elBulli

There are restaurants, and then there are places that alter the way we think about food. elBulli, perched above Cala Montjoi on Catalonia's rugged Costa Brava, belonged firmly to the latter. The setting - a secluded Mediterranean cove near Roses, backed by the Cap de Creus landscape - was almost too beautiful for a restaurant that spent its time making food look like something from another planet.

Under chef Ferran Adria, Catalan and Mediterranean ingredients became raw material for culinary mischief. Start with the spherical olive: a deceptively ordinary-looking olive that bursts in the mouth, releasing an intensely concentrated rush of olive flavour. It is perhaps the neatest expression of elBulli's philosophy - familiar taste, radically unfamiliar form.

Then comes the deconstructed tortilla, where potato, onion and egg are separated, transformed and reassembled as foam, puree and sabayon. The Spanish omelette remains recognisable in flavour while becoming almost unrecognisable on the plate.


Finally, Parmesan air turns cheese into something resembling savoury snow: light, frozen and intensely cheesy, with nuts and dried fruit adding texture.

elBulli was not merely serving dinner. It was asking diners to reconsider what dinner could be.