THE INTERVIEW
55
JULY 2015
Wegeta lot
ofoffers from
abroadbut Iprefer
tostayhere.
Barcelona isdoing
incrediblywell
uch is the restless creativity coursing
throughAlbert Adrià that you almost
feel guilty formakinghim sit still. But
sittinghe is, in a roomwith giant
strawberries hanging from the ceiling,
where later thepatchworkof framed flat panel screens on
thewall will show clips from films including
WillyWonka
and theChocolate Factory
, and the sweet treatswill
commencewith a sphere of rose-flavoured jelly that bursts
in yourmouth as you slurp it from theheart of a real rose,
petals caressing your lips.
He’s talking tome in thedessert parlour at Tickets, the
most recent addition to the colourful, fun andwacky tapas
emporiumAdriàhas continued to evolve since opening in
late 2010– andwhichhas just enteredTheWorld’s 50Best
Restaurants at number 42. Theparlourwas originally abar
called41 Degrees before itmorphed into the41 Degrees
Experience, a 16-seat dining room that served a45-course,
four-hour feast; now it’swhereTickets’ guests are taken
for a sweetWonka-style finish to theirmeal.
Adrià left the legendary El Bulli in2009, aheadof its
high-profile closing in2011, wherehe’dworked alongside
his older brother, the famous Ferran, for 23 years from
the age of 15. Heworkedhiswayup through the kitchen
revealing an exceptional talent for patisserie, startingwith
the traditional dessert trolley and eventually arriving at
themind-blowingdeconstructed style that El Bulli was
celebrated for, before graduating tobecome the overall
headof its development kitchen.
Ferranmight have endedupon themagazine covers,
but El Bulli wouldnot have succeededwithout Albert in
its engine room. “He iswithout adoubt themost complete
cookworking in theworld today,” according tohis brother.
Albert’s first attempt at going solo, Inopia, opened in
2006, a tapas bar that pushed traditional dishes and tins
of preserved seafood, now feels like a rehearsal. It’s in the
sameBarcelonaneighbourhood asTickets, still therebut
renamedLolitaandnow runbyhis former business partner.
“I saw thepotential in this areawith Inopia,” he says
of El Poble Sec, theneighbourhood in thedistrict of
Sants-Montjuïc, wherenext year hewill completewhat
he’s described as ‘a culinary amusement park’ with the
opening of Enigma, his fifth, andmost ambitious, outpost
in asmany years.
El Poble Sec fell intodecline in the 1980s but has seen
amarked improvement in its fortunes since the opening
of Tickets, followedby thePeruvian-JapanesePakta,
vermouthbar Bodega 1900 and twoMexicanoutposts,
tacobar NiñoViejo and themore formal Hoja Santa. All
Adrià joints arewithin fiveminutes’ walkof eachother;
Bodega 1900 is in fact directly oppositeTickets. Later I
watchAdrià scurryback and forthbetween the two.
“We’vehad a lot of fun,” he says, looking remarkably
relaxed formanwith asmuchonhis plate as hehas.
“Because the restaurants are all so close to eachother,
it’s easier to control.We get a lot of offers from abroad
but I prefer to stay here and focus on the restaurants and
alsowhat I owe thebank.” He laughs. The fact that he’s
done all of this in the face of the financial crisismakes it
all themore remarkable. His brother is his partner in the
businesses alongwithowners of thebeloved local seafood
destination, Rías deGalicia.
“Barcelona is doing incrediblywell; each yearwe
welcome another 20,000 tourists,” he says. “Without
them itwouldnot bepossible to run this kindof business.”
I ask if he’s happierworking like this, channellinghis
creativity intomultiple outlets as opposed to thebeast
thatwas El Bulli? “I’mnot happier ormore satisfied, it’s
just adifferent stage ofmy life,” he says. “Nowmyposition
is tobe thepersonwith experiencewhodirects things. I
need to carry theweight onmy shoulders andpush the
young chefs inmy team. I’m the co-ordinator andmake
thedecisions but I believe in youngpeople and I believe in
thepartners inmybusinesses, inmy chefs andmy team.
