Page 85 - Hospitality Horizon Oct-Nov 2025_FLIP FINAL ISSUE

train as it speeds overnight across from Paris to Barcelona.
The world’s best restaurant is not easy to get to. In
Barcelona I pop into Gaudi’s unfinished cathedral, take a
train to Figeras (pay homage at Salvador Dali’s museum)
zip in a cab to the Coast of the Rosess, check into a hotel
and it’s dinner time. My cab clings to winding roads and
hairpin bends soaring on cliffs above the heart-stoppingly
beautiful blue ocean. And the immaculately perfect El
Bulli (strangely enough named after bulldogs) materialises
like a vision.
It is open only April to September and bookings are
hard (very, very) to come by. It seats only 50 (and has 46
chefs) and I had been sure that the experience would not
be able to live up to the hype surrounding it. It does. How
do I define this? alchemy? transcendental gastronomy?
(the correct term is molecular gastronomy). This is where
Ferran Adrià coaxes science to copulate with imagination
and deliver brilliant surprises in texture, temperature and
taste. Thirty-three courses, served in mind-bogglingly “FERRAN ADRIÀ (LEFT) DELIVERED A THUNDERING
beautiful ways. Be prepared to have your taste buds BOLT FROM THE BLUE WHEN HE ANNOUNCED THAT
seduced, assaulted, cajoled, your intellect teased. Even HE WAS SHUTTING DOWN EL BULLI. AFTER THE
the names of the dishes (Flowers Cotton; Liquid Wanton of AWARDING OF THREE MICHELIN STARS AND THIS
Mushrooms; The Wool 2007) do not prepare me for the CULT FOLLOWING, WHY SHUT IT DOWN? IT WAS A
ricochets of taste, the stings of temperature, the surprise! MIX OF FINANCIAL REASONS (THE R&D COSTS WERE
Flavours are distilled into ephemeral new textures. Be TOO HIGH MAKING IT COMMERCIALLY UNVIABLE)
it with the Cotton Nymph (cotton candy filled with Thai TO THE FACT THAT THEY NEEDED TO EXPAND AND
veggies) or caviar which explodes with melon flavour on DEVELOP IT INTO A THINK TANK AND SPREAD THE
your palate. How do I put it in words? Let me get really MESSAGE TO THE WORLD. A BREEDING GROUND
simplistic and say that Ferran Adrià makes the familiar FOR NEW IDEAS AND NEW TALENT. AT THIS POINT,
look unfamiliar (parmesan cheese like spaghetti) and THE “PICASSO OF CUISINE” SUMMARISED IT IN ONE
the unfamiliar look familiar (cantaloupe like caviar), distils WORD ‘(IT WILL BE A) REVOLUTION’.”
flavours into ephemeral new textures, in short, teases
my palate, confuses my intellect and I will never be the COME TRAVEL WITH ME...
same again. Watch this space... come travel with me... to these
You don’t dine here, you have a memorable experience shrines, the cathedrals, the Meccas where I bow with
here – a once in a lifetime one. reverence and wonder. I worship a different deity in each
Four years later, this “Picasso of Cuisine” delivered a one, from the magnificent and elaborate to the
thundering bolt from the blue when he announced that ecstatically simple. Do remember, though, that to get a
he was shutting down El Bulli. taste of heaven requires not just a lifetime of
After the awarding of three Michelin stars and this cult determination, good deeds, advance planning (booking
following, why shut down El Bulli? It was a mix of financial months ahead), but also a wallet blessed with plenty.
reasons (the R&D costs were too high making it Which infidel said getting into heaven was easy?
commercially unviable) to the fact that they needed to
expand and develop it into a think tank and spread the NOTE
message to the world. A breeding ground for new ideas I’m as passionate about small, family run, inexpensive
and new talent. At this point Adrià actually spoke out in eateries as I am about these world’s best of the best. So
English and summarised it in one word “(It will be a) after 40 books and countless TV shows and columns I’ve
revolution”. He and Jose Andres gave a talk in Harvard set up Hospitality Hope financed ONLY with my savings.
University on physics and cuisine. So he may have No sponsor; no fees. To shine a light, I film them, write
announced closing El Bulli but clearly Adrià’s influence is about them and award these eateries... From the
widespread and deeply entrenched. 175-year-old Pancham Puriwalla in Mumbai to the hidden
Is it “Farewell Ferran?” “Adieu Adrià?” No, no. He has set affordable gems in Paris, Bengaluru, Dubai and so on. My
up a foundation and I met him again in Torino where he is research is on-going.
consulting for the menu of Convidere in Torino. So, if Please share your favourite affordable family-run eateries with me...
you’re really keen to get a taste of his magic, Torino’s come dine with me in these, be my #foodieblinddate. Mail, DM me
Convidere restaurant is where you’ll find wisps of it. Rashmiudaysingh1@gmail.com Instagram @rashmiudaysingh

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