I know, I know, everyone else who saw Bourdain's show wants to go now, too. I emailed the restaurant about a table in June 2007. Do I need to enlist someone who speaks Spanish to call and inquire?

Side note -- Mr Tmac wants to go to Barcelona after our Med cruise next June, it seems like a cool idea to go eat there then, considering the trip is our 10-year anniversary extravaganza.

i heard some jerks on ebay where auctioning off the chance to be at their table.. for $1,000 plus your meal which would only be about $200.
i would look at egullet.org for help!

Yeah, I went to egullet after I posted this -- guess I should have checked there first. Seems pretty impossible.

I hope the guys selling their seats on ebay lose their table. Not cool.

Ah well, you never know - I've been lucky in the past (winning the cooking class and all )

I would call them... or fax them. I am sure someone there speaks English. And if you cannot get in for the date you want, keep trying!

I have heard it is NOT GOOD to drive back to town after dinner there. May be wise to hire a driver or something. There is also info over on chowhound.com. Good luck and I want a full report!

I'll happily write an e-mail or fax in Spanish for you to send if you wish.
... yes, I'm Giulia "da Urbino" but I'm bilingual Italian-Spanish

Giulia, you are at least perfectly tri-lingual, I say at least because I don't know if you have another couple of languages up your sleeve.....

No more languages up my sleeve except some basic French and good EatingAndRecipeReading-German

quote:

Originally posted by Giulia da Urbino:
I'll happily write an e-mail or fax in Spanish for you to send if you wish.
... yes, I'm Giulia "da Urbino" but I'm bilingual Italian-Spanish

Thank you thank you! I'll try for a letter. I wrote a letter once that got me tickets to the Oprah show, which aren't as hard as this, but that gives me hope I'll be in touch.

Here's my understanding about reservations - El Bulli takes reservations for the following year starting in October (eg for the 2006 season they started taking reservations October 15, 2005).

You send in dates desired, number of people, contact info - by email or fax only - no phone calls. English is fine for correspondence.

Email: bulli@elbulli.com

Some websites suggest that you should send them in a few days before the middle of October.

We tried to get reservations in January of 2004 when we were staying in Perpignan in April of that year. We decided to chance going there to see if we could get a cancellation and we did get lucky. So....if you're in the general area it might be worth it.

We ate at El Bulli in the early 80s - had a wonderful meal for about $40! Our return visit was also spectacular - we described it as one part food, one part theatre and one part chemistry. I've never *laughed* so much at a 3 star! Worth the journey, as Michelin says. My favourite course was the balloon filled with orange scented air, pierced in front of your face as a palate cleanser...........can't make that up!

Agree with the previous poster that you shouldn't drive back into town - although I was chuckling as we drove along the road at midnight in the back of the cab.....wondering what the cabbie had been doing that evening?

quote:

Originally posted by LizS:
My favourite course was the balloon filled with orange scented air, pierced in front of your face as a palate cleanser...........can't make that up!

oh, that's hilarious!

I got a response to my email - they said the same thing, to contact them again in Oct.

That gives me time to write something convincing.

I did contact them by email a couple of years ago and received pretty prompt responses.

No, we didn't get in, but I would definitely try again if I were going to Barcelona.

For those of you who have been successful at getting into El Bulli, have you also dined at French Laundry in Napa Valley? If so, how did the two restaurants compare?

I loved French Laundry and would do it again even though our meal for two with wine and tip came to $500! Oh well, that's what money is for, isn't it?

Hi Nancy - we haven't dined at French Laundry although I have read a great deal about it and have the cookbook, and we have dined at Thomas Keller's restaurant Per Se in New York City.

If that qualifies me to compare the cuisine of Keller and El Bulli I'd say they just don't compare.

Keller lovingly treats each ingredient as special - preserving its essential flavour and texture - Adria tries to blow the whole thing up with chemistry! In fact he calls his kitchen the laboratory.

Many of Adria's dishes are visual tricks and puns - following is a pic of a caviar starter....



....except it's not caviar - it's tiny beads of melon - not melon balls.....but melon liquid suspended in.....in.....I don't know! But they pop just like caviar and are quite remarkable

Next picture is an utterly remarkable dish - you assume it's an egg white omellete but it's actually cheese foam (inside) wrapped in the skin formed when milks boils! Imagine being the kitchen commie who's in charge of milk skin? It's lighter than air!



There were 24 other courses - of which about 4 were more or less "normal" preparations/presentations but the others were based on his chemistry tactics.......here's a picture of a savoury flavoured hot foam that has been suspended in a nitrogen bath - so the outside is cold and crisp and the inside is smooth and warm (although I think the chef at the Fat Duck takes credit for the technique)




Here's a link to a long description (not written by us) of the menu we ate in 2004 - not entirely complimentary but very descriptive. We had a great time! It was about $500 US for 2 - worth every penny!

El Bulli 2004 menu

Liz,

Thank you so much for a first-hand report on El Bulli. I have never heard from someone who has actually been there.

I would consider it a once-in-a-lifetime experience, just like French Laundry or Per Se.

I enjoyed your pictures and commentary. Since I will probably never get a reservation, at least I can live vicariously!

Nancy

My husband and I had dinner at El Bulli in June 2001. Even then, before Adria became the supernova chef, it took months of work, phone calls and faxes to book the table. As food/restaurant lovers, it was certainly worth the experience. But we wouldn't be tempted to go a second time.

To second Liz's comments, it is 26 courses of chemistry and theatre with some amazing tastes. Our memorable courses were hot/cold foie gras, which when put in your mouth melted into nothing, leaving pure flavor. "Rice Krispie" paella (yep, that's what it was called). And a vegetable concoction that came in test tubes -- the waiter stood over us, directing to make sure we ingested everything in the proper order. The waiter did take us in the kitchen to meet Adria -- after 4-1/2 hours at the table.

In the end, it was more of an interesting science experiment, rather than truly great dining. Wine is important to us -- and ordering and enjoying the correct wines here is much more challenging than any other Michelin 3-star!!

The coastal setting is spectacular. But the drive back to nearby Roses was exciting and harrowing!!

quote:

The coastal setting is spectacular. But the drive back to nearby Roses was exciting and harrowing!!

I think I would definitely need a driver after all of that food and WINE!

Thanks for the report, Fancy!

Clothide of Chocolate and Zucchini blog has a great post on her recent meal at El Bulli. She includes a lot of useful information on the experience and getting reservations. And pictures.

Good luck. Sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime experience for any serious foodie.

Continuing this discussion on El Bulli, The New York Times has an article today on Ferran Adria and the restaurant. Here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/dining/13ferr.html?ref=dining

I've really enjoyed reading all the stories about dining at el Bulli, though we will not likely be going to Barcelona next year after all. At some point I'd still like to try to do it.

quote:

Originally posted by t-mac:
I've really enjoyed reading all the stories about dining at el Bulli, though we will not likely be going to Barcelona next year after all. At some point I'd still like to try to do it.

Yes, me too. Probably the safest way would be to get the El Bulli dinner reservaton FIRST and then plan the rest of the trip around that!