Following an epic list of chefs participating in September’s Dining Impossible inSan Sebastián -,and- the epicurean 6-hands event is moving to Barcelona in October.Loved around the world for its vibrant life, its sheer style, looks and energy, next month will see Jordi Cruz, the three and Albert Adrià offering anotherworldly gastronomic experience to pleasure aficionadosflying in from around the globe.
All dinners include full wine/beer/cocktail menus predetermined with the respectful sommeliers, as well as mineral water, various taxes and gratuity.
As always the guest list remains a secret to the public and will only be shared in detail amongst the participants. Menus and wines will be served découverte, meaning presented and discovered on the night of the dinner parties as a part of the full-blown Basque storytelling.
Price per cover is confidential. Please contact Kristian Brask Thomsen atambassador@bon-vivant.dkfor further information.
The Young Master |Jordi Cruz
Thursday 2October
Gastronomy is the fundamental axis of the ABaC project. The restaurant has been awarded two Michelin stars and is run by Chef Jordi Cruz, whoearned his first star at the tender age of 24, becoming the youngest chef in Spain and the second youngest in the world to have been awarded this accolade.
The strong promise he represented within the panorama of Spanish cuisine was clearly recognised from that moment on.
This evening features Jordi Cruz and the impeccable staff of Restaurant ABaC at the stylish luxury hotel of the same name, where they will be offering champagne, the grand ABaC menu, an impeccable wine menu, mineral water, gourmet coffee/tea, delicious petit fours and avecs in the beautiful Salon Privée.
Restaurant ABaC has been awarded “Best Restaurant of Catalonia”. One of those rare gems that is totally at the top of its game and must be experienced before a single thing changes.
After the grand ABaC, the party enters the Golden Quarter and livelylobby night club at Barcelona’s luxury Hotel Omm, with private lounges, seducing cocktails and sets by the best current DJs.
Dress code: Classy laissez faire.
The World’s No. 2 | The roca brothers
Friday 3 October
The passion for cooking and hospitality shared by the three Roca brothers is palpable, but the food is playful rather than serious (caramelised olives are brought to the table on bonsai trees) and Catalan ingredients are given centre-stage on the menu.
Superior techniques complement simple flavour combinations designed to titillate the palate and the memory rather than confuse the mind. It’s very clever stuff – but thankfully it is also utterly delicious.
El Celler de Can Roca holds three stars in Guide Michelin and was voted the“World’s Best Restaurant”2013 by the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.The same day the restaurant was named No. 1, its website had 12 million hits. In 2014 El Celler de Can Roca was voted as No. 2.
This highly internationally acclaimed restaurant, featuring the stylish, laid back and world renowned staff of El Celler de Can Roca, offers Champagne, a grande feast, an extensive wine menu, mineral water, gourmet tea/coffee, delicious petit fours and avecs, all served in a semi-private dining room.
Furthermore, a private guided tour of the kitchen and “battle station” of the restaurant and a tour of the large wine cellar, which stores around 60000 bottles, is given.
The journey to and from El Celler de Can Roca in Girona (100 kilometers north of Barcelona) will be made in stretch limousines, accompanied by bubbles after attending a Champagne reception in the dazzling rooms of Café Vienés at the iconic Casa Fuster.
Dress code: Formal elegance.
The Grand Theatre |Albert Adrià
Saturday 4 October
Slightlytipsy after a late afternoon cocktail party at Banker’s Bar at The Mandarin Oriental, we enter our final dining destination: the famous, glorious, adventurous and notorious. It is the beating culinary heart of Albert Adrià’sambitious but straightforward goal: to convert Barcelona into the culinary capital of Europe.
While Ferran’s focus shifted to the El Bulli Foundation, a program dedicated to transforming the former restaurant into a competitive cooking school, Albert’s attention returned to Barcelona full time.
“If anyone can transform an entire neighbourhood into a gigantic restaurant, it is —one of the best cooks in the world,” says the Basque chef , who met Albert through Ferran when Albert was just 17 years old. “He’s always been a lively, quick-witted and extremely inventive individual. There aren’t many chefs who can match his creativity.”
This evening the stage is set for a magnificent show: La vida tapa. At Tickets, gastronomy is linked to a way of understanding life. In this respect you will find humour, a great deal of character and a20+ elaborated tapas menu extraordinaire.Expect elBulli classics as well as new wizardry combinations conceived by a great culinary mastermind.
You may feel as though you are a spectator at the circus or about to sit down to an evening of live theatre, but one thing you will not experience is boredom. Expect to encounter olives which are not actually olives, cotton candy trees studded with fruits and mouth watering Iberian cured ham which is found sneaked into mini hollow “air baguettes” or painted on top of fresh tuna belly.
An evening of surprises, we will have a party within a party in the circus-come-theatre-come-restaurant that is Tickets.
Talk to chefs and restaurant people around the world and they know Albert Adriànot just as the little brother of the most important chef of the past 20 years, but as the brain behind Ferran’s empire, the wizard who helped establish the terms of avant-garde cuisine, and the man as responsible as any other for turning elBulli into the most influential restaurant of the modern cooking era.
Chefs will stand in line to tell you about his brilliance. The first in line will be Ferran himself. “He is without a doubt the most complete cook working in the world today.”
Dress code: It’s all about the attitude.