262020 Wed Nov 06 12:25:32 -0800 2002 18 26 International 0 1384437 Is it worth to take a trip from US to dine at El Bulli? What is the best way to get reservations for 2003? What are the other especially outstanding restaurants in the same region? Wed Nov 06 12:25:32 -0800 2002 0 kel 1 1384449 It certainly is worth the trip from the U.S., or anywhere else. El Bulli is the seminal restaurant of the moment and is key to making sense and imposing a perspective on the cuisine of the latest wave of high profile media chefs who often imitate, but never better, Ferran Adria's reformulation of the dining experience. El Bulli is only open for dinner service and for six months of the year, from April to September inclusive. Getting a table can be virtually impossible in the months of high summer and at weekends and holidays. However if you're prepared to eat midweek and not in July or August you shouldn't have too much difficulty. When you phone (I'm not sure when they start taking bookings for 2003) it helps if you or the person making the call can speak Spanish or better still Catalan. There are plenty of fine restaurants in Catalunia but Miguel Sanchez Romero's L'Esguard and Santi Santamaria's El Raco con Fabes are outstanding even by world standards. Wed Nov 06 17:03:33 -0800 2002 1384437 0 Michael Lewis 2 1384454 A dinner at the three Michelin starred El Raco two years ago with his own 17 course meal was the finest of my life. A return visit four days later for a 12 course meal was outstanding but not quite on the same level. (On the first visit our table was next to a visiting two Michelin starred chef-we seemed to share everything that he did. Five dishes that night were not served to us when we ordered the same "classic" menu that we did the first night.) We will return next year and visit both El Bulli and El Raco but I have learned at El Raco to tell them to bring me a taste of everything they have. El Bulli begins to accept reservations on Janaury 15th for their six month season. Wed Nov 06 18:21:49 -0800 2002 1384449 0 Joe H. 2 1384458 I agree with Michael about L'esgard. MSR's cooking is extraordinary. His principal of cuisine based on its effect on synaptic responses ( he has written a wonderful book called La Cocina De Los Sentidos - The cooking of the Senses ) and I believe he is a practicing Neuro surgeon. Michael, I am thinking of the same person, right? In many ways I preferred the meal there to that at El Bulli, but both were in the top rank of meals I have eaten S Thu Nov 07 01:07:02 -0800 2002 1384449 0 Simon Majumdar 3 1384548 I was surprised to read your comment about L'esgarde. I had never heard of it. You were only a stone's throw from Sant Pau, a widely known place with the lady chef, two stars, included in Relais et Chateaux, singled out by Fodor, etc.etc. I would greatly appreciate hearing your reasons for preferring L'esgarde to Sant Pau.I've never been to Catalonia at all, but am going this June and need all the advice I can get. Naturally we are going to El Bulli and Can Fabes, but we had planned to go to Sant Pau also. Should I change my plan? Thanks Cy Neuman Tue Nov 12 11:23:07 -0800 2002 1384458 0 cy neuman 4 1384562 Is this 'going' or 'hope to go' to El Bulli? They wouldn't take my booking for 2003 when I tried, and apparently haven't started booking for 2003 yet. Wed Nov 13 11:10:12 -0800 2002 1384548 0 estufarian 5 1384575 Correction. I should have said "hope" rather than "going to" El Bulli. I assumed and still assume that I will be able to get a reservation. I'm going on a weekday in early June. Wed Nov 13 16:50:34 -0800 2002 1384562 0 cy neuman 6 1384578 Forgive me but you should not assume that you can get a reservation. My wife and I are going to Spain WHEN we are able to get the reservation at El Bulli. They begin to accept them at 10:00AM on January 15th and I am told that within two days or so they will be more than 90% booked up for their entire six months of operation. I happened to call this year in early July and was told they did not have one single seat available for the remaining two and one half months of their season. El Bulli has been a tough reservation for several years but since being called the best restaurant in the world by the English publication it has become the toughest reservation in the world also. (With all due respect to the French Laundry and Eiginsinn Farm.) If you are not able to get into El Bulli you should absolutely go to El Raco which is much, much easier to get into. In fact I was surprised when both nights that we were there-and one was a Saturday-there was an empty table or two. This is a superb three star that while considerably more conventional may be as good in its own way. Wed Nov 13 22:28:17 -0800 2002 1384575 0 Joe H. 7 1384593 Thanks , Joe. I was well aware of the difficulty with reservations at El Bulli, having read about the Jan.15 date and the quick sell-out, on this message board.However, I assumed that a request made on Jan.15 for a weekday in early June would be accepted. Maybe I was wrong. We shall see. Incidentally, the previous message on this message board said that reservations are accepted only by phone, not by e-mail. That is no longer true. Reservations now can be made only by e-mail or fax, NOT by telephone.That comes direcly from Garcia at El Bulli. About Can Fabes- I said in my original message that of course we are going there. The question that I raised was why L'esguard rather than Sant Pau?So far no answer from anyone. Thu Nov 14 11:29:07 -0800 2002 1384578 0 cy neuman 8 1384596 That is different from what I was told several months ago. I do not find it encouraging that they only accept them by e-mail or fax. no immediate confirmation or opportunity for flexibility. More than likely just a response a week or two later, if one at all. I suppose if I say that I need a reservation for two on any night in, say, June and I send this to them at 10:00AM local time