Former El Bulli pastry chef whips up baklava in London in time for Eid
It is believed that from the 1990s until El Bulli served its last meal in 2011, some eight million people used to attempt to secure a table each year at Spain’s most famous three-Michelin-starred restaurant. In addition to the famed lobster gazpacho, deconstructed Spanish omelette and caramelised quail’s egg, foodies thronged to the Catalonian eatery for its modernist desserts: chocolate soil, lemon ice snowballs, and marbles of coffee and rosewater floating in a lychee soup.
El Bulli’s pastry chef Albert Adria (brother of head chef Ferran Adria) went on to open Tickets, another Michelin-lauded tapas restaurant in Barcelona, which placed at position 20 in this year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants List. He also runs the dessert restaurant Cakes & Bubbles at Hotel Cafe Royal in London.
It’s here that Adria (himself voted the World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2015) debuted an all-new recipe this month inspired by a popular Middle Eastern sweet: baklava. The chef tells The National he “wanted to have something aromatic and sweet from the region because the Eid celebration was approaching. We also discovered how to serve a Moroccan mint tea with it and wanted to make this part of the experience”.
Somewhat paradoxically Adria has made a name for himself as a health-conscious patissier, and is forever experimenting with ways to make his desserts less heavy without compromising on taste. “The team at Tickets were testing different doughs that could have air inside them as we wanted to make the filo pastry, traditionally used in baklava, but lighter,” the chef explains. “We did this by sealing two layers of filo pastry and putting it in the oven. As traditional baklava is normally made with filo pastry, honey and pistachios, we decided to use the same flavours but create a version that is lighter and less sweet as this is what we are known for here at Cakes & Bubbles.”
Baklava is the one dish that Adria says reminds him most of the Middle East, while rose is the flavouring he associates with the region. “Every time I smell a rose aroma, it reminds me of Turkish delight.” He adds that while patrons love his version of the baklava – a recipe he shares with us below – it’s the “cheesecake that’s been made famous because of our Middle Eastern guests, which they love probably even more than the baklava”. A flan, presented in a golden egg, air pancakes and chocolate corks, are some other bestsellers.