14 January 2016

One word: exquisite. I’m really not sure how any other restaurant is ever going to compare to El Celler De Can Roca. El Celler De what now? Yes, the name is a bit of a mouthful (pun intended) and I was fortunate enough to enjoy the feast menu late last year with my family. The feast menu is approximately twenty courses so sit back and relax – there are many a photo for you to enjoy.

Did I mention that the restaurant is in Girona, near Barcelona? I realise that ForkTalk is a “foodie’s guide to London’s hottest restaurants” but I’m making an exception for this three michelin star restaurant that was voted the best restaurant in the world in 2015.

I was told to expect a lot of seafood and offal which are not exactly favourites. So I called the restaurant in advance to let them know and I also mentioned that my mum doesn’t eat pork or beef. I also read the amazing blog post by Bacon on the Beech which got me all the more excited.

El Celler is the gastronomic vision of the Roca brothers – head chef Joan, pastry chef Jordi and sommelier Josep. The decor is light and fairly minimalist and there is no background music. The tables surround this inner courtyard of trees which look simple yet beautiful. We had our own waitress Marianna, who was so effortless and for want of a better word, “normal.”

We started off with the most delicate house cava and made a mental note to purchase a bottle at the end of the meal. But after almost a four hour meal and a monstrous wine pairing, we most certainly forgot.

Here are the wine lists…”lists” is a bit of an understatement….

Before our first appetiser arrived, Mr Josep Roca personally welcomed us to his restaurant – it was touching to meet someone so humble yet so incredibly successful.

First up was a black hot air balloon looking creation for each diner at the table.

 

We pulled on the ribbons which opened up to reveal the world…

Each bite size appetiser represents a different part of the world; Thailand, Turkey, China, Morocco and Korea. My favourite was Thailand which was made up of chicken, coriander, coconut, curry and lime.

We then thought we’d be moving onto the items described on our menu, but little did we know, there were still five (!) more “off the menu” appetisers to go.

The next appetiser was called “memories of a bar in the suburbs of Girona.” Breaded squid, pigeon bonbon, potato and onion omelette, anchovy bone in rice tempura and campari bonbon. My mother’s campari bonbon burst before she got to it and Marianna quickly replaced it with another before we even asked for one; a small example of the exemplary service throughout the meal.

Green olive ice cream which we picked off the tree…

Crispy prawns… you have to look closely, they’re micro prawns which are flattened against the cracker…

A ying yang oyster and sea bream ceviche…I’m not a fan of oysters but I had to give it a go. If I’m going to eat one, El Celler is definitely the place to do it! The sea bream ceviche was wonderfully light and refreshing after the thick oyster sauce.

Truffled bonbon…earthy.

Mushroom brioche which was lovely and sweet after the bonbon…

A bread basket…whilst I wouldn’t ordinarily photograph a bread basket, my family couldn’t stop raving about the tomato brioche (front left)…

And now, onto the tasting menu…

Pumping consommé with green tea. The nutty flavours from the hazelnut tofu and charcoal grilled chestnuts really stood out in this dish…

Red pine mushrooms, pine nut sprouts and Thai grapefruit…the most interesting mushrooms I have ever tried in terms of colour, taste and texture.

Langoustine with cocoa bean sauce…

Partridge and fermented cabbage salad… This was one of my favourites of the night. And don’t let the photograph fool you – the portion was minuscule. It had to be considering all that was left to come!

Persimmon with charcoal-grilled pigeon…and another favourite for me. This was my first experience of partridge and pigeon and both surprised me. There was also some debate over what persimmon actually is. We realised that it is the same / similar to sharon fruit once Marianna brought a raw one to the table for us to see.

Prawn marinated with rice vinegar. Sounds good right? There were crispy prawn legs, prawn head sauce, seaweed and phytoplankton. I enjoyed the crispy prawn legs but the head sauce was black with a syrupy texture and it was too potent for all of us. A pea size amount on your tongue is more than enough for the taste buds. Imagine increasing the intensity of the flavour of a prawn x 1000. That’s the best way to describe it.

Confit skate with mustard oil…

Blackspot seabream with “samfaina” – a complete vision…

Next were the meat courses…

Iberian suckling pig with strawberry tree fruit and pomegranate…another one of my favourites. The strawberry tree fruit was too cute to handle and the sweetness worked really well with the suckling pig. My mouth is watering thinking about it….

Lamb with eggplant and chickpea, trotters and spicy tomato…

Veal oyster blade and marrow, tendons and avocado….

By this point in the evening, we were taking regular breaks, struggling to keep up with the wine pairing and feeling a little “buzzed.” Here’s my collection of wine glasses by way of example….

As some of you may know, I’m not a huge dessert person but despite the amount of food I had already consumed, I sat there enthusiastically waiting for what was coming up next.

Suspiro Limeno aka milk, lime, coriander, milk caramel pisco. Quite simply this dessert was like eating snow. Not that I’ve ever eaten snow of course. But you know that feeling when you have your gloves on and you are packing a snowball together before getting ready to throw it? That “packed together” texture is exactly how it felt to bite into this dessert. I would love to see how it is made.

Turkish perfume – rose, peach, saffron, cumin, cinnamon and pistachio. We were encouraged to smell the perfumed strip whilst eating the dessert to heighten the flavours.

And finally, orange colourology which looked like the future of desserts. The photographs and video say it all but what I will say is that the mini citrus sorbet balls reminded me of my childhood…solero shots!

We were assured that there was nothing left to come when a petit fours trolley pulled up next to our table. Marianna helped us to choose some goodies to take home.

I felt a sense of nostalgia before we had even left the restaurant. El Celler was my best dining experience to date and I am so grateful to my parents for our visit there. I cannot compliment this restaurant enough. The Roca brothers and this restaurant truly deserve the title of the world’s best restaurant. I hope I am fortunate enough to return and if I do, I’ll be bringing home some of that cava!

Rating: 

http://cellercanroca.com/index.htm