El Celler de Can Roca

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Can anyone tell me if El Celler de Can Roca is open on Sundays?

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You can probably ask them here. Let us know what you find out.

[daemon]

went there in september, and they were closed both sundays & mondays

[docsconz]

Can anyone tell me if El Celler de Can Roca is open on Sundays?

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You can probably ask them here. Let us know what you find out.

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I'm surprised that their hours are not explicitly stated on the website. I did check on Campsa and they corroborate that the restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

[Corinna Dunne]

Doc, I've found that they don't respond to emails, so be sure to book by phone,

[docsconz]

Doc, I've found that they don't respond to emails, so be sure to book by phone,

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Thanks Corinna, i'm planning a trip to Catalunya and valencia for this spring and I absolutely don't want to miss this restaurant this time. Narrowing my choices is going to be particularly difficult.

[dipardoo]

apologies if i'm really behind the times here. but does anybody know if el celler has relocated yet? nothing on the website to that effect, but i'm planning a trip and wondering what effects a move will have on their opening times etc.

[docsconz]

apologies if i'm really behind the times here. but does anybody know if el celler has relocated yet? nothing on the website to that effect, but i'm planning a trip and wondering what effects a move will have on their opening times etc.

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I have a reservation in May. Nobody said anything about relocation on the phone when I made the reservation.

[Silly Disciple]

apologies if i'm really behind the times here. but does anybody know if el celler has relocated yet? nothing on the website to that effect, but i'm planning a trip and wondering what effects a move will have on their opening times etc.

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Still located in the same place, and will stay there at least until the end of the Summer.

[Gabe Q]

I am planning to go eat at Celler de Can Roca in a few weeks. But their website has hardly any information. So I have some questions for people who have eaten there. I read the whole topic and some have ben answered but they are sort of old answers, so if you have any current info I would greatly appreciate it.

1- I saw they close sunday and monday, so do they do lunch on tuesdays????? Because of my work schedule here in Roses I can only go tuesday for lunch.

2- What menu options do they have and what are the prices???

3- Do they sell their cookbooks right there at the restaurant????

Thanks for any imput and look foward to posting my eating experience there in the future.

[Silly Disciple]

1- I saw they close sunday and monday, so do they do lunch on tuesdays????? Because of my work schedule here in Roses I can only go tuesday for lunch.

yes.

2- What menu options do they have and what are the prices???

the degustation menu si around 100, de lunch menu around 60 if not mistaken.

3- Do they sell their cookbooks right there at the restaurant????

yes.

[oesophagus]

And where else do we eat while we're in Girona?

[Silly Disciple]

And where else do we eat while we're in Girona?

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you don't.

[Rogelio]

And where else do we eat while we're in Girona?

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If you have a car:

ELS TINARS Ctra. de St. Feliu, km 7,2 - 17240 Llagostera GIRONA (SPAIN) Tel. 972 830 626 For the seafood.

Can Quel. Foixà (Girona). c/ La Vila, 3. Tel: 972 76 90 64. For the snaills

La Xicra. Palafrugell (Girona). C/ Estret 17. Tel: 972 30 56 30. For the catalan traditions.

All this three are worth the trip for traditional food with great product.

If you're looking for fireworks, and have a car:

Miramar in Llançá is runned by some ex-El Bullis.

[Corinna Dunne]

Masana in Girona is worth a visit. It's Catalan food with a restrained contemporary twist. You might find some more recommendations on this thread.

[bushey]

Masana in Girona is worth a visit. It's Catalan food with a restrained contemporary twist.  You might find some more recommendations on this thread.

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Thanks for the recco. We'll be in Girona on a Monday in June, an unfortunately El Celler is closed on Mondays :~(. Not sure if we'll be looking for a long, leisurely lunch or a quick bit. It's a day trip from Barcelona, so we'll have a car. It's also possible we'll try to hit Figueres and the Dali Museum on our way back.

[docsconz]

I was disappointed by my meal at Can Roca. There. I said it. Having said that I can not place the blame entirely at the feet of the restaurant as my expectations were so high and circumstances conspired against a transcendent meal the night we were there. Actually the food, though imperfect in several ways, was quite excellent in concept. In several instances the execution was less than ideal, but the disappointment stemmed mostly from the overall experience.

