfectly complemented the richness of the foie gras and lentils

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Sopa de Pomelo con Sésamo Negra al Estragón

The strangest course. A warm pink grapefruit soup drizzled with deep salty sesame oil infused with tarragon. Strongly bitter and challenging, but with a sweet moreishness.

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Aire de Zanahoria con Concentrado de Mandarina

The lightest possible carrot and mandarin foam – not so much eaten as inhaled

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Yema de Guisantes

‘Pea egg-yolk’: two bright green egg yolks, served on spoons. Swallowed whole, provided a refreshing pea-and-ham blast of flavour.

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Nardos con Melón y Fruta de la Pasión

Four small narcissus flowers served with warm melon in a passion-fruit gravy. This I thought one of the less successful courses, partly because of the strangeness of melon served warm, but also because it largely repeated the melon and passion fruit combination of the caviar.

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Tamarind and curry candy-floss

Small servings of sweet candyfloss, with an intense flavour of tamarind and curry at its core

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Canelón de Buey de Mar con Crema de Aceite de Calabaza

A long thin cannelloni filled with spider crab, served with an acidulated pumpkin cream.

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Ostras con Ostras y Trufas de Nuez de Macadamia

Three thinly-sliced oysters, served with oyster-shaped balls of yoghurt and nuts, and tiny, concentrated cubes of lemon

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Toro de Atún Confitado con Aciete de Atún

Two domino-sized pieces of Tuna, with a tuna cream

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Sepietas con sus Huevas

About six baby cuttlefish, served in its ink with its caviar

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Espardenyes con Mentaiko y Ruibarbo

Sliced sea cucumber, with strands of rhubarb, topped with a tomato and cod roe dressing

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Canelón de Trufa de Verano con Tuétano y Sesos de Conejo

Summer truffle cannelloni filled with veal marrowbone, served with four pieces of rabbit brain. (Four pieces, or four brains? I’m not sure how big a rabbit brain is)

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2m de Spaghetto de Parmesano

It looked like spaghetti, and one end was invitingly lifted onto the side of the plate. We were asked to cover up with our napkins, take the end into our mouth, and suck hard… the spaghetti was actually pure parmesan, with the last few inches infused with balsamic vinegar

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Crépes de Coco y Vinagre de Módena

The lightest, creamiest coconut crepes with dots of balsamic vinegar

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Bola de Nieve con Fresas de Bosque, Rosas y Limon

A snowball, scented with roses and lemon, filled with the smallest, sweetest wild strawberries

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‘English bread’

Frozen air, in the shape of a white processed loaf (hence its name). Pure white chocolate joy, dusted with yoghurt powder. Sensationally light and sweet.

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Truffle lollipops

Lollipops of chocolate truffle dipped in chocolate

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Sweet baguette

A baguette, presented in a dated bag as if from a French boulangerie, but when one tried to break a piece off it turned out to be completely hollow. Coated in sugar and cinnamon

We drank cava as an aperitif, a Sancerre (very reasonably priced at €49) with most of the meal and then a Spanish late-harvest Muscat with the sweet courses. The wine serving policy was somewhat unusual, as the topping-up was done very frequently but in very small amounts – almost a sip or two at a time. Even the aperitif of ‘a glass of cava’ was served in about four or five pours.

Service was excellent, and seemed from those around us to be available in English, Spanish, Catalan, French and German. The first few courses seemed somewhat rushed, but we sat down at 8pm (one of the first tables to be seated) and we left just before midnight, following a visit to the kitchen and a brief chat with Ferran Adria.

Edited August 25, 2003 by dallardice (log)

[paulbrussel]

Txs a lot! How wonderful it would be to get there again... I was going to book on 15/1/2004, but now I know, txs to you, that it could be a bit different.

It's amazing to realise that when I was at el Bulli in 1999 and 2000, there was no problem of booking a few days in advance...

Another question: has there already been a thread about his book? I would like to know whether it is doable to make some stuff described in there.

I heard that the Spanish edition (15.000 coipies) is almost sold out and I saw it a couple of days ago - well, it is all about the CD-Rom of course. Very nice, but my Spanish is not much. So I ordered nevertheless the English copy to be published in October.

Any experiences here with using the Spanish edition?

[Bux]

Another question: has there already been a thread about his book?

Need you really ask? This is eGullet. El Bulli 1998-2002

[Bux]

The wine serving policy was somewhat unusual, as the topping-up was done very frequently but in very small amounts – almost a sip or two at a time.  Even the aperitif of ‘a glass of cava’ was served in about four or five pours.

