Joan Roca belongs to that generation of entrepreneurial and visionary high-end chefs that have gradually been turning Girona into a global Epicurean shrine. Roca is the executive chef at El Celler de Can Roca, which he runs with his two younger brothers, Josep and Jordí. Roca has long sought out extraordinary cooking techniques and a particular passion of his has been to explore the links between aromas, flavours and perfume, almost as if he was a sorcerer brewing ingredients for a spell. His relentless work with solidified perfumed smoke typifies this passion well, as does his use of revitalising ancient ingredients that other chefs know little about, for e.g. the common exotic 6th century Persian Empire´s practice of the utilising metallic leafed edible cholesterol lowering foil papers of gold, silver and copper which fill and decorate some of his specialties. Along with the wine chosen by sommelier Josep and the creations of pastry and dessert guru Jordí, Roca’s dishes enable diners to appreciate the sensory quality of food.

A Visit To Restaurant El Celler de Can Roca

A visit to Restaurant El Celler de Can Roca, set in a beautiful stone townhouse nestled amongst lush herbal and botanical gardens, requires a willingness to suspend the antiquated notion that eating is a very basic fundamental of life, something we do in order to survive. There is very little about a lunch or dinner here that can be compared to any relationship or notion that eating is for living.

What and / or who inspired you to become a chef?

Firstly, genealogical heritage has bestowed my brothers, sommelier Josep and pastry whiz Jordí, and I with epicurean parental bloodlines. My earliest memories are of my mother Montserrat in the family kitchen. However, my mother and father didn’t just cook for the family;they prepared dishes for their customers at their traditional Catalan restaurant. It is of no surprise that all three of us have landed up in the restaurant business. After attending cooking school in Girona and France, my two brothers and I opened El Celler de Can Roca, right next door to the family restaurant, El Restaurante de Can Roca. At the very beginning in 1986, my prior restaurant was cradled into a very constricted space and I could barely turn around in the kitchen. The decor was modest with no frills.

While lots of restaurants can turn out a good meal or two, few can match the Rocas’ colossal portfolio of fine food and wines. What has led you to your success today?

Well, eventually the restaurant’s kitchen at our former venue was renovated in 1996. Our move a few streets away, 11 months ago has marked a turning point for us, in the way we have merged the gastronomic traditions of Catalan Mediterranean cuisine with advanced culinary technology, evolutionising new local and global product availability,revitalising ancient gastronomic methods, adding innovative nouveau touches and vanguard visual details.

How would you describe your culinary philosophy?

I respect high-standing Catalan traditions. However, I do not stand still in my culinary style. My successful dishes are due to my cautious attention, forming architectural structures which provide the ingredients with visual and physical balance like a well constructed building. Then they are measured so that they do not tumble over when set up on plates, combining the colours and liasing the textures. Furthermore, my dishes contain savoury, sweet, salty and sour notes, all in total harmony. Additionally, I embrace state-of-the-art culinary technology, employing ‘sous vide´ to create my signature dishes.

Can you further explain to our readers, what exactly is sous vide ?

The sous vide culinary process is a French term meaning “ under vacuum “ and involves vacuum packing food in a plastic type vacuum baggie and cooking food at a lower temperature than normal for an extended period of time and then quickly cooling it. The advantages of sous vide, are the chef receives less shrinkage of the raw materials, they are more moist, full of flavour and in the restaurant business higher volumes of food can be prepared much faster. This method was originally used during the Persian Empire in the 6th century.

How long have you been utilising these techniques?

Since our first kitchen renovation in 1996.

What are your favourite fast foods or tapas?

Acorn-fed Iberian ham from Jabugo and fresh fruit.

What are some of your favourite foreign restaurants?

I have enjoyed numerous dinners abroad, however, here are a couple off the top of my head; Michel Bras in France, Wylie D. in Manhattan and, for diversity, Morimoto for Japanese.

