A Day at El Bulli by Ferran Adrià, Juli Soler, Albert Adrià
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Book Reviews of A Day at El Bulli
Book Review: Eh'
Summary: 2 Stars
This book has nice photos--- but VERY little text to explain the process of what is going on at El Bulli. I was looking for something that explained how they work, or develop their recipes, or similar. Instead there was a photo of a the people holding an herb.Book Review: Be sure this is what you really want
Summary: 1 Stars
If you win the reservations lottery for elBulli, you might want to buy this as a souvenir. It is hard for me to imagine why a chef as successful as Senor Adria would need an homage to himself. Most let their offerings speak for themselves. This monstrous pile of paper has few words, but they are all bloated and fatuous. "Adria is the most innovative chef working in the world today." That may be true on any given day out of six months, but I suspect somewhere an un-Adria meal might be choked down without killing the diner with banality. It gets worse quickly: "A good dinner is inseparable from good scenography." Such blather is more than wrong; it is wrong-headed. But absurdity just around the bend. A heading of banal photographs reads "Adria's Secret Laboratory". And how could we do without all those childhood snaps of the young Einstein.
The organization of the book is simple. Each page is time-stamped, 24 hour format to be sure -- none of this a.m., p.m. nonsense. "A 11:00 hours the creative sessions begin! It is not what you look for that matters, it is what you find!" The very scales fall from mine eyes! Kant kneels.
Many of the hundreds of photos of the maestro's puss are close enough to count the pores on his nose and the hairs within.
Breaking news on page 73: "Knowledge is essential for judging the products". My life in a ditch. All my failures illustrated in a hairy wrist.
14:30 hours THE TEAM ARRIVES! Eighteen photos of them sniffing their fingers. 15:10 hours "Ferran does not do mise en place himself (that would be wasting sacred time, like Christ washing feet. I should have named this review 'Christ stopped at elBulli' but I could not bring myself to do that to Primo Levi) but continues creative. That about covers the God of Abraham's shift.
15:40 hours I break into tears at the photos of the wiping of the forks. Two pages of just forks. How beautiful. By page 173 we hit 16:50 hours. A picture of a Micro Plane used to grate hard cheese. I swoon. 18:50 an onion is sliced.
Finally on page 283 we get partial pretend recipes. What good real ones wasted on dirt such as we. But he gives us directions on how to eat "Eat a different cube with every mouthful". And Picasso thought HE was a Spaniard.
Thankfully on page 340 you see tail lights of a redeemed customer leaving paradise.
Book Review: This is a picture book, not a cookbook
Summary: 1 Stars
This is one of the most unusual books I have seen - and not really in a good way. It is essentially a scrapbook comprised of full page photos (none of which are great quality) with some unusual less than full size inserts and inclusions, none of which are terribly illuminating. If you want to see what El Bulli looks like and are willing to pay the cover price for this to do so, then have at it. To it's credit, the book is creative in concept like its subject, but here the execution falls way short. I still don't understand its purpose. There is nothing here that can be cooked at home, and in fact there is not even anything to look at and drool over. The photos are more for the purpose of "revealing" the process of creating a new dish and presenting it at the restaurant. I would love to eat there and I would love to learn more about the chef and his restaurant, but this book just left me confused and disappointed that I had spent so much for so little. Tip: find this in a book store; scan through it for about 3 minutes; put it back; send me a thank you note.Book Review: Not worth the money.
Summary: 1 Stars
My roommate and I wanted this book for months until we were able to find it. We thought it was a cookbook with the crazy ideas that are the staples of El Buli in it, but it really is just a 'Day at El Buli.' This book is over 400 pages of what they do in an average day at the restaurant.Book Review: Gift list selection
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this from Chef Grandson's gift list selection and had it drop shipped to another state.
From the surprised and enthusiastic thank you he was very pleased.