Former El Bulli creative director is conjuring up new restaurants

Ferran Adria is famous as the chef of storied Spanish restaurant El Bulli, but plenty of self-professed foodies know very little about his younger brother Albert, who worked alongside Ferran as creative director of the El Bulli laboratory.

By all accounts, it was Albert who spearheaded the renowned restaurant's cutting-edge innovations, technical breakthroughs and clever plating. Ferran was the conceptual genius but Albert was the mad scientist and artist - though he prefers not be called that.

"The words art and science are dangerous when you talk about the kitchen. We're artisans," Adria says, during a recent sojourn in Hong Kong as guest chef at Catalunya restaurant in Wan Chai.

"To talk about food as art is not for me. This is my work and the most technological machine I use is my hand."

Perhaps American celebrity chef David Chang, of Momofuku, hit the nail on the head when he provocatively analogised: "If Ferran is God, then Albert is Jesus."

As a 15-year-old school dropout, Adria joined El Bulli in 1985, a year after his older brother, and soon developed the aptitude and precision needed to be the head pastry chef.

As the restaurant's renown grew, it is reportedly Albert who conjured the most magical of food feats and engineered Ferran's culinary blueprint into reality, all the while remaining quiet behind the scenes.