TabletopJournal recently had the opportunity to do a Q&A with owner/chef Albert Adria and his talented sommelier Cristina Losada. Adria is the bother of famed e Bulli chef Ferran Adria and, in fact, Albert served as sous chef at eBulli prior to opening 41º Experience.
A: I always talk about the balance between the content and the container. Several times, if the container, which is the utensil, is too flashy you might fall victim of the ridiculous and viceversa. Finger food doesn’t happen by chance in haute cousine. There’s an elaboration work behind.
Q: What kind of feeling or emotion are you striving for your guests when your server delivers the snack foods on such unusual pieces?
A: The most beautiful thing is when the guest doesn’t perceive the beauty of the object at first sight but eats the finger food instead and then lays bare the inner beauty of the utensil afterwards.
Q: How do you decide what serving pieces to use with each menu item?
A: The problem is that the large amount of changes due to the product ‘s seasonality forces us to reuse the crockery that we already have. I’d love to have new crockery for each new dish we elaborate but for that I would need two things: time and money.
Q: Where – and, more importantly, how – do you find such unusual and unique pieces….are they made especially for 41˚?
A: In two ways: by looking on the Market and the other one I do them myself by working with different artisans.
Unique serving pieces help to add to the total overall guest experience at 41º Experience
A: Since I was in charge of wine, sake & tea’s menu so first I asked to myself about the restaurant. “What are we offering in a Peruvian Japanese restaurant? What sake am I going to include in the menu? Do we want to sell by the glass, per bottles, half bottles? I decided to sell by the glass and tokkuri (flask 180ml, 1/4 bottle of 720 ml. The best sake is served in a glass of wine, but the warm is served in ochoko (ceramic cilindric cups). So I contacted Carme Balada, ceramic craftswoman who I know since I worked in Comerç 24, a few years ago. I chose the designed and she created sake set, tokkuri and ochoko. About the tea, we only offer Japanese tea and herbal tea made with Japanese ingredients. Sencha green tea, Genmaicha green tea with toasted rice, sakura, ginger & lime. I focused on the best way to enjoy a cup of tea and I concluded that a chawan (tea bowl used in Asia) provides warmth in its texture and preserves the temperature.
It can be argued that few regions of the world have influenced the dining out experience like Spain has in the past few years. And the name Adrià is attached to much of that change.
To make your reservation and get the famed 41º Experience yourself, go here:http://en.bcn50.org/
In addition, Constructing Albert, the Albert Adrià documentary produced by Trueday Films, which premiered on November 20 at the IDFA Forum in Amsterdam. This documentary explains the life of a chef who wanted to be a footballer or filmmaker, and has revolutionized global cuisine, with his brother Ferran Adrià.
