Surrealism in cooking
The first thing people ask when you say you have been to El Bulli, the triple Michelin-starred restaurant on Spain's north-east coast, is not about the food. It is invariably: "How did you get a table?" The second question is: "How much was it?" and the third: "What was it like?" For the sceptics, and I was among them, the final and biggest question is: "Was it worth it?" I realised after my visit that El Bulli's huge reputation as the "world's best restaurant" has generated a number of myths, many of which need to be overturned.
Yes, it is hard to get a table at El Bulli, particularly if you stick to the conventional approach. That is because it is oddly democratic and, therefore, relatively impervious to the celebrity factor. El Bulli's hardline reservations policy, if you could call it a "policy", won me over long before I knew much about its extraordinary cuisine. There is something perversely comforting in reading about the famous and/or powerful people who have failed to get a table there when they wanted it.
ADVERTISEMENT
The reason, according to Luis Garcia, the restaurant manager, is that El Bulli's basic philosophy is to be "fair", even though at least 400,000 reservation requests flood in every year, possibly many more. "It is difficult to tellhow many exactly because we receive e-mails and calls continually", he told me. With its strict seating policy and the fact that it is closed for half the year - April to September - El Bulli can seat only 8,000 customers a year. "Even if it is only 400,000 requests in a year, it would take 50 years to accommodate even those - you see what I mean?" said Garcia.
But why, some ask, would you bother with El Bulli? Can a restaurant be that good? Having read too many gushing articles about the genius of Ferran Adrià, the mastermind behind the El Bulli phenomenon, I was doubtful. The tales of his "spumona" foams, his freeze-dried powdered meats, and scientific "molecular" cooking techniques sounded gimmicky. Yet when a close friend in Madrid managed to land a table, I felt as if I had won the lottery.
When you eventually get in - and you will if you want to badly enough - it is striking how few tables there are, just 20, six of them on a pleasant terrace - and how widely spaced they are. The place, just like Adria, is low-key and unpretentious yet stylish in atmosphere and service. Guests are asked in advance about dietary restrictions, which are fully catered to.
The pizzazz and glamour, however, are concentrated in the food, which reflects Adrià's fascination with gastro-chemistry and culinary artistry. A meal rolls out over several hours in a succession of wildly inventive tastes, textures and visual presentations. Each platter or vessel, with its bumps, dimples or interesting curves, appears to have been made for the dish it carries. The culinary creations have been well documented. But missing from many earnest reviews is the sense of keen wit that permeates Adria's cooking. Over an evening, the offerings range from an eccentric selection of morsels - sweet and savoury - called "El Bulli snacks" to playful creations such as the "parmesan frozen-air", a pile of cheesy foam in a polystyrene box accompanied by a small bag of "muesli" that you are instructed to sprinkle over the foam; boned chickens' feet with tea and sesame sauce; and some more restrained dishes, such as mackerel belly with chicken and onion escabeche.
El Bulli probably spends much of the �160 it charges for a meal, or rather banquet, on labour and ingredients. The extensive wine list features low mark-ups that, if you drink the excellent local wines, are astonishingly modest. "I don't want this place to become a haven for millionaires and big shots. I want normal people, food-lovers, to come and appreciate it, irrespective of how much money they have," the low-key Adrià told me. "Not that millionaires can't appreciate my food but I don't want it to become just a restaurant for the seriously wealthy".
You could have described our group, by Adrià's definition, as "normal" people. We all loved good food, though some more than others. Most of us booked into a harbourside hotel nearby to make a long weekend of it. The area, known as Cap de Creus, is famous for its arty history (Salvador Dalí lived there), good local restaurants and panoramic walks.
The first - and most misleading - impression on reaching El Bulli is how ordinary it all seems. Enter a pleasant hacienda-style building on a remote stretch of the coast. Everything we'd heard and read about the restaurant oozed glamour; from its artistic website to its bespoke food and catering products, it seemed very slick. Actually, the interior is tasteful yet amazingly unremarkable: terracotta-tiled floors, whitewashed walls, comfortable chairs and tables, and bulldog knick-knacks everywhere (in honour of the restaurant's name, bestowed by the original owners, a German couple, in the 1960s). Courteous waiting staff welcome you and, although they look more chic in their black uniforms than most of their clientele, prove friendly, efficient and knowledgeable.
