Pyrenees Guide

Located in Roses, on the Costa Brava, approximately two hours north of Barcelona, El Bulli is open only from April to September. During the other six months, the chefs are holed up in their laboratory in Barcelona devising new and exciting recipes.

El Bulli is said to be booked out a year in advance, and virtually every serious chef reckons that Ferran Adrià, the genius in the kitchen, is the most influential and gifted man in the culinary world. Ferran Adrià has been described as "the most imaginative generator of haute cuisine on the planet" and does a great deal of work on molecular gastronomy. In early 2011, management announced that the restaurant would close as of July 31st 2011, to reopen as a creativity center in 2014.

Restaurant Magazine judged El Bulli to be Number One on its Top 50 list of the world's best restaurants for a record five times — in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, and #2 in 2010. El Bulli has three Michelin stars, but it doesn't play by any conventional food rules I know. So how on earth do you classify a restaurant in a league of its own?

El Bulli, Cala Montjoi, Roses, Girona (+972 15 04 57); gastronomic menu is €115 per person without wine.