At the height of its power, the three Michelin-starred El Bulli received more than two million requests from diners each six-month season, but only ever catered for 8,000.
Many would have dreamed of trying head chef Ferran Adrià’s reverse spherical olive, a revolutionary dish and a touchstone in the molecular gastronomy movement of the Nineties and early Noughties.
There were millions who missed out: El Bulli closed in 2011 — it has been a culinary foundation since — having been venerated by gastronomes and a focal point of Spanish contemporary cooking for decades.
Now, El Bulli is to return — for one night only, this is a hefty bit of promotion — as a coastal Airbnb, with Adrià the host. There, in his former seaside restaurant in Roses, Catalunya, guests will be able to spend the night in the old dining room, and sleep in a “plated” bed inspired by Adrià’s famous liquid olives.
The experience, Airbnb said, is “designed to inspire, excite and celebrate the space that served as the creative launchpad for culinary innovation”.
The holiday brand has gone all out. Not only does the booking provide a night at El Bulli, but dinner with Adrià in one of the town’s restaurants nearby, and dinner at Enigma in Barcelona, run by Ferran’s brother Albert.
“The mission of El Bulli was about pushing limits,” Adrià said.
“We had reached what we felt was the limits of what can be done in a gastronomic experience at the maximum level. Now I’m excited to push new creative boundaries, to share this way of seeing the world with the guests who stay here and to introduce them to our latest chapter.”
Airbnb said the restaurant will be available for one-night stay between October 16-17. The price? It’s free. But the company said the offer isn’t a contest. You just have to get lucky. Unfortunately, you’ve probably got a better chance of bagging Taylor Swift tickets, or winning the Lottery.