What you realise as the first dishes arrive - snacks of mango leaf and flowers; mini-cocktails of mandarin, gin and strawberry; freeze-dried banana brittle; and seaweed crisps - is that the El Bulli experience is as much intellectual as it is gastronomic. Some dishes - the powdered, freeze-dried foie gras, the foams and mousses and gels - are positively playful, presented in airline catering boxes, fake caviar tins and little lacquered containers. The journalism teacher in our group called it a "foodie version of going to the Cirque du Soleil", the innovative Canadian theatre and acrobatic troupe. Like spectacular tricks, the courses just keep coming, overwhelming the senses.
Perhaps Dali's influence in the region reinforces the element of surrealism in Adria's cooking. Nothing is what it seems, an ingredient is made to look or taste like something else. Everything can be viewed in several ways. Ingredients are disguised. A cloud of cotton candy turns out to taste like cheese and popcorn. A tin of red salmon caviar actually contains pearl-like melon balls; a coil that looks like an engine part is made of olive oil.
The best way to enjoy it is with a totally open mind, as one would an evening's entertainment, and a resolutely adventurous palate. In some ways, it is a curiously passive experience. The waiters are in charge. As each item arrived, we were instructed with stern charm on how to eat it; of an elongated bowl of freeze-dried powdered foie-gras heaped above a puddle of intensely flavoured broth that tasted as if two cows had been boiled down for days, we were told: "Scrape the powder with your spoon into the soup and eat a bit of both in each mouthful"; or, with the olive-oil coil: "Put your finger through it and eat it in one gulp".
Long after the meal, we were avidly comparing notes about favourite and least favourite dishes, musing about the contrasts in our group's range of tastes.