by e-mail and/or fax then I am all right. Still, not a preferred method. Thu Nov 14 12:11:33 -0800 2002 1384593 0 Joe H. 9 1384600 Your pessimism is enveloping me.You're in some doubt as to whether you can get a table on ANY night in June, whereas I am committed to one specific night only.Woe is me! If they turn me down, the hell with them. That night we will go to El Celler de Can Roca in Girona- up and coming new star. When our trip is over next summer, I will have an amazing story - I hope- to tell about Troisgros, if anyone has been there in the last 10 years but remembers it as it was in the late 60s. Thu Nov 14 13:07:06 -0800 2002 1384596 0 cy neuman 10 1384601 Don't worry. They respond to e-mail very promptly and they WANT to help you; they do not take an adversarial attitude at all. If you know someone who speaks Spanish well (and can write even better than that) have him or her conduct your correspondence for you in a most solicitous manner. But, above all, tell us how it goes... Thu Nov 14 13:47:43 -0800 2002 1384600 0 Fidelixi 11 1385155 We are planning to go to El Bulli in June. My wife has a culinair company of her own which will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Juli 1, 2003. A nice occasion to go to "the best restaurant in the world", especially as a surprise trip for her. Can anyone recommend me a hotel close to El Bulli? regards, michiel Fri Dec 13 15:23:08 -0800 2002 1384601 0 Michiel 12 1385158 Try Almadraba Park Hotel in Roses. It's the nearest hotel to the restaurant, I think. It's not a high-end place but it's not bad either. Roses is a prtty ugly town by the hotel has a fantastic location overlooking the ocean. It's got a strange kind of fading 60's glamour -- classic design, lights, colors. We paid about $110 for room overlooking the water, which I highly recommend. There is "short cut" to El Bulli through the hills and on a dirt road. You won't believe that it's get you there, but it will. Take a right turn at the tree (ask the desk). It's stunning at sunset. Tel 972 25 65 50 Fri Dec 13 21:02:27 -0800 2002 1385155 0 Fidelixi 4 1385230 Do not miss out on Sant Pau. In many ways more imaginative and friendly than El Raco. Carme Ruscalleda is self taught, but loves using pure ingredients and emphasising their natural qualities. The whole place is a delight, with an informal, almost family atmosphere. Carme is very accessible, will always be there, and will talk fully about how she prepares things, giving recipes if you want. (She only has some French beyond Catalan and Spanish) An absolute delight in a nondescript town. Fri Dec 20 05:32:28 -0800 2002 1384548 0 jhf 2 1384474 You do not need to speak Spanish when calling El Bulli, or when e-mailing them. Virtually everyone there speaks English (and French, and of course Spanish and Catalan) except, perhaps, Mr. Adria himself, unless he was just playing the part when we met him after our dinner there this past June. I don't know if it's standard to be invited to visit the kitchen there, but if they don't offer I suggest very much that you ask to do so. The kitchen is a spectacular site/lab and much more memorable/distinctive than the still very comfortable dining room/s. The atmosphere and manpower is impressive and daunting; the glass walls that abut a rock wall is oddly comforting against the almost clinical discipline going on inside. As to whether it it's worth travelling from here exclusively to go there I would say no. You are bound to be disappointed when laying that kind of expectation on an experience. El Bulli is very special but it is after all just a restaurant, albeit a very remote and exquisite one. Make it part of a longer trip that will be full of pleasure in their own right, thus you will be best prepared to have El Bulli be yet another peak in what is already a happy journey. We were not blown away by the dining at El Bulli. This summer he offered a 'greatest hits' tasting menu comprised of his selected dishes over the last 20 or so years. Some were memorable but many were simply 'interesting'; there is a tendency there to break ingredients down into their essence and then rebuild them into something augmented, tampered with. I found that the natural essence of the food, the terroir if you will (without being pretentious) was rarely allowed to shine through, unlike so many of the simple and terrific regional restaurants that we ate in Provence, where we were based for our trip. The beginning appetizers were in many ways the most exciting and perhaps the best part of the evening -- which was wonderful and a treat overall -- was drinking a cold bottle of sherry, sitting on the gorgeous patio overlooking the cove and enjoying the unusual starters, some as simple as fried pork rinds (but oh, what pork rinds!). One thing I recommend is to book your dinner and keep the sun in mind -- allow yourself a good hour to sit on the patio and watch the sun set. It is so entrancing and relaxing I wanted it to last forever. Enjoy if you go> Thu Nov 07 16:51:30 -0800 2002 1384449 0 Fidelixi 1 1384512 Thank you all for the great responses. May I ask the same owner owns which restaurant in Barcelona? Sun Nov 10 17:37:32 -0800 2002 1384437 0 kel 1 1384608 When we were in the area this summer, we dined at El Raco con Fabes. The meal was exquisite and I would highly recommend dinner here (the only difficult part is finding the restaurant and parking!). The other restaurant I'll mention is in Barcelona. A chef that trained at El Bulli runs the kitchen and serves some similar dishes--deconstructed potato omelette, etc. Fascinating tasting menu. Made me wish we had taken the time and journeyed up to El Bulli itself. Thu Nov 14 22:00:37 -0800 2002 1384437 0 Lori McLaughlin 2 1384614 On our first visit we took a cab from Barcelona and it still took the driver about fifteen minutes to find El Raco once we arrived in the small town. Fri Nov 15 05:15:01 -0800 2002 1384608 0 Joe H.