A five-day wine and gastronomic journey through l’Emporda, ending in the city of Girona, allows you to discover the wine and gastronomy of a land straddling the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean, a literal example of sea and mountains.
Also glimpse a culinary turmoil that is based on the classics, such as El Motel and the Duran hotel, in Figueres, and rises up in the established ones, before at elBulli and now at El Celler de Can Roca, to serve, at the exact point of cooking , to a generation of young chefs hungry for Michelin stars.
Origins in Figueres
In 1961, a clever chef named Josep Mercader decided to open a Catalan cuisine restaurant in Figueres, in a motel on the then national highway that linked it with France (La Jonquera is a stone’s throw away), through which not only tourists arrived (many) and traffic jams (kilometres), but also culinary trends. Soon he had the writer Josep Pla as a regular, at table 26. Mercader at El Motel and Lluis Duran at the Hotel Duran, where Dali stopped before or after visiting the Astoria cafe, were the alchemists who mixed those effluvia of French nouvelle cuisine with the enormous diversity of foods that l’Emporda offered to distill a completely renewed and absolutely contemporary Catalan recipe book.
All this is reeled off by sommelier Laura Masramon, organizer (together with the City Council) and guide of a food and wine route through Figueres, in which we try chicken with prawns, the delicious local cheeses or some delicious snacks made with the spines of the anchovies. We also got to know the Catalan city’s food market, brimming with fruits and vegetables, and wines with the Emporda designation of origin. And, in addition, we verified that the Motel and the Duran continue to enjoy excellent health. When the first Michelin stars were awarded in Spain in 1974, two of the eight that fell in Girona went to these two venerable establishments, according to Masramon. “They don’t keep them, not because they lost them, but because they didn’t want to continue; they preferred to dedicate themselves to a more classic and popular cuisine, ”she argues. Be that as it may, Masramon insists that elBulli and everything that came after drank from them. “It’s no coincidence that it all started here,” he stresses.
Chef Paco Perez y Peralada
The province of Girona treasures 13 restaurants with a total of 18 Michelin stars, but it is not necessary to set foot in any of them to eat from ten. There are many options, for example L’Olivera, the restaurant of the Peralada hotel, with a classic atmosphere, and, more informally, on the terrace of the Celler 1923, which is the wine bar of the Bodega Perelada. The latter occupies one of the buildings of an old farm and overlooks not the winery (that’s impossible), but the promontory below which lies this fantastic and ecological underground temple dedicated to wine. Both establishments work under the gastronomic direction of Paco Perez, the chef with the most stars in the region of l’Emporda.
From Cadaques to Pals
The last three chefs at elBulli, Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casanas, opened a restaurant in Cadaques, the fishing village where, in addition to saltpeter, Dali is breathed. His name, Sharing, is also his philosophy. Small (and modern) bites to put in the center of the table, with very suggestive flavours, more fish than meat: marinated sardines with raspberries, beetroot and pistachios; razor clams with black truffle bearnaise; chestnut scallops with chicken juice and potato confit; fig tree and figs with chocolates. Dishes served in an atmosphere that is not lofty, highly thought out and elaborated, local and seasonal. In this land the local product is valued and taken care of.
Girona is the territory of the Roca brothers. The family, who has never wanted to leave their city, has set up their gastronomic empire here, with its epicenter in El Celler de Can Roca and beautiful replicas such as the Casa Cacao boutique hotel, opened in 2020. At street level it offers, through glass, views of Jordi Roca’s workshop, while its terrace opens onto the old town and serves a brunch based on ingredients from local producers, with a chocolate finish. Those responsible for tourism in the city say that the Rocas are the great reference for chefs who stand out —Joan, the eldest, received the Michelin Guide Chef Mentor award last November, the first of this category that he awards.
The last stop on the tour is to enjoy two clearly aspiring star restaurants, each in their own way. A dinner at the Divinum is a show directed by Joan Morillo, co-owner and head of the room, with the waiters parading almost as if in a choreography and an exhibition of techniques, flavors and staging served in 17 passes, some finalized live by the two young chefs: Isidre Soler and Arnau Casadevall. Foie Peanut; sea and mountain of mushrooms and lobster; smoked eel, horchata and pumpkin are just some of their proposals. Afterwards, a lunch at Terram is like going to Adria Bou’s house, who has the kitchen open to the dining room, talks a lot about roots and perseverance, introduces his team one by one and with affection, and prepares exquisite snacks with mestizo touches: huitlacoche , remolatxa air, mini panochas from Arbucies; monkfish cheek, curry, tomato jam and sea fennel. End of round trip.
