Four Catalan restaurants win their first Michelin star
The Spain and Portugal Michelin Guide 2016 added four Catalan restaurants to their prestigious list and awarded them their first Michelin Star. Two of them, Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch’s Disfrutar and Albert Adrià and Paco Méndez’s Hoja Santa are disciples of Ferran Adriá’s El Bulli, which was five times awarded best restaurant in the world. Besides these two restaurants from Barcelona, the Hotel Restaurant Emporium located in Castelló d’Empúries, in the north of Catalonia, and Tresmacarrons, in the coastal village of Masnou, also received the prestigious award for the first time. Mallorca restaurant Zaranda, which is led by Fernando Pérez Arellano (who previously worked in the three-Michelin-star-holding Catalan restaurant Can Fabes and the Coque restaurant in Madrid), adds its second star to its record. There are currently 50 restaurants which have been awarded by Michelin Guides, 22 of which are located in Barcelona.