Service was excellent,

I don't find that wine serving policy exactly unusual, but I think you answer your own question in the next paragraph. Few places are so attentive as to offer this level of service. If the truth be told, I'd just as soon most restaurants left the wine on the table and allowed me to pour my own wine if they can't do it as it's done at El Bulli. There are few service offenses for which I have little tolerance--having an empty wine glass, and seeing an unequal amount of wine in the glasses at the table, particularly when the bottle is empty and we are not finished with the course.

[Matthew Grant]

We drank cava as an aperitif, a Sancerre (very reasonably priced at €49) with most of the meal and then a Spanish late-harvest Muscat with the sweet courses.  The wine serving policy was somewhat unusual, as the topping-up was done very frequently but in very small amounts – almost a sip or two at a time.  Even the aperitif of ‘a glass of cava’ was served in about four or five pours.

This was something that I noted on my visit. The wine top ups were so small as to be ridiculous and actually made me angry. At times they poured such small sips that the sommelier had to top me up again before he had finished topping up Rachels glass! Add to this that they often left us with an empty glasss (caused purely by pouring so little) for a few minutes at a time and that they refused to leave the botele on the table or give us a bigger serving (both apparently "not allowed" when we asked) this amounted not to attentive service, but in my opinion, very pour (excuse the pun) and bizarre service

[dallardice]

This was something that I noted on my visit. The wine top ups were so small as to be ridiculous and actually made me angry.

Like you and Bux I have a very low tolerance for having an empty wineglass when there's still wine in the bottle. I knew I'd read on one posting about this policy before but couldn't track down that posting before I wrote mine.

I found it curious, rather than annoying; we were never, ever left with empty glasses despite the small top-ups, but I felt the policy somewhat 'makework'. Alex (my partner) thought that they probably wanted us to savour the wine in the same way as the food - lots of little tastes - but I'm not sure that isn't over-analysing.

We never felt in need of a large pouring but I would say that we drank less over this meal than we probably would if we'd been in command of our own bottle.... at a different type of meal, that might have bothered me more, but here the wine was definitely second-fiddle to the food and so it didn't worry me.

[Bux]

dallardice, I think I support your interpretation, as modified by Alex. They're certainly not pushing the wine and the cava they recommended to us was most reasonable, although I also recall a red that was less reasonable and a bit too heavy for the food in my opinion, but maybe at that time they read us as serious about wine or maybe they thought a heavier wine would lead us to drink less quickly.

My wife drinks at least as much as I do, and one of our friends, with whom we've dined twice at El Bulli drinks at a far more rapid rate than we do. I don't recall if glasses ever went dry, but if they kept up with our friend, I'd say they were really on top of things.

Yes, the policy, or the service, if you will, is 'makework.' Isn't that the essence of good service? It is a pair to the cooking. At our first meal, the comment was made that this may have been the most labor intensive meal any of us had ever eaten. I think it's also food that's best taken with wine in moderation. Dinner at El Bulli is not a Rabelaisian experience, which is not imply that those evenings are not equally welcome in my book.

[tan319]

Thank you for posting, dallardice

Seems like you had a most amazing meal.

[paulbrussel]

Another question: has there already been a thread about his book?

Need you really ask? This is eGullet. El Bulli 1998-2002

Txs Robert! Since El Bulli and Adrià are coming up so often at eGullet, it makes searching quite difficult...

[Moondog]

Could someone out there give us a more detailed description of the wine list? And Jonathan and Robert, you wrote that you started with Cava, then switched to white burgundies, followed by a red Ribero del Duero and another Cava. Were these switches in any way married to specific courses? I can't imagine that's easy to pull off. Did the sommelier suggest them? Or did you just feel like it was time for a big red? And, finally, who is the sommelier? Any info on him? And, finally finally, is Adria a wine drinker?

[Bux]

I find much of the new cusine in Spain, and elsewhere, not an easy match for wine. To a great extent, it's led to a more relaxed approach to selection however. I often see the wine as another taste at the table and something to drink between the little courses as much as something to complement the individual courses. As a first time diner in many of the restaurants, without first hand experience with the food served there, it's hard to match wines to the style of the chef, let alone the food. It would be nice to see more pairings perhaps.

When I've dined at El Bulli, I've been reminded of a dinner in Tokyo at a friend's house. There was a progression of foods, both western and Japanese. New foods would arrive at the table often before other dishes were finished. At times during the meal, plates were cleared, but there was not quite a rigid sense of courses. Of more relevence was the "wine" service. Wine, beer, sake and other libations arrived at the table and with each came a special glass. From time to time a bottle was finished, but there was no strict sense that it was time to switch beverages and we all drank from the various glasses in rotation. That's not at all how it happens at El Bulli, but it might be a way to way to consider in the future as this style of dining evolves.

