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Saturday 30 July 2011

el bulli CLOSES

From mini Golf course to worlds best restaurant with three Michelin stars, El bulli tonight served there last paying guests!
The iconic restaurant is closing for three years to reopen as a culinary think tank in 2014.
Ferran Adria and business partner Juli Soler have remained single minded in changing the face of modern cooking, whilst operating at a loss each year. Some say that el bulli put Spain on the culinary radar, is that true? Well it certainly helped, but Spain has a culinary history as long and proud as those two culinary powerhouse neighbours France and Italy, perhaps even without the pretencions.
What was so special about el bulli, well to be honest i wouldn't know i never managed to secure a reservation. With 2 million requests for 8000 places each six month season (el bulli closes for the remaining six months for new dishes to be developed),a lot of people were never going to eat there. It was reported in the Observer food monthly a few years back that Ferran Adria's own mother couldn't even manage to book a table for dinner. El bulli bought the culinary world to attention with his new textures and cooking methods, he introduced the heavily abused FOAM to every Chef with a siphon. Ferran Adria labelled his cusine de-constructivism others labelled it Molecular Gastronomy a term he does not use alongside others like Thomas Kellar. His cuisine is innovative, inquisitive and forward thinking. Dishes were deconstructed - taken apart and reassembled to look and taste different while still keeping the essence of the dish. Not only did Ferran, Juli and his brother Albert, along with a handful of trusted full time staff change the way modern chefs looked at cooking they also changed Restaurant service with multi course menus taking the place of a la carte. Tapas was reborn into 30-40 small courses that mixed the sweet and savoury worlds leading to Avant Garde creativity, they have also played a hand in training some of the most exciting kitchen talent of the 21st century, think Rene Redzepi(NOMA), Jason Atherton(MAZE) and Andoni Aduriz(MUGARITZ) to name but a few. Most of these chefs worked as stagaires for free for the chance to learn from probably the most creative kitchen team in world. All is not lost as el bulli hotel remains open just outside Seville. Ferran Adria's Two Michelin starred La Alqueria restaurant situated within the hotel, serves dishes from season's past menus. Also in the hotel they reportedly serve the worlds best breakfast!


Interestingly on Yahoo's news page there is an article about the closure, with some rather interesting comments, most from people who spend most of there time writing anonymous half assed comments on subjects they know nothing about! Most commenter's had probably never heard of el bulli before tonight's Yahoo headline. Ferran Adria and el bulli were not to every one's taste, and this was well known, but hardly anyone alive can claim to have started a new cuisine and to have pushed the boundaries to new heights with a lot more to come.

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