Tell us about your most extraordinaire gastronomic holiday destination.

The Kai Seiki gastronomic route in Kyoto, Japan.‘Kai’ means breast and ‘seiki’ are stones. Historical Kyoto, Japan has maintained their ancient gastronomic traditions which were started by medieval Buddhist monks that would either carry servings of food in their pockets for long journeys and / or be served platters of assorted types of sushi, marine pickles and cucumbers, sashimi, rice, marine algae lettuces and various types of udon noodles. This has become Japan’s renovated tapas movement in the 21st millenium.

Is this where you got the idea to place three stones on each of your restaurant tables?

[Chuckling] Actually, yes - and the three stones signify the three Roca brothers.

A favourite restaurant on the Iberian Peninsula?

Juan Marí Arzak´s Restaurant in San Sebastián.

What are some of your future professional plans?

To reap our botanical gardens’ herbal and fruit harvests, which include bergamot, basil and cherries. We are planning to continue with our experimenting and investigating of the world’s herbs, truffles and aromas. We are also amplifying our essential herbal oil line (for example, bergamot), creating new recipes and wine pairing, tending fruit and vegetables. Also, to enjoy our expansion.

Where is your dream trip 2009 ?

Historic China, because it is steeped in thousands of years of antiquity, distinctive culture, architectural relics, numerous cuisines and has a vast raw material product selection.

What motivated your study of duplicating perfume aromas and creating designer scented desserts?

Jordí, my youngest brother and Pastry Chef is the expert on this subject. He did several pastry-making courses in northern Italy and had begun experimenting with citrus fruits, bergamot, spices, condiments and basil, to name a few.

Which dish do you consider your specialty?

Meats and especially milk-fed kid.

Tell us about your new venue

In December 2007, we accomplished one of our greatest objectives, the opening of our one year old 280-square metre restaurant, catering corporation, herbal gardens and our 45-square metre wine cellar.

Joan, can you clarify the Persian legacy of gold, silver and bronze foils leaf and their history.

Firstly, the history of Iranian gastronomy dates back to the 6^th century when Cyrus the great, the leader of the Pars Persian Tribe created an empire that eventually stretched from India to Egypt and Greece. This territory became a conduit of culture and gastronomy. The native Persian ingredients were used throughout the empire. The Persians traded with the kingdoms of the Far East caravans along the Silk Route from China to Syria having brought citrus fruits, aubergines and rice varieties to the Mid-East and the southern Mediterranean. I have always been an architectural and history buff, a researcher with a penchant for distinctive exotic culinary techniques and have adopted the guilding process of metallic leafing . The development of Persian cookery was the opulent tastes of the emperors which extended to their gastronomy. The Royal Court cooked at low temperatures in special sealed ovens, similar to a tandoor, an ancient sous vide. Persian imperial chefs perfected their perfumed smoked recipes, and thus this ancient cuisine set the foundation and influenced many western European countries by the late 1490s - 15oo´s.

A la Carte

There are 3 or 4 cartes ( with varying prices from 65 Euros – 100 Euros ) and each of these cartes have a variety of perfumes, sherberts and fruit therapies depending on the fruit market selection that morning. They can vary however there are always: Cacao bom boms, a perfume, a sherbert or sorbet, an icecream and a fruit therapy. These are always on the cartes.

To Go In Sidebar

Seasonal desserts at the moment – is this summer? When will the autumn ones be available because by the time we publish this, presumably the menu will have changed

• Passion fruit therapy

• Cacao Bom Boms

• Lancôme Perfume

• Orange Flower & Saffron Sherbert

A Lancôme Perfume is a smoked perfume concoction duplicating the aromas of a Lancôme product made with fresh peaches, fresh apricots, honey, caramel and fresh roses.

Contact & Location

Restaurant El Celler De Can Roca

Can Sunyer 46

Girona Capital

Reservations highly suggested: 972. 222. 157

Website: www.cellercanroca.com