El Celler de Can Roca
Holder of three Michelin stars since 2009, El Celler de Can Roca remains one of the world’s most innovative restaurants, twice voted the best on the planet. The indefatigable Roca brothers Joan (head chef), Josep (sommelier), and Jordi (head pastry chef) push culinary boundaries in a triangular dining room arranged around a glass-walled courtyard.
Their cuisine is firmly rooted in traditional Catalan cooking, learned at the parents’ modest bar, but transformed here with astonishing inventiveness. The 15-plus-course Festival menu reads like a close-typed encyclopedia entry. Recent dishes include artichoke with licorice emulsion, goat’s cheese and lemon purée, mint and nasturtium leaves; eel consommé with pumpkin ravioli; and partridge with kale and cabbage in multiple forms. The presentation involves an extraordinary collection of tableware (including rocks); the sommelier service is an education in itself; and sublime desserts and sweet flavors pop up in unexpected ways. For a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it’s worth the lengthy pre-planning and expense—and the cab ride. The restaurant is located about 2km (1[bf]1/4 miles) outside the city center, not far from where it all began at their parents’ neighborhood bar, Can Roca. Online reservations open at midnight on the first day of the month for the next 11 months. Persistence is essential.
Carrer de Can Sunyer, 48. cellercanroca.com. 📞 97-222-21-57. Tasting menus 250€ and 290€, wine pairing 145€.
Named the best restaurant in the world in 2013 by the readers of Restaurant magazine in the United Kingdom, El Celler de Can Roca picked up the avant-garde baton when Ferran Adriá closed the famous elBulli. With Roca brothers Joan (head chef), Jordi (head pastry chef), and Josep (sommelier) in charge, the restaurant belies the old trope about too many chefs and spoiled broth. The cuisine is firmly rooted in classic Catalan home cooking but with sometimes surreal twists, as if the ghost of Salvador Dalí were in the kitchen. For example, the simple appetizer of local olives is served as caramelized olives—on a bonsai tree. (Be careful with the branches, as they need the tree for the next customer.) The meal begins with small bites from the El Mundo section of the kitchen (a spicy ball of frozen fish broth coated in cocoa butter, for example), followed by inventive main dishes of the moment. Rarely are they repeated, although the veal tartare with mustard ice cream, spicy ketchup, and fruit compotes is one of the stalwarts. Jordi is famous for inventing desserts that re-create the aromas of classic perfumes.
For a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it’s worth the splurge and the cost of a cab ride, as the restaurant sits about 2km (1 1/4 miles) from the center of town. Online reservations open at midnight on the first day of the month; phone reservations can be made farther ahead.
Holder of three Michelin stars since 2009, El Celler de Can Roca remains one of the world’s most innovative restaurants, twice voted the best on the planet. The indefatigable Roca brothers Joan (head chef), Josep (sommelier), and Jordi (head pastry chef) push culinary boundaries in a triangular dining room arranged around a glass-walled courtyard.
Their cuisine is firmly rooted in traditional Catalan cooking, learned at the parents’ modest bar, but transformed here with astonishing inventiveness. The 15-plus-course Festival menu reads like a close-typed encyclopedia entry. Recent dishes include artichoke with licorice emulsion, goat’s cheese and lemon purée, mint and nasturtium leaves; eel consommé with pumpkin ravioli; and partridge with kale and cabbage in multiple forms. The presentation involves an extraordinary collection of tableware (including rocks); the sommelier service is an education in itself; and sublime desserts and sweet flavors pop up in unexpected ways. For a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it’s worth the lengthy pre-planning and expense—and the cab ride. The restaurant is located about 2km (1[bf]1/4 miles) outside the city center, not far from where it all began at their parents’ neighborhood bar, Can Roca. Online reservations open at midnight on the first day of the month for the next 11 months. Persistence is essential.
Carrer de Can Sunyer, 48. cellercanroca.com. 📞 97-222-21-57. Tasting menus 250€ and 290€, wine pairing 145€.
Named the best restaurant in the world in 2013 by the readers of Restaurant magazine in the United Kingdom, El Celler de Can Roca picked up the avant-garde baton when Ferran Adriá closed the famous elBulli. With Roca brothers Joan (head chef), Jordi (head pastry chef), and Josep (sommelier) in charge, the restaurant belies the old trope about too many chefs and spoiled broth. The cuisine is firmly rooted in classic Catalan home cooking but with sometimes surreal twists, as if the ghost of Salvador Dalí were in the kitchen. For example, the simple appetizer of local olives is served as caramelized olives—on a bonsai tree. (Be careful with the branches, as they need the tree for the next customer.) The meal begins with small bites from the El Mundo section of the kitchen (a spicy ball of frozen fish broth coated in cocoa butter, for example), followed by inventive main dishes of the moment. Rarely are they repeated, although the veal tartare with mustard ice cream, spicy ketchup, and fruit compotes is one of the stalwarts. Jordi is famous for inventing desserts that re-create the aromas of classic perfumes.
For a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it’s worth the splurge and the cost of a cab ride, as the restaurant sits about 2km (1 1/4 miles) from the center of town. Online reservations open at midnight on the first day of the month; phone reservations can be made farther ahead.
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