joan roca

On Sunday 29 June, a stellar cast performed 'Ferran Adrià and the factory of solidarity food', a comedy show which aimed to share the secrets of Catalan haute cuisine while raising money for the Casal dels Infants, a community centre for children in need. The Grand Theatre of Liceu was chosen as the venue where internationally renowned Catalan chefs Ferran Adrià, Carme Ruscalleda, Cristian Escribà and Joan Roca demonstrated how to cook in an 18th century kitchen, to commemorate the tercentenary of the War of Spanish Succession of 1714. Familiar faces such as journalist Josep Cuní or chef Alberto Chicote also participated in the show.

Girona-based El Celler de Can Roca, the family restaurant run by the 3 Roca Brothers, continues to be considered among the world’s very best places to eat by ‘Restaurant’ magazine, which gives the sector’s main international awards each year at a gala in London. However, the Catalan establishment has not topped the 2014 ranking as it did in 2013 but has been considered the second best in this sort of cuisine Oscars, a recognition it had already obtained in 2012 and 2011. First place was for the Danish Noma - run by René Redzepi – which had already topped the ranking in 2012, 2011 and 2010. In addition, the youngest brother, Jordi, who is in charge of El Celler de Can Roca’s desserts, has been awarded the world’s best pastry chef, a title given for the first time this year. Since 2002, a Catalan restaurant has topped the annual ranking on 6 occasions and has been second best in 6 others.

More than 300 innovations from the agri-food industry are presented between the 31^st of March and the 3^rd of April in Alimentaria, one of the main trade fairs for this sector in Europe. The 20^th edition of this event, which takes place in the Catalan capital every two years, focuses on innovation and internationalisation. In fact, 40,000 visitors, 30% of the total 140,000 visitors, are foreigners. In addition, as explained by the Director General of Alimentaria, Antoni Valls, this year the organisers have managed to assemble 600 of the world's main international buyers, which is double the number at the previous fair in 2012. These top buyers have already arrived for 8,000 pre-scheduled business meetings with the 3,800 exhibiting companies at the fair, which occupies 94,500 square metres of Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue.

Catalan cinema will once again play a significant part in this year’s prestigious Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), with the presentation of two feature films and one short-film. The Catalan co-production Aloft ('No ploris, vola'), by Claudia Llosa, who also directed the 2009 Golden Bear winner The Milk of Sorrow, will compete in the official section of the festival, held between the 6^th and the 16^th of February. ‘El somni’ (The Dream) directed by Franc Aleu and centred on the creative dishes of the Roca brothers, universally acclaimed Catalan Chefs, will be screened during the ‘Culinary session’ of the festival. Finally, short-film lovers will discover ‘TABA, El Juego En La Mesa’ (TABA, Table Games), directed by Pep Gatell and Eloi Colom, and produced by the ‘Fura dels Baus’ a Barcelona theatrical group famous for its innovative performances.

Following the closure of former 3-Michelin-stars ‘Can Fabes’ restaurant (50km north of Barcelona) in August 2013, 500 lots of kitchen tools, dinner services and pieces of furniture were auctioned off on Monday in Barcelona. After the death of its Chef Santi Santamaria in early 2011, the restaurant was temporarily run by his daughter until it closed down for financial reasons. The Santamaria family explained they did not want the equipment to stay packed in boxes and forgotten. On the contrary, they decided to organise an auction so that these objects could continue being used by professionals and cuisine connoisseurs alike.The Santamaria family has also presented three of the Chef’s most personal objects such as his aprons and three of his own paintings. Many renowned Catalan Chefs paid tribute to Santi Santamaria by attending the event.

Catalan ‘El Celler de Can Roca’, the ‘best restaurant in the world’ according to Restaurant magazine, will temporarily close its doors in August 2014 to take a tour in Mexico, Colombia and Peru. The Roca brothers – Joan (Main Chef), Josep (Sommelier) and Jordi (Dessert Chef) - have decided to take this ‘Roca & Roll World Tour 2014’ to “renew” the “illusion” and give “new impetus” to the “creative work” of everyone involved in the iconic three-Michelin-stars restaurant, located in Girona (North-eastern Catalonia). Thanks to this unique “adventure”, named ‘Haute cuisine with values’, Catalan cuisine reasserts its position in the highest culinary ranks at international level. This announcement occurred only a few weeks after Michelin stated that all the awarded restaurants in Catalonia had successfully retained their stars.

Catalan cuisine continues to grow in the highest culinary ranks with 5 new restaurants winning their ever-first star and no establishment losing any already awarded star, with the only exception of Can Fabes, which shut down business. This way, the total number of Michelin stars spread across Catalan restaurants reaches 63. The newly acclaimed establishments are ‘41º’ and ‘Tickets’ in Barcelona, run by Albert Adrià, brother of world famous Chef Ferran Adrià, as well as ‘Malena’ (Gimenells, Western Catalonia), ‘L'O’ (Sant Fruitós de Bages, Central Catalonia) and ‘Les Moles’ (Ulldecona, Ebro Delta). However none of the already-starred restaurants of Catalonia received a second or even a third Michelin star, but all have successfully maintained theirs, notably ‘Best restaurant’ in the world ‘El Celler de Can Roca’. The evening was not a perfect one as Jordi Cruz’s ‘Àbac’ failed to receive the third star it was aspiring to.

