Sotheby's Hong Kong to auction dinner of a lifetime with El Bullistar chef Ferran Adrià
Hongkongers who missed a chance to dine at one of the world's greatest restaurants will be offered the next best thing when Sotheby's Hong Kong auctions off a meal with El Bulli star chef Ferran Adrià next month.
Hongkongers who missed a chance to dine at one of the world's greatest restaurants will be offered the next best thing when Sotheby's Hong Kong auctions off a meal with El Bulli star chef Ferran Adrià next month.
The dinner with Adrià will take place at his brother's restaurant, Tickets, in Barcelona.
Bids for the mouthwatering-experience will begin at an eye-watering HK$40,000 on April 3 at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. Another dinner will be auctioned off on April 26 in New York.
Also going under the hammer will be some of the restaurant's extensive wine cellar, equipment and memorabilia. The 445 lots of wines being offered in Hong Kong are estimated to fetch up to HK$8 million. Three bottles alone from 1990 are expected to sell for HK$380,000.
A Michelin three-star establishment, El Bulli was based near the town of Roses, Catalonia, in Spain. It was feted with countless awards, topping the list of the world's 50 best restaurants five times, with Adrià frequently named the world's greatest chef.
Despite closing on July 30, 2011, it has since inspired the El Bulli Foundation - an experimental centre looking at the process of culinary innovation and creativity. All proceeds of the auctions will go towards this.
"It's hard to put a figure on how much will be raised overall on the day but it's sure to be millions of dollars," Robert Sleigh, Sotheby's Hong Kong senior director, said. "You might not have been able to go to the restaurant but a small part of El Bulli is now available for Hong Kong people to enjoy and make the most of."
Founded over 50 years ago in 1961, El Bulli was led by Adrià for its last 27 years. His work put El Bulli at the cutting edge of gastronomy and the restaurant is recognised as having changed culinary history by reworking ingredients into new forms and combinations.
The food at El Bulli has been widely recognised as revolutionary, introducing the world to the concept of technoemotional gastronomy and setting new standards for chefs around the world.
