Spain’s El Celler De Can Roca edged past Denmark’s Noma and Italy’s Osteria Francescana to be named the world’s best restaurant on Monday.
It’s been a long time coming for the Girona restaurant in the northeast of Catalona, Spain, having spent the last two years fixed at the No. 2 position on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for its turn at the spotlight.
Steered by Roca brothers – Joan, the chef or “architect of taste”; Jordi, the pastry chef; and Josep, the sommelier — the restaurant has built a steady and faithful fan base for its “freestyle” cooking, avant-garde techniques, and innovative ideas.
But Monday’s new title, announced at a gala event in London, is sure to do for El Celler de Can Roca what it did previously for a small restaurant in Copenhagen years ago, and turn it into a household name for even the tepid food-lover.
Since owning the No. 1 spot three years running, Noma chef René Redzepi, for instance, has graced the cover of mainstream news magazine “Time.”
The record-holder, Spanish chef Ferran Adrià of now-closed El Bulli, likewise garnered near mythical status after snapping up the title of world’s best restaurant five times, inspiring a handful of books and big-budget movies.
Meanwhile, if the winners of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards are known for pushing the culinary envelope and challenging diners’ concepts of traditional dining, the Roca brothers’ award is richly deserved.
Whether it be playing with essential oils to develop a menu, trying to mimic the texture and bubbles of Cava in an oyster dish, or bottling the memories of childhood in a milky, lemon muffin perfume, the restaurant has never been content to rest on its three Michelin-starred laurels.
Restaurant cuisine is described as ‘freestyle cooking’ that hinges on Catalan dishes using cutting-edge techniques.
