What’s Ferran Adrià — the creator of 1,846 dishes — been doing since h... https://www.ft.

com/content/92229934-4d2b-11ea-95a0-43d18ec715f5

1 of 2 14-Feb-20, 16:26
What’s Ferran Adrià — the creator of 1,846 dishes — been doing since h... https://www.ft.com/content/92229934-4d2b-11ea-95a0-43d18ec715f5

I have known Ferran Adrià, the exceptional Catalan chef, since 1996 when I first
went to El Bulli, the restaurant on the Costa Brava that he made so famous.

Since then we have become quite close friends. Our meetings start and finish
with a series of hugs; we have worked together; I ate at El Bulli just before it
closed in 2011; and I even cooked for him once in our house — roast grouse with
all the trimmings! Yet communication has never been easy.

Adrià speaks Catalan and Spanish (which, unfortunately, I don’t) — and only a
few words of English. We both speak French but Adrià’s is rapid-fire and soon
slips into Catalan. So, when we met in Barcelona last year, the sommelier Ferran
Centelles — who started at El Bulli in 1998, when he was just 17 — was an
invaluable translator.

Adrià, 57, appears to have changed very little over the years. He still wears the
same relaxed clothes. He still has the same quantity of hair, though with more
grey. And he still bristles with energy. Above all, his eyes have lost none of their
manic intensity.

2 of 2 14-Feb-20, 16:26