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The 19^th Edition of the Manga Fair opened its doors on Thursday on the grounds of Fira de Barcelona in Montjuic. The exhibition space has increased by 10% since the previous edition, with the number of exhibitors reaching 160. This year the ‘Saló del Manga’ will focus on sports Mangas, highlighting works like Captain Tsubasaand Slam Dunk. Another exhibition will be dedicated to Spanish Mangakas. Catalan Minister for Culture Ferran Mascarell said the Fair was an “expression of popular culture” and a place of “creativity”. Director of the Manga Fair Carles Capdevila added the event was a showcase for Japanese culture as a whole, beyond the realm of Manga.

After 32 years of success in the world of haute cuisine, this internationally renowned restaurant will cease its operations due to financial reasons. The restaurant located in Sant Celoni, 50km north of Barcelona, was decorated with 3 Michelin stars for 18 consecutive years, being the first restaurant in Catalonia to receive such a distinction. Can Fabes became famous under the leadership of Catalan chef Santi Santamaria, who passed away in February 2011. Santamaria was the first Spanish chef to be awarded with 7 Michelin stars, with restaurants in Catalonia, Madrid, Toledo and Singapore. Following his death the group of restaurants was directed by his daughter Regina Santamaria. “We tried to keep fighting for Can Fabes, but it was not possible as the restaurant was no longer economically viable” she told the CNA.

CNA interviews, Albert Adrià, the dessert chef of El Bulli, which was run by his brother Ferran Adrià and was recognised as the best restaurant in the world on five occasions. BCN 5.0 is the new project by the Adrià brothers, with five different high level restaurants located on Barcelona’s Paral·lel Avenue. Although it is an associative idea, it is a personal dream of Albert Adrià, which has already three restaurants in the same area: Tickets, a Spanish tapas gastrobar; 41º, with one Michelin star, and PAKTA, a Japanese-Peruvian Nikkei one. Three new establishments will complete the BCN 5.0 project.

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.

Top Catalan chef Carme Ruscalleda and her husband Toni Balam run the Sant Pau restaurant in Sant Pol de Mar –near Barcelona- awarded with three Michelin stars. They also own the Sant Pau in Tokyo and the Moments in Barcelona each awarded with one Michelin star. Ruscalleda was raised in a family of farmers and began cooking as a girl. Although she has succeeded in the world of gastronomy, cooking was not her dream as a teenager. In this exclusive interview with CNA Ruscalleda’s eyes shine when she explains how cooking has become her philosophy of life.

Three deputy chefs of what was recognised for consecutive years as the best restaurant in the world, El Bulli, run by the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià, are now set to open their own restaurant on the Costa Brava. It will be called ‘Compartir’, the Catalan verb for ‘to share’. They aim to offer “simple cuisine”, with dishes to share. El Bulli closed its doors last summer, however it will transform itself into elBulli Foundation, a centre to experiment with food, design and senses. It is expected to open in 2014. The three sous-chefs will also collaborate with Adrià’s new project.

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.

The Catalan restaurant has been considered the best restaurant in the world for five consecutive years. Chef Ferran Adrià announced he would close his restaurant definitively this July, and will be transformed into the ‘elBulli Foundation’ in 2014. However, the movie Hollywood is planning on the restaurant has obliged the Catalan chef to change his mind and open again for two months in 2012 or 2013. His idea is to show the movie team how the restaurant works.

The Catalan restaurant came second in the ‘S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards’, organised by British Restaurant Magazine, with Copenhagen's ‘Noma’ topping the list.

In a video interview, the Catalan chef who has been awarded five Michelin Stars, Carme Ruscalleda, explains her vision of Catalan cuisine. She describes it as a combination of specific techniques and wit carried out by farmers and fishermen mixed with French and Italian bourgeois cuisine. According to her, Catalonia’s gastronomy is derived from local products and is spreading worldwide, thanks in part to the influence of Ferran Adrià.

The top Catalan chef Santi Santamaria, who has 7 Michelin stars, died from a heart attack in Singapore on Wednesday. His remains arrived today in his native town of Sant Celoni (45 minutes North from Barcelona). The chefs Ferran Adrià, Juan Mari Arzak, Sergi Arola, Pedro Subijana, among others, attended the good-bye ceremony.

Santamaria was at his Singapore restaurant when he died. The actual causes of the death are still unknown, but the family talks about a heart attack. Santamaria was a defender of the Catalan traditional cuisine. He had two restaurants close to Barcelona and one in Madrid, Toledo, Dubai, and Singapore. He was the first Catalan chef to get three Michelin Stars for his main restaurant, ‘El Racó de Can Fabes’.

The prestigious red guide will add three Barcelona restaurant hotels to its 2011 edition. Paco Pérez’s Miramar Restaurant was awarded its 2nd Michelin star. The 4 3-star restaurants keep all their stars.