El Bulli

Not What You Expected
If you are a real foodie, chef, and someone involved in the business of food you might like this. If you are expecting a Gordon Ramsey or Bourdain style documentary then you will be disappointed. You will not learn how to cook any of what legendary chef, Ferran Adrià, makes at the now retired El Bulli restaurant. The documentary starts with the closing of his restaurant for the season then turns into a dialogue between chefs on the creativity and science of the creation of new dishes. You are like a fly on the wall. Jose Andres operates arguably the most advanced kitchen in the world, very interesting to see how everything comes together, but this film won't be for everyone

Pretty boring.
I really enjoyed Bourdain's documentary about El Bulli,Decoding Ferran Adria: Hosted by Anthony Bourdain (and the episode of No Reservations with Ferran Adria), and in those you really got to see what cooking and eating at El Bulli was like. I also enjoyed Lisa Abend's book The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià's elBulli. This movie, however, was much less interesting to watch.

The movie is 1hr 50mins long, and all dialogue is in Catalan, Spanish, or French, with English subtitles. The first half of the movie is almost all video of Ferran's sous-chefs working in the lab. There is no narration at all, very little cooking, and it is somewhat tedious to watch. Yes, it is interesting to see what they do, but most of the time it is unclear exactly what they are doing and what ingredients they are...

Ultimate for foodies
If you classify yourself as a foodie, you have got to see this movie. This is where food preparation is takes to almost a scientific level. I do not believe anyone else in the entire world has done this approach to food preparation.
Too bad if you never got to el Bulli, it closed in 2011. The brothers opened Tickets and 41degrees in Barcelona while the featured chefs opened Compartir north of Barcelona, with Faran's blessings to continue along the same path, and not too far from the el Bulli original site.

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