STARDOM RESTAURANTS

Most people know about my passion for food and I am often asked:

What really makes a «star restaurant»?

So much is written about the subject and yet how do you know a restaurant is stardom?

Off course , in this subject , as in most other, opinions spread out from one extreme to the other and while some people go out for dinner just for the food, others go for the whole combination of going out.

The menu does not always have to be written in french or abuse of the nouvelle cuisine or even be molecular cuisine , it has to do with the carisma and how long did the doors opened.

For me a perfect restaurant is a combination of:

food, service, the wine list , location and off course the atmosphere ... so many criterion's yet, it can be a simple Tratoria in Italy, simple grilled sardines outside in Portugal, fusion cuisine at Asia de Cuba , molecular cooking at El Bulli , great Japonese at Nobu - but one single word - excellence!

From the 50 best in the world , El Bulli is again ahead in the parade and 36 of the world's *** michelin are located in France.

I know this: Greatness is never effortless.

When people ask Ferran Adrià of Spain’s El Bulli if he’d dreamed he might one day be considered the world’s best chef, he replied, “Absolutely not. I never looked for this. It was not in the script. It wasn’t logical for a Spanish cook to think this.”

Here some of my stardom favorites:

1. Le Bernardin New York's internationally acclaimed four star seafood restaurant. The impeccable French service is the best. And then there's the chef, Eric Ripert, who, unlike most super-chefs , tends to stay in his kitchen and cook.
   
2. Villa Joya - Albufeira, Portugal 's single two michelin star restaurant. Wonderful location above the clouds, aboce the cliff. Welcome to Paradise.


3. I-Thai, at the Hempel in London boasts a stunning modern décor that firmly places it amongst the classiest in London. Fusion Italian and Thai is amongst my favorite places as it combines two of my favorite cuisines


4. S. Gabriel - Almancil Portugal - I will make soon a full article about this place that I specially love.
   
5. DOM in Brasil it is the only restaurant of latin american amongst the best in the world. Chef Alex Atala has found the perfect combination of brazilian ingredients and french classic cuisine.


6. NOBU London - I love all the NOBU restaurants for the atmosphere and the innovative japanese food but the Nobu in London is special and was the first Asian restaurant to receive a Michelin star.


7. River Cafe in NYC - mostly and above all for the incredible view of Manhattan skyline and the incredible wine list.


8. Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo avec Chef Alain Ducasse - located just besides the Monte Carlo casino and surrounded with history this is a unique location.
   
9. El Bulli in Roses Spain with Chef Ferrán Adriá - I have already explained on another post the reasons for this restaurant to be a stardom.

EL BULLI RESTAURANT

Some 180 kms from Barcelona and another 70 from Perpignan , in the tyne village of Las Rosas, sits the world's best restaurant El Bulli.

El Bulli is a three Michelin star restaurant run by chef Ferran Adrià.

This place was founded in 1961 by a German couple, who wanted a restaurant for a piece of land he had purchased.

The name "El Bulli" came from the French bulldogs they owned.

The first restaurant was opened in 1964. Ferran Adrià joined the staff in 1984, and was put in sole charge of the kitchen in 1987.

In the mid-1990s a new style of cuisine began to be forged in elBulli and in 1990, the restaurant gained its second Michelin star, and in 1997, its third.Today, this style is fully consolidated.

The small restaurant has been described as "the most imaginative generator of haute cuisine on the planet"with a great deal of work done on molecular gastronomy.

The restaurant has a limited season from April to September; bookings are taken on a single day in the previous October. It accommodates only 8,000 diners a season, with 800,000 people calling to try and book places — around 400 requests for every table.

The average cost of a meal is €250;

As of April 2008, the restaurant employed 42 chefs.

2007. Ferran Adrià in a Disney film. In May of last year, Walt Disney Productions suggested that Ferran Adrià lends his voice to one of the characters of his new cartoon’s production. It is about the Ratatouille film, which is set in Paris and concerns with the world of high cuisine.

But Ferran Adrià is also involved in another spetacular project.

Hacienda Benazuza - in a small village outside Seville , the detailed and careful renovation, transformed this 10th century Moorish farmhouse into a fantastic 5 star hotel.

It is one of the most spectacular hotels of the world and combined with first class cuisine, makes your stay a truly memorable experience.

http://www.elbullihotel.com