Disfrutar Volume 1 in English

The first cookbook from the extraordinary Barcelona restaurant, featuring the work of three enormously talented chefs who began working together at elBulli. This boxed set contains two books, is full of beautiful photographs, and is expertly translated from Spanish. With a foreword by Ferran Adrià.

The Chefs and the Restaurant

Disfrutar means enjoy in Spanish. Each of the three chefs made their way to elBulli by different paths, one inspired by his mother's home cooking, another by his parents' cookbook collection and restaurant, and the third by his love of the sea and seafood. There they progressed from stagiares to key members of the restaurant's creative department.

After successfully opening a casual restaurant together in the coastal town of Cadaqués, the chefs resolved to open a second with a different character: "modern cuisine with a certain degree of technical complexity... and hospitality and service that were as personal as possible."

Disfrutar was born in Barcelona, near the Ninot Market and with a modern, Mediterranean aesthetic that was unmistakably part of the city. As the smaller of the two books included in this set makes clear, it has a coherence of design that arises from and expresses the chefs' culinary philosophy, as well as their invitation to "Enjoy!"

These Books

Disfrutar Volume 1 is comprised of two books in a slipcase. Each is printed on organic paper made using 100% chlorine-free processes.  The smaller of the two books is devoted to history and philosophy; its reflection of the authors' purposes is as articulate as any restaurant book we have seen.

The second, larger book is a catalogue of the chef's creations from 2014-2017. It contains 166 recipes and over 200 photographs. It uses a 4-ring binder to allow the pages to fold fully flat. In cases where uncommon techniques are called for, gatefolds expand the page spread to allow additional photos to be shown.

Recipes are precisely written and the translation throughout the book is clear and idiomatic. Not surprisingly for a professional cookbook, measurements are in metric; there is a clear assumption that readers have previous professional kitchen experience.

2 volumes in a slipcase. Hardcover. In English. (Sorry the sample photos are from the Spanish-language edition.)