World's Best place to Dine, El Bulli, Spain selected

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World's Best place to Dine, El Bulli, Spain selected

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The future of gastronomy lays in Spain

Ferran Adria, El Bulli Restaurant,
Roses Catalonia, Spain
Molecular gastronomy

Considered best place to dine by Restaurant Magazine

Ferran Adrià began his culinary career as a dishwasher at the Hotel Playafels, in Catalonia. The chef de cuisine at this hotel taught him traditional Spanish cuisine. At 19 he was drafted into military service where he worked as a cook. In 1984, at the age of 22, Adrià joined the kitchen staff of El Bulli as a line cook. Eighteen months later he became the head chef.

El Bulli (the small bulldog) has 3 Michelin stars and is regarded as one of the best restaurants in the Western world. In 2005 it ranked second in the Restaurant Top 50. It was awarded the first place in 2006, displacing The Fat Duck in England. El Bulli has retained this title in 2007.

Initially labelled "molecular gastronomy" then "techno-emotional cuisine," Mr Adria's work is often defined in laboratory terms - perhaps because, during the winter months, his team of forty chefs retreat to a custom-built workshop to experiment with the following season's menu.

But during our interview, it soon becomes clear that Mr Adria resents the caricature of himself as a kind of Dr Frankenstein in a chef's hat.

"In the past, there was no real dialogue between cookery and other disciplines - like art, design, science and ecology," he explains. "So what I've done is initiate that dialogue. But no one should ever dispute that I'm a chef."