[vserna]

Ferran Adrià never thinks of pairings with wine when creating a dish, as he himself confesses. His cuisine is difficult to match with any wine, and almost impossible with a serious red wine. To me, as a wine lover, this is the weakest point in Ferran's culinary conceptions, and I find similar difficulties with people such as Pierre Gagnaire. It's a well-known contradiction: there's ever better red wines made all over the world, but modern cuisine is almost totally at odds with them.

[Lord Michael Lewis]

To me, as a wine lover, this is the weakest point in Ferran's culinary conceptions

I think it's exceptionally brave of him to virtually dispense with the convention. Indeed, pairing wine with food has very much been a limiting factor in what can done by chefs.

[inventolux]

Ferran Adrià never thinks of pairings with wine when creating a dish, as he himself confesses. His cuisine is difficult to match with any wine, and almost impossible with a serious red wine. To me, as a wine lover, this is the weakest point in Ferran's culinary conceptions, and I find similar difficulties with people such as Pierre Gagnaire. It's a well-known contradiction: there's ever better red wines made all over the world, but modern cuisine is almost totally at odds with them.

This probably belongs in another thread but what the heck. Yesterday my sake distributor brought me a daiginjo shu sake. The nose was "green apple flavored jolly ranchers on steroids" The only thing I could fathom was green apple pop rocks ice cream. A great pairing. A bizarre concept.

[slkinsey]

To me, as a wine lover, this is the weakest point in Ferran's culinary conceptions

I think it's exceptionally brave of him to virtually dispense with the convention. Indeed, pairing wine with food has very much been a limiting factor in what can done by chefs.

Right... there are certainly plenty of worthy non-wine beverages that may be consumed together with food.

[estufarian]

What beer goes best at a rock concert?

The same principle applies at El Bulli - it doesn't really matter. But certain principles do survive.

Keep a bottle (or two) of Cava going at all times - it really does go with most things.

The wine list there is fairly International (with most of the Spanish cult favourites). But the list certainly doesn't match the food. It looks like it's been put together from a book of 'wines to serve at top restaurants'. And you'll be through to at least the 7th course before you've had a chance to even scan the list properly.

My strategy was to stick with Cava and have a serviceable red for the courses that lent themselves to red wine (not that many). The proof that the wine list is uninformed is that I was able to find an Allain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 1999 for 24€ on the list - it costs more than double that at restaurants in Toronto.

Actually Sake would be a great match. And he does have a couple on the list - presumably for the Japanese clientele he attracts.

(edited to add the Sake paragraph)

Edited August 27, 2003 by estufarian (log)

[Jonathan Day]

Jonathan and Robert, you wrote that you started with Cava, then switched to white burgundies, followed by a red Ribero del Duero and another Cava. Were these switches in any way married to specific courses? I can't imagine that's easy to pull off. Did the sommelier suggest them? Or did you just feel like it was time for a big red? And, finally, who is the sommelier? Any info on him? And, finally finally, is Adria a wine drinker?

I believe that Robert is travelling, but I hope he'll join in on his return, because he is far more knowledgeable about the wines and wine service at El Bulli than I am. He worked with the sommelier (whom I believe he found informed and helpful) and chose the wines; I sat at the other end of a long table and simply enjoyed them.

The menu we were served was not well structured for the traditional progress of white - red - sweet wines. There was no transition from fish and lighter courses to darker sauces and meats. Even the shift from savouries to desserts was subtle. I'm not sure how we ended up with the red when we did, though it was very good. I believe a frequent suggestion from the restaurant is that diners drink a Cava all the way through the menu.

It was as if the wine progression was a separate and parallel event to the dinner, just as the bread service was. Wines and foods didn't marry that closely. They were delicious, nonetheless, and added to the enjoyment of the meal.

[vserna]

The proof that the wine list is uninformed is that I was able to find an Allain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 1999 for 24€ on the list - it costs more than double that at restaurants in Toronto.

It's a debatable wine list, but not uninformed. The basic Alain Graillot can be purchased for 10 euros in Spain.

[IrishCream]

I am planning a trip to Europe next year and I have seriously considered Spain as a destination just to eat at El Bulli. But as I have surfed the web doing research, I have encountered many reviews which say that most of the food goes uneatan...it is sent back to the kitchen because...it just isn't very tasty. While I love the idea of eating avante garde food, if it isn't delicious, why bother? So that is my question...is the food truly delicious?

[Steve Klc]

Links to those "many" reviews, por favor?