I had great ambitions on this trip and wanted to squeeze in s much as we reasonably could. As such, our dinner at can Roca followed a long drive up from Alicante. In itself, that was not such a big deal, however, we chose the one day of foul weather on our entire trip on which to do that. When we left Alicante late that morning (later than we intended to) the sun was shining brilliantly. Because of that, we spent a little longer on the beach than perhaps we should have. Worse yet, we drove into some driving rains on our journey north. Though they didn't slow us much they did induce additional stress. We also needed to meet our friends in Manresa. After we did, we stopped to pick up another member of our party. While holding the door of the car open for her, I felt a warm drop on my hand. Initially I thought that it was a warm rain drop. The day was warm, but not that warm. It was a gift from a pigeon. I ran up to our friend's apartment to wash off and was fortunate not to have been bombarded on my clothes. In retrospect, i cannot help but wonder if that might have been the source of my difficulties the next day when I dined at elBulli. In addition to directly adding to the stress level, the clean-up slowed us down. We still had a 90-120 minute drive ahead of us to Girona, which we accomplished through pouring rain. Even though we had some trouble finding the restaurant, we managed to arrive only a few minutes late. After parking the car, we dodged raindrops to make it into the restaurant.

Needless to say, we were all a bit keyed up. Other distracting factors included being largely unable to understand our waiter in either Spanish or English. Our friends had no difficulty understanding him in Catalan, but that helped me only so much through translations. Although the restaurant was designated as smoke-free, our table was situated such that on several occasions, smoke drifted in from the bar directly to my seat. To the credit of the restaurant, that was swiftly resolved after I mentioned it to our waiter. On another night, it might have been less of an issue to me, but I was already keyed up. The final distracting factor was the fact that our friends had to work the next day, it was late and we still had a long drive in front of us to get back home.

With all of that, it is no surprise to me that I was disappointed. Only a perfect meal could have overcome all of that. Our meal, as good as it was and it was objectively very good, unfortunately was not perfect. More on that with photos to come shortly.

[docsconz]

El Celler de Can Roca

Dinner

May 3, 2007

Snacks

Crunchy Cod Fish

Sesame Crunchy, Parmesan Chips with truffle Oil and Black Olives Crunchy The snacks were all served together, much as they were to start the meal at elBulli. These were squarely in the savory camp, while elBulli explored the realm of sweet much more with their opening bites. These were tasty and satisfying.

Tapas

Foie Gras Bonbon with Oporto; Parfait of Pigeon, Hazelnuts Bristol Cream, Juniper and Spices Cake; and Little Fava Beans with Bergamot Emulsification and Orange

The foie gras bonbon with oporto was a delicious rendition of the nearly obligatory foie dish (not that that is a bad thing!)

The parfait of pigeon was full of umami and delicious.

The favas with bergamot also proved quite tasty

Our opening wine was a crisp albariño.

Menú

Oyster with Champagne, Apple, Curry, Spice Cake (Pan de Especias) and Turmeric This was delicious, retaining the brininess of the oyster, but adding a novel combination.

After we were served this oyster, I enquired about the "Oyster with Distilled Earth." Although it was not on the menu that night (the earth distillate would be part of another dish coming up soon), I was obliged with a plate.

Oyster with Distilled Earth I thought that this dish worked beautifully and as intended. The subtle mineral component of the earth combined well with the brininess of the oyster making a true mar y montaña dish. Though I still prefer an oyster with a squeeze of lemon, I found the construct to be brilliant. The two oysters were amongst the highlights of my meal.

Consomé of "Perretxikos" (a local spring mushroom) with Avocado and Pine Ice Cream Another highlight of the meal, this cold soup was deliciously redolent of the forest unlike the dish at El Poblet that attempted the same goal. Brilliant.

"Perretxikos" brought to us to examine when we asked about the mushroom variety. Our friends were familiar with it though it was new to my wife and I.

Mussels with Riesling (mouseline of bergamot, apple and jasmine, lemon and cilantro, peach and rose, distillate of earth, truffle oil and cardamom)This dish reminded me a bit of Jose Andres' "Deconstructed White Wine." The dish was a composite of the flavor elements of riesling, a wine that often goes well with mussels. Fun.

Artichokes with Sunflower Soup and Orange Concentrate Very good.

White Asparagus Soufflé on Embers This dish enveloped in smoke was surprisingly subtle.

Hot Velouté of Crustaceans with Cacao, Onions and Mint This dish was both my favorite of the night and the most disappointing. The flavors were intense and amazing, but the perfection of the dish was undermined by overly aggressive salting. The salt was so heavy that my being able to eat it at all was a testament to the underlying deliciousness.

