Celler de Can Roca
A perfect combination of extraordinary contradictions. Traditional and avant-garde, local and international, shy and exuberant, individual and collective talent, past and future, humble and ambitious…
El Celler de Can Roca is not a restaurant, it is an experience. A way of life explained closely and magically by three brothers who carry cooking in their veins and passion in their blood.
The restaurant was founded by the brothers Joan and Josep Roca in 1986 in a small property, right next-door to their parents, owners of a popular bar-restaurant established in the 60s in the neighbourhood of Taialà and Germans Sàbat, on the outskirts of Girona. In fact, El Celler de Can Roca is the result of the evolution of a whole family committed to gastronomy for many generations, built on knowledge passed down from great-grandparents to grandparents, from grandparents to parents and from parents to children. It is also the result of an avant-garde update of every single moment lived.
Joan, the eldest son, has always been in charge of the kitchen, and Josep, the middle one, of the dining-room and cellar. It was not until 1998 that the youngest brother, Jordi, joined the project, taking charge of the desserts.
The combination of these three talents forms a perfect triangle, in which each side strengthens the other two in a harmonious interpenetration of elegance and majesty.
El Celler defines itself as a freestyle restaurant of cooking without restriction, committed to the avant-garde but never forgetting the memories of many generations of ancestors who spent their whole lives feeding people.
Visiting El Celler de Can Roca means embarking on a sensory voyage. The human body does not have enough senses to understand fully the powerful explosion triggered by a taste of each of the dishes. Behind every creation there is a sense, a reason and a magical story that the three brothers will tell with delight, losing none of the devotion that has brought them this far. The path has been dizzying and full of awards. All the leading restaurant guides and gastronomy critics have appreciated and admired the work done by El Celler de Can Roca during the first quarter century of the restaurant.
Its first Michelin star came in 1995; the second followed in 2002 and the third was awarded in 2009. In the same year, the British Restaurant Magazine ranked the restaurant 5th amongst the top 50 in the world; it rose to second place in 2011 and then came top in 2013.
Fame and recognition have not made a shred of difference to the friendly nature, closeness and passion which the three brothers emanate.
El Celler de Can Roca is an experience beyond gastronomy; it leaves a poetic imprint on everyone who has been able to experience it.
Photo:
1. Jordi, Joan i Josep Roca. David Ruano & Josep Oliva.
2. Celler de Can Roca (Girona). David Ruano & Josep Oliva.