Catalan cookery is known worldwide for Ferran Adrià’s revolutionary contributions and for ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ recently chosen by ‘Restaurant’ magazine as the best restaurant in the world. However the vast majority of Catalans have never tasted such haute cuisine and still defend their gastronomy as one of the richest in the world. It’s not about patriotic boasting: traditional Catalan cooking is characterised by an overwhelming variety of ingredients and cooking methods and no less than seven centuries of documented history.

The world’s number one restaurant with three Michelin stars, has launched a new project called ‘El Somni’ (the Dream). The Dream of the restaurant El Celler de Can Roca is a project with the aim of bringing “a feelings explosion” to their guests. To do this, they have created a whole experience dinner which carefully combines cuisine, wine, audiovisual sources in 3D, live music and direct interaction with the diner. Only 12 exclusive guests will be able to feel The Dream. The dinner took place on the 6th May at the Arts Santa Mónica (Barcelona) but the Roca brothers want to export this idea to another 12 countries in two years’ time.

The Catalan chef Ferran Adrià revolutionised modern cuisine, in such a way that some critics have compared him to Picasso’s influence on painting. In fact, most of the current top chefs around the world have spent some time as training cooks at Adrià’s restaurant El Bulli, which was located on a Costa Brava beach, in the Catalan town of Roses. El Bulli was considered to be the best restaurant in the world for a five–time record and it closed in 2011 to re-open as a culinary foundation promoting research and art in 2014. In addition, Adrià was considered by Restaurant Magazine to be “the chef of the decade” in 2010 and he has taught at Harvard and other universities. Ferran Adrià’s creativity developed new techniques and re-interpreted cuisine, fragmenting dishes, cooking for the five senses, creating a new language and bringing cuisine to a whole new dimension.

Catalan cuisine again tops the world’s best restaurant ranking. After Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli, the ‘Restaurant’ magazine has awarded the title of being the best restaurant in the entire world to a Catalan restaurant again: El Celler de Can Roca, located in Girona, near the Costa Brava. The establishment run by the three Roca brothers has already been recognised as the world’s second best restaurant, in 2012 and 2011, just after the Danish Noma, and has been among the best kitchens in the world for years. However, now they have received the profession’s top recognition. Starting out as a family restaurant, the Roca brothers have followed in the steps of Ferran Adrià and his molecular cuisine to develop a whole new approach to cooking, using the five senses and creating true pieces of art.

The Catalan three-Michelin-star restaurant El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, considered over the last two years as the second best in the world by the British magazine ‘Restaurant’, will publish a book about its 25-year history this spring. The volume will include illustrations of 90 detailed recipes and a catalogue of its 240 most outstanding meals The Roca brothers’ cuisine is famous for its free-style, avant-garde techniques and an re-interpretation of traditional Catalan cuisine. The English edition will be published by Librooks.

For the second year in a row, ‘Restaurant Magazine’ has awarded ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ the second position in the world’s top restaurant ranking. The Catalan chef Joan Roca runs this restaurant in Girona together with his brothers Josep and Jordi, who take care of wines and desserts respectively. The Roca brothers with their 3 Michelin star restaurant represent Catalan cuisine, after Ferran Adrià decided to close El Bulli last summer and reopen it again in 2014 but turn it into the ‘El Bulli Foundation’. Copenhagen’s ‘Noma’ continues being at the top of the best world restaurant list. The Basque restaurants ‘Mugaritz’ and ‘Arzak’ hold third and eighth positions respectively.

The desserts of El Celler de Can Roca, recognised last year as the second best restaurant in the world and run by the Roca brothers, have been moved into ice-cream business. The Roca brothers have opened ‘Rocambolesc’, an ice-cream shop run by Jordi Roca, the chef patissier of El Celler de Can Roca. The ice-cream shop is in the Catalan city of Girona, where the restaurant is located. William Drew, editor of ‘Restaurant Magazine’, told ACN that good news was coming up for the Roca brothers in the gala recognising the 50 best restaurants in the world, held on April 30th.

The 2012 Michelin Red Guide has awarded a second star to the Barcelona restaurant Àbac, and a first star to the family restaurant Casamar on the Costa Brava. However, the total number of Michelin stars in Catalonia has dropped due to the untimely death of the chef Santi Santamaria and the closure of three restaurants, including Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli, considered for many years to be the best restaurant in the world. The Celler de Can Roca and San Pau maintain their 3 stars, as well as the rest of the restaurants with two and one. This confirms that Catalonia continues to be a reference point for Haute Cuisine.