Ah, The Good Life

 My friend Jane is in Barcelona and wrote me this morning to tell me she had gone to El Celler de Can Roca.

 

Her dinner began when the waiter brought a bonsai olive tree heavy with olives to be picked fresh and eaten at the table.   Wow is all I can say, I'd never even heard of this place, El Bulli gets most of the price on this side of the pond even thouhg I know from my own experiewnce thagt Barcelona in particular is a thriving hive of culinary creativity.  

 

Here is the menu:

 

Girona, the 7th of February 2010

 

 

 

Snacks

Campari bombon

Anchovy bone

Caramelized Olive

Black sesame cracker

Chestnut soup with truffle

Foie gras nougat

Boletus edulis brioche

 

 

Menu

Oysters with Agustí Torelló cava, apple compote, ginger, pineapple, lemon confit and spices

Artichoke with duck liver, eel and orange

Charcoal-grilled sole with green olive oil, fennel, pine nuts, bergamot

and orange

Catalan cod pot-au-feu

SierraMayor Iberian suckling pig, baby onions, orange clove and betroot

Desserts

Vanilla, caramel, liquorice, dried and caramelised black olives with Tahitian-vanilla condensed ice cream

A fragance adapted, Terre by Hermès

 

 

 

Wines

Agusti Torelló D.O Cava

Bürkling-Wolf  “R” Auslese 89 Pfalz

Rocallis 04 D.O. Penedès

Nelin 07 D.O.Qa Priorat

Pujanza 04 D.O.C Rioja

Olivares 06 D.O. Jumilla

Colheita 84 D.O. Oporto