The El Bulli Experience

Because I am an idiot

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:20:49 +0000

This whole site should be read from the end and backwards. Stupidly I thought it would be easy to reverse the order, after my linearly thinking brain had gotten the writing/uploading done. Needless to say, I was wrong. So go to the end, start there, and work you way back here. Much like reading manga or books in Arabic…

In conclusion

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:13:37 +0000

There’s a good reason why El Bulli is the Holy Grail for any serious foodie. While disciples, like Wylie Dufresne’s WD-50 restaurant in New York, share some of the hallmarks of Ferran Adria’s cooking, they never reach the sublime heights or the sometimes downright scary challenge of El Bulli.
El Bulli may have been ridiculed in the past for obsessions with foam or syringes or other trends (which they invented and made trends, by the way), but this time around, we couldn’t detect any over-arching trends.
Well, maybe a few. There was a lot of Japanese inspiration and tastes. Flowers seemed to play a role in many dishes. And the idea of a flimsy shell holding together a nearly or wholly liquefied middle was explored in some detail.
But at no time did we think that a dish was created only to show off technique. At the end of the day, it was about serving a delicious and surprising meal with taste sensations unlike any you’ve ever had.
I’ll be back at some day, if I’m lucky enough to get a table again. But next up is an attempt to get a table at The Fat Duck. Wish me luck!
Bon appétit!

The Full Menu

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:08:54 +0000

As mentioned, there were things that I never got around to photographing for one reason or another. So in the interest of full disclosure, here’s the full menu, as it was handed to us after the meal:

lemon/yogurt/gin

spherical olives

wafer

shiso soft candy

“averantos”

tomato biscuit

pinenut and chocolate bonbons

Pekin crepes

mint leaf with coconut

“brazo de gitano”

grilled strawberry

“munster”

LYO-cream

buffalo milk

razor clam/Laurencia

mandarine flower/pumpkin oil with mandarine seeds

savory/spun eggs with eggyolk gnocchis

mushroom canape

black garlic ravioli

water lily

game meat canape

suckling pig tail

asparagus with miso

gnocchi of polenta with coffee and safran yuba

sea anemone 2008

crustaceans eel

abalone

castagnets

flower canape

“trufitas”

solera

Morphings…

The Final Bite

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:01:36 +0000

Just like the meal began with the spherical olives, it closed with extremely fragile tangerine-sweet spheres that burst in your mouth with taste. Oh, and how about the presentation? Nice, huh?

The Final Bite

Erm…not sure of the title of this one…

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:58:51 +0000

But it was sponge cake with a dash of something also unidentified on top. Aren’t you glad you are reading this insightful blog?

Flower Canape

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:54:29 +0000

As mentioned, flowers played quite a big role in the whole dinner, and one of the deserts was flower canape. This was a crisp meringue with some kind of flower oil/honey as well as actual flowers. Needless to say, it was a pretty unique taste. This was one of the times, when we couldn’t say if something was good or not, just that we had absolutely nothing to compare it to, as the taste was so novel.

Flower Canape

Sea Anemone 2008

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:46:54 +0000

This is the dish they specifically asked us if we were up for. And with good reason. Not only did it smell almost pungent when it arrived. Visually it looked like slime with raw meat and vomit. I was confused as to what was what, so I believe I tasted both the sea urchins and the rabbit brains. Raw rabbit brains, I might add…

I can’t say this tasted good to my taste buds. But my dining companion at it all and claimed it was good, so I guess it depends on the person.

Sea Anemone 2008

Asparagus with Miso

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:39:47 +0000

This may have been the best presented dish of them all. It was so pretty when it came in looking like two bees with wings and everything, as well as two flowers. It was also one of the yummiest, even though it was quite a mouthful as it was served without utensils, so you had to eat the whole thing in one go.

Asparagus with miso

Water Lily Soup

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:32:09 +0000

I don’t know about your parents, but I remember my mother telling me not to eat the flowers when I was a kid. So much of your sense of taste comes through your sense of smell, so it kinda made sense to eat the flowers, as they smelled so nice.

I guess Ferran Adria thinks the same, as this essentially was flower soup. And it tasted just like you’d imagine. Sweet and fragrant with an interesting absence of saltiness.

Water Lily Soup

Black Garlic Ravioli

Lars — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:28:03 +0000

This was one of my favorites of the entire evening. The ravioli had almonds inside and some kind of almond paste, and it worked wonders with the accompanying Japanese garlic.

Black Garlic Ravioli