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Barcelona Bridal Week shows the strength of Catalonia's wedding industry

CNA / Gemma Nieto

Four days on the Gaudí catwalk and over 230 national and international exhibitors in the Gran Via fairground reaffirmed the convention as the quintessential meeting of the bridal industry worldwide. The Catalan designer Rosa Clarà was chosen another year to open the four days of catwalks at the ‘Pasarela Gaudí Novias’. Exports from Catalan wedding products made the industry generate a turnover of 10% more than in 2010. Currently, the industry is opening to Mexico and China.

May 16, 2012 10:52 PM

The Catalan ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ recognised again as the world’s second best restaurant

CNA / Laura Pous / Marina Caubet

For the second year in a row, ‘Restaurant Magazine’ has awarded ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ the second position in the world’s top restaurant ranking. The Catalan chef Joan Roca runs this restaurant in Girona together with his brothers Josep and Jordi, who take care of wines and desserts respectively. The Roca brothers with their 3 Michelin star restaurant represent Catalan cuisine, after Ferran Adrià decided to close El Bulli last summer and reopen it again in 2014 but turn it into the ‘El Bulli Foundation’. Copenhagen’s ‘Noma’ continues being at the top of the best world restaurant list. The Basque restaurants ‘Mugaritz’ and ‘Arzak’ hold third and eighth positions respectively.

May 2, 2012 10:08 PM

The last three sous-chefs from Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli to open their own restaurant in Cadaqués

CNA / T. Tàpia

Three deputy chefs of what was recognised for consecutive years as the best restaurant in the world, El Bulli, run by the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià, are now set to open their own restaurant on the Costa Brava. It will be called ‘Compartir’, the Catalan verb for ‘to share’. They aim to offer “simple cuisine”, with dishes to share. El Bulli closed its doors last summer, however it will transform itself into elBulli Foundation, a centre to experiment with food, design and senses. It is expected to open in 2014. The three sous-chefs will also collaborate with Adrià’s new project.

April 19, 2012 12:36 AM

The Roca brothers owners of the second best restaurant in the world open their ice-cream shop in Girona

CNA

The desserts of El Celler de Can Roca, recognised last year as the second best restaurant in the world and run by the Roca brothers, have been moved into ice-cream business. The Roca brothers have opened ‘Rocambolesc’, an ice-cream shop run by Jordi Roca, the chef patissier of El Celler de Can Roca. The ice-cream shop is in the Catalan city of Girona, where the restaurant is located. William Drew, editor of ‘Restaurant Magazine’, told ACN that good news was coming up for the Roca brothers in the gala recognising the 50 best restaurants in the world, held on April 30th.

April 14, 2012 01:08 AM

Alella DO, one of the oldest wine regions in Spain on Barcelona’s doorstep

Klara Zitnanska

Alella offers a unique opportunity to enjoy a wine culture in vineyards just 15 kilometres from Barcelona. One of the smallest and oldest Spanish wine appellations (DO), it is perfectly situated on the Mediterranean coast, protected by the Litoral mountain range. The cellars organise numerous activities for wine tourists of all ages where you can learn how to taste wine, take part in the harvest, find a connection between chocolate and wine or just stroll through the vineyards.

April 10, 2012 08:32 PM

Catalan theme park PortAventura opens its doors expecting to host 4 million visitors this season

CNA / Laura Quintana

The Catalan theme park PortAventura opened its doors last weekend for the new season. Despite the crisis, in 2011 the park registered 16% more visitors than in 2010, reaching 3.7 million in total. The park’s CEO, Fernando Aldecoa, has said they expect to reach 4 million visitors this season, which ends just after Halloween. This season, €25 million has been invested in a new rollercoaster called ‘Shambhala’, which will be the tallest in Europe and will reach speeds of 134 km per hour during a fall of 78 metres.

April 2, 2012 11:25 PM

Ferran Adrià's creative universe on show in Barcelona

CNA / Marina Vicens

'Ferran Adrià i elBulli. Risc, llibertat i creativitat' ('Ferran Adrià and elBulli. Risk, freedom and creativity') is on show in Barcelona to coincide with the Catalan chef’s 50th's anniversary and is the basis for a future museum in the Costa Brava town of Roses. The exhibition shows a huge number of texts, graphic documents and objects related to the history of the world’s most famous restaurant.

March 31, 2012 12:28 AM

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