The Four Best Restaurants in Spain
Spanish Fine Dining - Restaurant Magazine Votes For Spain Chefs
Oct 17, 2009
The UK’s Restaurant magazine has voted four of Spain’s restaurant in the World’s Top Ten. Spanish cuisine dishes out the best, starting with Chef Ferran Adria of El Bulli Restaurant in Catalonia which romped home for it’s fourth year in a row as one of the World’s Best Restaurants.
The voting by 800 chefs, critics and industry insiders gave Spain a huge pat on the back after years of being unnoticed.
Chef Ferran Adria of El Bulli Restaurant in Catalonia Spain's Best Restaurant
El Bulli and Chef Ferran Adria, nicknamed king of avante-garde , is now world renowned as the ultimate in haute cuisine. With dishes such as parmesan cheese shaped like spaghetti and foamy carrots among the repertoire of El Bulli which Adria and his team devise during the six months of the year when the restaurant is closed to the public.
Adria came tops on the list and second was his former apprentice now friend Heston Blumenthal from the UK’s Fat Duck Restaurant.
Spanish Restaurants on Best Restaurant list
- Mugaritz – run Andoni Luis Aduriz, also one of Adria’s protege was again in fourth place
- Arzak in the Basque region won eighth place for the second year running.
- El Celler de Can Roca in Catalonia was the major surprise with a 21 place move up to number five in the poll.
El Cellar is a welcome surprise, founded in 1986 by three brothers, Joan Roca the head chef, Josep Roca the sommelier and Jordi who is the dessert chef, they jumped many places to come in fifth. Voted as the second best restaurant in Spain, El Celler was only given a Michelin 2 star rating this year which just goes to show that the Michelin guide is not the definitive pulse in fine dining.
A large gap seems to be appearing in the market for well-researched guides to the ever-growing and encouragingly improved dining opportunities world-wide. How is it possible to equate one person’s restaurant experience to another? Maybe a better idea is for national or regional guides where the same person dines at each establishment would be far fairer.
Not only that, it would give the smaller less ambitious restaurants an opportunity to be voted, reviewed or ranked on deserved merit not presumed expectations. Spanish cuisine should alone be judged against Spanish cuisine and listed within the locality, area and country not judged world-wide by a large panel with differing taste and depths of pockets.
Good food is good food, great food should be shouted about and restaurants should be walked into to enjoy it and not its prestige after months on the waiting list.
