An exhibition on Ferran Adrià's cuisine and his restaurant El Bulli will be on show in London
The Catalan chef Ferran Adrià revolutionised modern cuisine, in such a way that some critics have compared him to Picasso’s influence on painting. In fact, most of the current top chefs around the world have spent some time as training cooks at Adrià’s restaurant El Bulli, which was located on a Costa Brava beach, in the Catalan town of Roses. El Bulli was considered to be the best restaurant in the world for a five–time record and it closed in 2011 to re-open as a culinary foundation promoting research and art in 2014. In addition, Adrià was considered by Restaurant Magazine to be “the chef of the decade” in 2010 and he has taught at Harvard and other universities. Ferran Adrià’s creativity developed new techniques and re-interpreted cuisine, fragmenting dishes, cooking for the five senses, creating a new language and bringing cuisine to a whole new dimension.
London (ACN).- 'el Bulli: Ferran Adrià and The Art of Food' will be on show at London’s Somerset House from the 4th of July to the 29th of September. The Catalan chef Ferran Adrià revolutionised modern cuisine, in such a way that some critics have compared him to Picasso’s influence on painting. In fact, most of the current top chefs around the world have spent some time as training cooks at Adrià’s restaurant El Bulli, which was located on a Costa Brava beach, in the Catalan town of Roses. El Bulli was considered to be the best restaurant in the world for a five–time record and it closed in 2011 to re-open as a culinary foundation promoting research and art in 2014. In addition, Adrià was considered by Restaurant Magazine to be “the chef of the decade” in 2010 and he has taught at Harvard and other universities. Ferran Adrià’s creativity developed new techniques and re-interpreted cuisine, fragmenting dishes, cooking for the five senses, creating a new language and bringing cuisine to a whole new dimension. The exhibition on the Catalan chef and ‘el Bulli’ has already been on show for a year in Barcelona, at the Palau Robert centre. It was a great success, visited by more than 650,000 people, and will now tour worldwide. London is the first stop but Adrià hopes to bring the exhibition to Sao Paulo and the United States, among other destinations.
On Thursday, Ferran Adrià presented the Somerset House exhibition on his art and the restaurant where he cooked for three decades, el Bulli, which was considered the best restaurant in the world in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Adrià is said to be very satisfied with the exhibition and he considered it to be “incredible” that Somerset House was dedicating an exhibition to his work. According to Adrià, the content managers for Somerset House “like risk, and el Bulli is risk”. The Catalan chef emphasised that it was the first time an exhibition in this London art centre has been devoted to a restaurant, which according to him shows the innovative drive of his work.
Somerset House considers the show to be “a testament to Adrià’s abundant talent, genius and ambition”. The exhibition will enable the visitor to discover the process the Catalan chef followed to come up with his dishes at the Costa Brava restaurant, on the Creus Cape (Cap de Creus). Handwritten notes, drawings of dishes, play dough models, original menus and cutlery designs, are displayed among other items.
A great week for Catalan cuisine in London
The exhibition on Adrià and El Bulli has been presented in London the same week that another Catalan restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca, has been recognised as the best restaurant in the world. ‘Restaurant’ magazine, considered to be the most prestigious publication among chefs, awarded the recognition to the Girona-based establishment run by the three Roca brothers, with Joan Roca as the main chef. Adrià had told the press he was “very happy, and it is very important for the country in difficult times”, referring to the rough economic situation. He also stated that the El Celler de Can Roca is “an example” of “how a SME – because a restaurant is also a SME – can create amazing things”.
In 2013, El Celler de Can Roca and the Roca brothers have taken the world’s cuisine crown from the Danish restaurant Noma and René Redzepi, who in 2010 took the position from El Bulli and Ferran Adrià. In 2010, El Bulli was not included in the world’s top ranking since Adrià had already announced his plans to close the restaurant in 2011. However, in 2010, ‘Restaurant’ named Adrià the “chef of the decade”.
The exhibition in Somerset House aims to discover Adrià’s way of working and understanding cuisine. The Catalan chef told the press he was very happy to have such an exhibition in London, since it is one of the cities he likes the most. He also added that “apart from two or three museums such as the Tate”, Somerset House is one of the “most modern” museums in the world, with two and a half million visitors per year. “It is run by people who like risk, and el Bull is about risk”, he added.
According to Adrià, within the next four to five months, the Anglo-Saxon world will speak “a lot” about Catalan cuisine, because of El Celler de Can Roca’s success and because of the exhibition at Somerset House. “These are important things for the country”, he emphasised, since both things will bring Catalonia closer to “potential high-class tourists”. “Never before has an exhibition about a restaurant been organised” he underlined, and it is important than the first one is about a Catalan establishment.
The exhibition is “pedagogical and fun”, according to the Catalan chef. It is a “fantastic” exploration of el Bulli’s working process. It is also “a way to instil innovation; it is an exhibition very much linked to innovation, but in a very easy way”, Adrià explained. He also confessed that when the exhibition was in Barcelona, he attended from time to time to witness the people’s growing interest in the field of cuisine.
Ferran Adrià also told the press that within the next few days he will present to the public the “symbolical name” of his new project, El Bulli Foundation, the research and innovation centre mixing cuisine, health and art. Adrià explained that the name will add “an adjective” to make it more special. In addition, he reminded listeners that in November they will officially present the foundation’s project, which aims to give a legacy to society. Adrià also added that they are not in a rush to open El Bulli Foundation’s doors.