The one thing on which we all agreed was the need to bust the myths of El Bulli. The restaurant could easily add many tables, serve fewer courses or raise its prices. But Adrià is determined not to. When we toured the vast, clean kitchen (as most guests are invited to do), he told us: "I am hard-nosed in my other businesses, I'm making money there. This I do because I love it. I don't want to make money from it." For the economist in our party, it was the ultimate puzzle: a man with no desire to increase supply to meet relentlessly rising demand.
真的有“世界最佳餐厅”？
阿布衣餐厅(El Bulli，加泰罗尼亚语“斗牛犬”之意)是一家米其林三星级餐厅，位于西班牙东北海岸。当你对别人说，你曾在此用过餐时，人们一般不会想到先问食物如何。而是问：“你是怎么搞到桌位的？”第二个问题是：“花了多少钱？”第三个：“这家餐厅什么样？”对于心存怀疑者（我就是其一），最后一个、也是最关键的问题是：“值吗？”去过阿布衣餐厅后，我意识到，这家“世界最佳餐厅”的盛名造就了许多神话，其中有许多需要打破。
阿布衣为什么这么牛？
的确，在阿布衣餐厅搞到一张桌位很难，如果坚持利用常规方法则更是如此。这是因为这家餐厅民主得有些出奇，因此名人因素也就几乎没有影响力了。早在深入了解阿布衣餐厅无与伦比的菜肴之前，它强硬的预订政策（如果可以将其称为“政策”的话）就已赢得了我的好感。当看到有报道称，某个名人或权贵无法随意订到这家餐厅的桌位时，我总会固执地感到些许安慰。
据餐厅经理路易斯?加西亚(Luis Garcia)称，这么做的原因是，阿布衣的基本理念就是要做到“公平”，即便每年至少有40万份（可能要比这个数字多得多）预订申请如潮水般涌来。“很难确定精确的数字，因为我们不断接到电子邮件和电话预订，”他告诉我。由于严格的订座政策，加上餐厅一年中有半年都在歇业――4月至9月营业――阿布衣一年只能招待8000位食客。“即使每年仅有40万份预订申请，也要花上50年才能招待完――你明白我的意思吗？”加西亚说道。
但一些人就会问了，为什么非要费那么大劲儿去阿布衣吃饭呢？一家餐厅会有那么好不成？读过太多关于费兰?阿德里亚(Ferran Adrià)（阿布衣餐厅现象的策划者）天才厨艺的激情洋溢的文章后，我曾表示怀疑。他做的“意式冰激凌”泡沫、冻干肉粉，以及科学的“分子”烹饪技艺听上去噱头十足。但当马德里的一位密友想方设法搞到一张桌位时，我感觉仿佛中了彩票一般。
阿布衣餐厅什么样？
当终于踏入餐厅时（其实如果非常想来这吃饭，你总会如愿以偿），你会发现餐厅里的桌位少得惊人――只有20张，其中6张位于一个宜人的露天平台上――而且桌位之间的距离宽得惊人。整间餐厅就像阿德里亚本人一样低调、谦恭，但氛围和服务却不失时尚。餐厅会事先询问客人是否有忌口，并完全避免采用忌口食材。
然而，餐厅的精华和魅力都集中在食物上，它们反映了阿德里亚对“胃觉反应”与烹饪艺术的痴迷。一顿历时数小时的大餐，接连为客人们呈现着极具创意的口味、材质和视觉效果。所有浅盘或容器，或凸凹不平，或曲线奇异，似乎都是为其中的佳肴度身定做。整个晚上，我们享用的菜肴丰富多样，不一而足：甘甜开胃、名为“阿布衣小吃”(El Bulli snacks)的奇特小菜；一些有趣的创意之作，比如“帕尔马干酪冰淇淋”(parmesan frozen-air)――一堆奶酪泡沫置于一个聚苯乙烯盒子中，旁边配有一小袋“水果、牛奶、果仁什锦”(muesli)，然后会有人教你将什锦撒在泡沫上；去骨凤爪配茶与芝麻酱；一些更加受限制的菜肴，比如鲭鱼肚配油炸调味鸡肉和洋葱。
这一餐，或者说盛宴，价格160欧元，阿布衣也许将其中大部分花在了人工和配料上。餐厅的酒单上佳酿众多，价格并不高，如果你喜欢喝上好的本地酒，那么适中的价格定会让你感到惊讶。“我不想让这个地方变成百万富翁和大人物们的休闲港。我希望喜爱美食的普通人来这儿品尝，不管他们有多少钱，”低调的阿德里亚告诉我。“并不是说百万富翁们无法欣赏我做的菜，而是我不想让它变成一间只面向大富豪的餐厅。”
按照阿德里亚的定义，我们一伙人可以被称为“普通”人。我们都喜爱美味佳肴，尽管某些人尤好此道。我们大部分人都入住附近的一家海滨酒店来渡过长周末。这个名为十字架海角(Cap de Creus)的地方，之所以闻名，是因为它在艺术史上占有一席之地（萨尔瓦多?达利(Salvador Dalí)曾住在这里），并拥有出色的本地餐馆以及全景观赏步行路线。
