Restaurante El Taller

Ten years ago, you had to go to El Bulli to sample dishes like avocado foam or apple caviar. But that was before Ferran Adrià of El Bulli transformed the culinary landscape of Spain and the world, bringing science and a playful sensibility to food and dining. Now his experiments are re-interpreted in countless dishes spanning almost every culture. This spring a peak into the laboratory revealed what could be the next culinary invention to grace diners' plates: fruit pasta and solid yogurt balls.

The Taller, or workshop, is located 160 kilometers away from El Bulli’s dining room in a touristy, pedestrian street in the heart of Barcelona. For six months of the year, the staff gathers here to research and plan the next year’s menu, a deliberate, step-by-step process that takes the menu from theory to reality. Thousands of people, many of whom probably long for a reservation at the restaurant, walk by the dark, unmarked door every day; blink and you’ll miss it.