Codfish "al pil pil" with pumpkin and Guindilla Pepper Oil. Perhaps because of the saltiness of the previous dish, this dish came of as being very bland and lacking in flavor.

Kid belly with Parmentier of Majorero and Mint. This dish with cheesy potatoes (Majorero is a goat cheese from the Canary islands) was unique for me and excellent. I had never had kid belly before and I enjoyed it very much. We moved to a red wine (Doix Qa 2003 Priorato) with this course - excellent.

Ox with Anchovies, Black Olives and Olivares. I believe the Olivares refers to the wine from Bodegas Olivares in Jumilla, but I am not sure. I thought the dish worked when the meat was smeared with all the component sauces together than with any of them individually. In this case the total was greater than the sum of the parts, but other than for its instructive value, I would have preferred the mixture from the get go.

Desserts

Can Roca is renowned for its desserts and these did not disappoint.

Lactic Dessert ("dulce de leche", sheep's milk ice cream, sheep ricotta foam, sheep's yogurt and lactic cloud). I love sheep's milk and I loved this dessert. The combination of the tang of the sheep's milk products and the subtle sweetness was heavenly.

Rose Soufflé with Chocolate and Pistachio Ice Cream Once again, delicious. Rose has become a very popular flavor in desserts and even with savories as few meals this week did not contain it in at least some element. Fortunately, I like the flavor. It will be interesting to see how far that trend goes. I imagine that Can Roca was one of the first to use this element in its cooking as the desserts here have been particularly notable for their perfume-like attributes and stylings. Indeed, roses were not the only flowers that we saw throughout our week as many different kinds of edible flowers seemed to be incorporated in various dishes both as flavor and design elements.

Mignardises. These included white chocolate brittle with red fruit, fruit jellies, chocolate pralines and bonbons. They were uniformly excellent. At the end of the meal we were greeted by Joan Roca who was quite gracious and generous in offering me birthday wishes as it was now well into my birthday. We parted ways and with the rain stopped and no one on the roads we made it back to our friends' home in record time.

I mentioned in my post prior to this that I was disappointed. Other than the seasoning aspects of the dishes I mentioned, I wasn't disappointed with the food and I certainly wasn't disappointed with the greeting I received from Joan Roca. My disappointment stemmed mostly from external factors that predisposed me and the rest of our party to a sensitivity to imperfection. This was a classic example of how factors external to a meal can have an effect on one's response to a meal. Realizing that, I would jump at the chance to return here again in the future, although by the time I am next able to, the restaurant will most likely be in its new location.

[Rogelio]

"Perretxikos" brought to us to examine when we asked about the mushroom variety. Our friends were familiar with it though it was new to my wife and I.

Perretxikos are also called St Georges mushroom.

Ox with Anchovies, Black Olives and Olivares. I believe the Olivares refers to the wine from Bodegas Olivares in Jumilla, but I am not sure.

Indeed, Olivares is referred to this sweet red wine.

I'm sorry for your dissapointment but these things happens when visiting restaurants, even the top ones have odd days and so do we the patrons.

[docsconz]

I'm sorry for your dissapointment but these things happens when visiting restaurants, even the top ones have odd days and so do we the patrons.

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There is no doubt in my mind that the same meal on a different day with different circumstances would have elicited a different reaction in me. On that night it would have taken a nearly perfect experience to have been less than disappointed, which it wasn't. Despite that, I'm still glad I went and would love to go back as the meal was still very good. I think that is one of the more interesting elements in trying to decipher restaurant reviews. So much goes into the experience besides the meal itself.

[butterfly]

Initially I thought that it was a warm rain drop.

Too bad squab wasn't on the menu...

[docsconz]

Initially I thought that it was a warm rain drop.

Too bad squab wasn't on the menu...

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Ah, but it was - in one of the tapas

[molto e]

Doc,

How was the portion size of the meal?

Molto E

[butterfly]

Ha--somehow I missed that. Pigeon parfait... what a dish. Talk about settling scores.

[docsconz]

Doc,

        How was the portion size of the meal?

Molto E

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They were more than adequate for sampling each dish. I did not leave hungry.

[docsconz]

Ha--somehow I missed that. Pigeon parfait... what a dish. Talk about settling scores.

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Indeed.