‘Tragedy’ for chef as people cook up a storm

Barcelona – When the pandemic struck, top chef Ferran Adria was in the final phases of preparing to reopen his world-famous El Bulli restaurant nine years after it closed.

Although the rest of the world ground to a halt, this highly-decorated Catalan chef has been using the lockdown to work around the clock to ensure the August opening goes ahead as planned.

And when it does, the newly transformed restaurant, which held three Michelin stars, will reopen as a creativity laboratory to foster inventions in both gastronomy and other areas.

The virus has caused “a lot of grief” for the sector, even if it has transformed many people’s relationship with their own kitchens at home, Adria said.

“It’s a brutal situation, a real tragedy,” he admitted, saying the crisis had silenced all other debates raging within the sector.

“Now the question is: if I’m solvent, I will be able to open my business. If I’m not, I won’t.”

After being shuttered for months, restaurants now face tough, restrictive conditions for reopening, with new norms limiting capacity and social distancing, which could spell disaster for many, he said.

“It’s not like you just open and that’s the end of it. When you’re in hospitality, either you’re 70% full or you’re not running a viable business, except in some cases.”

And if people can’t freely associate with friends, it reduces the chances of them going out to eat. “One thing that is going to come out of this lockdown is that some of the population are cooking. Some for entertainment and others because, for the first time in their lives, either they cook or they have to order online every day,” he said.

“I’ve also been sharing recipes online but, more than that, I’ve tried to teach people how to organise themselves in the kitchen. And that has also helped me establish a routine,” he said.