来到阿布衣的第一印象――非常具有误导性――是它似乎再平常不过了。你会进入偏远海边一座赏心悦目的庄园式建筑。我们之前所听到、所读到的有关这座餐馆的所有东西都散发着无尽魅力；从充满艺术气息的网站，到提前预订的食物和餐饮产品，它看上去十分时尚典雅。事实上，餐馆内饰颇为美观大方，但也寻常得令人惊讶：瓷砖地面、白色墙壁、舒适的桌椅，以及遍布各处的斗牛犬小摆设（为了纪念餐馆的名字――60年代餐馆原主人一对德国夫妇为其命名）。殷勤有礼的侍者欢迎你的到来，他们其实非常友善、高效和博识，尽管他们穿着黑色制服，看上去比大部分顾客更加时髦。
食物的魔术
第一批菜上来了――芒果叶和鲜花做成的甜点，柑橘、杜松子酒与草莓调制的迷你鸡尾酒，冻干香蕉薄片，还有海苔脆片。这时候你会明白，在阿布衣就餐不但会让人大饱口福，也是智力上的奇妙体验。一些菜品――冻干鹅肝粉，以及泡沫、慕思和冻胶――非常好玩，它们放在了航空公司的餐盒、仿鱼子酱罐头和小漆盒里。我们这群人里的一位新闻学教师，称之为“去太阳马戏团(Cirque du Soleil，加拿大的创新性剧团和杂技团)看表演的食物版”。跟马戏团引人入胜的把戏一样，一道道菜不断送上来，强烈地冲击感官。
也许达利在该地区的影响力，加强了阿德里亚烹饪中的超现实主义元素。所有东西都面目全非，一种配料会被做得在外观或味道上像其它东西。每样东西可以品出不同味道。配料都被掩饰起来。看上去像一团棉花糖的东西，尝起来像奶酪和爆米花；一罐红色三文鱼子酱，实际上盛着珠状西瓜球；而看上去像引擎部件的线圈，其实是用橄榄油做成的。
最佳的享用方法是，带着完全开放的心态（就如在晚上享乐时那样）和毅然冒险的味觉。在某种程度上，它是一段奇妙的被动体验。侍者执掌全局。每道菜上来时，我们被严苛的魔咒指示如何食用。当上来一个长碗――下面是浓香四溢的肉汤（似乎用两头牛熬了多日），上面堆积着冻干鹅肝粉，我们被告知：“用调羹把粉末剜下浸入汤里，同时舀起汤与粉末，一口吃下”；或者，在吃橄榄油圈时：“用手指串起来，一口吞下”。
吃过这餐之后很久，我们还热心地比较最喜欢和最不喜欢的菜品，细细思量我们这伙人口味上的差异。
我们达成的共识是，必须粉碎阿布衣的神话。这家餐馆可以轻而易举地增加许多桌子，减少菜式或者提高价格。但阿德里亚决定不这么做。当我们参观宽敞而干净的厨房时（大部分客人会受邀进行参观），他告诉我们：“我在其它生意上非常精明，从那些地方赚钱。在这里所做的一切是因为喜欢。我不想从它身上赚钱。”对于我们之中的经济学家来说，这是最大的困惑：有人无意增加供应，去满足急剧增大的需求。
挤进阿布衣
阿布衣仅在四至九月营业，从十月中旬才开始接受每一年的预订（没错，一年）。餐厅经理路易斯?加西亚建议人们先发一封电邮，而不要打电话（“从十月中旬开始，电话就疯响，有时我们会拔掉电话线”）。加西亚开玩笑说，他的名字其实应该叫“不先生”(Se?or No)――“我所做的一切，好像就是说不，”他可怜兮兮地说。但他补充道，很多人成功了，如果他们确实想来。如果你是那类人，又没法获得经确认的预订，那就计划一次来该地区的旅行，以捕捉渺小的就餐机会。当你有空来旅行时，提前几天重新发一次电邮，到了那天再打个电话(+34 972-150 457)。
您要是没有订到桌位，那就在景色秀美的西班牙布拉巴海岸(Costa Brava)享受假期吧，否则太得不偿失了。布拉巴海岸线怪石嶙峋，离阿布衣22公里就是历史悠久的卡德克斯(Cadaques)渔港，美丽的海滩和不错的地方风味餐馆，非常值得一游。说起游玩，不知道你喜不喜欢萨尔瓦多?达利的作品，在他位于卡德克斯附近利加特港(Port Lligat)的故居内，摆满了家具陈设和怪诞作品，并对公众开放。附近几个博物馆也对外开放。
当地最好的餐馆是位于赫罗纳(Girona)的米其林星级餐厅Celler de Can Roca和位于Saint Celeoni的El Racó de Can Fabes，距巴塞罗那52公里。
费兰?阿德里亚的铁杆迷们应前往西班牙的另一边，下榻他位于塞维利亚的Hotel Hacienda Benazuza宾馆，并在La Alqueria餐厅就餐。据加西亚称，阿德里亚每隔几个月就来此地，做一些管理工作，虽然风格有点不同，但也“非常棒”。
阿德里亚还拥有马德里的La Terrazza餐厅，但有关报道则毁誉参半。
阿布衣餐厅
电话：+34 972-150 457；
网址：
www.elbulli.com；
10月至3月歇业
伯纳德?麦克列奥德(Bernard Macleod)、安娅?席芙林(Anya Schiffrin)和莱斯利?克劳福德(Leslie Crawford)亦对本文有贡献。
