el bulli (miff film #3)

El Bulli needs very little introduction. I have not been lucky enough to dine at the avant-guard restaurant (and will not get the chance now that it's closed) so when I discovered that El Bulli: Cooking in Progress was showing at MIFF, I figured it would be the next best thing.

In an act of crazy planning, we booked for the Sunday morning session, i.e before lunch. When I realised our mistake, I thought that my stomach would be extremely angry with me by the end of the documentary. In actuality, once the film was done, my stomach was more confused than anything. The experiments and food creations I had just witnessed were completely mind-boggling, and the end results extremely un-food-like.

The film opens as the restaurant is closing for the season. The audience is then transported to the lab. There the work begins to create new dishes. I found the chef's process amazing to watch. Being introduced to Ferran Adrià was a bit of a thrill as well. He's a fascinating character who's presence changes the atmosphere around him whenever he's in the frame.

Once the lab work is completed, it's back to the restaurant to get it ready for the summer opening. By the time the chefs descend on El Bulli, the menu is far from set. The meals themselves are works-in-progress, even once the restaurant opens.

I thought the most mesmerising part of the documentary was watching Adrià eat the entire menu, one dish after the other, making notes as he went. Oh, and the naming of a dish, which was a cocktail made up of oil and water. Adrià triumphantly decides the dish will be called 'oil-water' and tells the chef to go 'in and win' when presenting the dish to the lucky customers sitting beyond the kitchen doors.

I'm so glad this documentary was made and would highly recommend it to movie and food lovers alike.

3 stars!