The 12 years of friendship that the Roca brothers and The Macallan Distillery materialized in ‘TimeSpirit’, a new restaurant that the trio at the head of Cellar of Can Rocathree Michelin stars and World’s Best Restaurant twice, opened its doors last October in the Scottish whiskey distillery.
This Thursday, to celebrate this jump abroad by the most recognized and appreciated chefs of Catalonia and the 200th anniversary of the branda new menu was presented to the media in the “mother house” of Girona which revealed new and innovative techniques –some who will travel to Scotland and others who will join the three-star Girona from this Friday– including augmented reality.
“It’s a place we go to often because of the work we do with them,” says Joan, who says she has rejected many other offers to grow her brand overseas. “We said no to the very succulent offers, in Dubai or Abu Dhabi This is where we received the most requests and we said yes to Macallan because of our relationship. “This means that we close the door to open to other places, it is the exception that confirms the rule of opening to other parts of the world,” explains the eldest of the Roca family, whose empire is made up of more than one dozens of spaces, all located in Girona“.
The Roca brothers during the presentation of the new TimeSpirit.
The “fault” is the sherry
Josep ‘Pitu’ Roca was just 16 when his girlfriend – now wife – gave him a bottle of The Macallan which became his favorite whiskey. Its aging in sherry barrels, generous wines of which the average Roca family is passionate and champion, has strengthened this bond. The distillery has up to 40 bunches of wine from Valdespinoa winery belonging to the group, also among Pitu’s favorites, thanks to which the whiskey acquires a distinctive aroma, flavor and color.
The Celler sommelier did not know it at the time, but it would be the seed that would forge a relationship that started in 2013 and that throughout these years has led them to visit different countries around the world, record seven documentaries and publication of “Distilling Scotland”, a cookbook in 2018 about the country and which is inspired by a trip that “the three of us took through different regions of the country where we learned and interpreted products from there like cheese, meat, knives… “, explains his brother Joan.
This year, the distillery has two centuries of history and wanted to celebrate it with a unique menu which could be tasted last Thursday during meal service and also, for the brand’s customers, at dinner time. “We’ve done a lot and learned in a lot of places,” which is why the dishes represent all the stages the brand has gone through. “A journey through time through gastronomy” says Joan on this subject. menu that took them a year of work“with new techniques that have never been developed before and that we will continue to use.”
With The Macallan as a common thread, the vast majority of preparations integrate techniques which start from their ingredients and their preparation.well through mushrooms grown in the barrels where the whiskey or sherry itself is aged which is used for aging.
This is how they start a menu with a series of snacks such as brioche with oat emulsion in a sachet, yeast candy or egg yolk snack, spread over a model representing the setting where the distillery and the Easter Elchies House are locatedthe mansion that presides over it, with which they also begin the experience in the Scottish restaurant, because “it makes sense”, says Pitu.
They play with him smoke to represent the fog of Scotland and the aromas of the barrel, in which they also grow mushrooms or mature duck like the one in which we were able to taste this game, after passing through the one where a double barrel of 30 years had aged.
Mushrooms grown in barrels and chestnuts.
The final touch was brightened by Jordi Roca dedicated to the cause who wanted to give a tribute to the country of kilt, looking graceful and a few centimeters shorter, one of them. “The skirt was a surprise to us too,” Joan confessed. Next to it, a creamy chocolate and whiskey cake held by three large cast hands of the brothers and the impressive bottle that inspired it, Time Space, the oldest whiskey the house has ever released, at 84 years old.
Roca cuisine in Scotland
With this sequence of dishes which until now had not seen the light of day, the Rocas were able to show the the essence of the proposal that they carry out in the restaurant located on the estate of almost 200 hectares, on the banks of the River Spey. With a private dining room and space for 24 guestsTimeSpirit, was designed by the award-winning company architect David Thulstrupwhich also marked the interior design of Noma (Copenhagen).
“It opened at the end of October, we were fully booked for a month until February and it was a success. The menu is adapted to local ingredients and local techniques, at very affordable prices so that the people there can leave. Popular prices for haute cuisine, we wanted a place where there wouldn’t be the pressure that exists in places like these,” explains the chef about the restaurant and its menu, made up of nine dishes and at a price of 71.50 euros at lunch and dinner time this amounts to 113.50 euros.
Inside TimeSpirit.
“We want to do something that has to do with the passage of time, that saves traditions close to us,” explains the chef, who assures that “the The product they handle there is brutal.. The crayfish that we eat there (the big ones) mostly come from there.”
They take the slow-cooked lamb neck dish at low temperature with xuxo pork (“the one who lives next to the Macallan”) is a nod to the cuisine here but also elsewhere. It is inspired by Scottish haggis, there is a lot of culture around this animal, which is ‘cut’ on the plate and what is not seen is in the cake which imitates the versioned Scottish shortbread biscuit.
They also present a “sea and mountain” plant, which they have adapted with mushrooms and seaweed from the Scottish coast. He Celeriac is very similar to another preparation passed by the Celler, inspired by cinnamon brioche.. Whiskey Highland Cow Steak is cooked at low temperature with The Macallan whiskey sous vide. They also serve a adapted version of the dairy dessert where guava is replaced by raspberry, one of the most consumed red fruits.
The lamb dish and its different parts.
Her whiskey and wine list, including sherrys like “one from Ramiro Ibáñez and a vin d’herbe from Willy Pérez” and, of course, from Valdespino. Thus up to 400 references in Scotland managed by Audrey Doréhead sommelier at Celler de Can Roca. “A letter variada and sherry predominant, with sparkling wines from here, Riojas, Ribera, Albariños, wines from the Canary Islandssome from the Envinate group from the Sierra de Gredos that I particularly like. “We can choose beautiful things,” explains the sommelier. They also offer an exclusive range of spirits.
Virtual reality glasses and other innovations from the Roca universe
For the Rocas “it is a responsibility to offer new things”, innovation is linked to creativity, but always with respect for tradition. Thus, in the directory of news that the brothers presented this Thursday during the service, they coexist techniques like healing which is made with the wax calf or the freeze-drying a scallopwhich is reminiscent of a piece of meringue and is a nod to the shellfish pantry that the Scottish country enjoys, complete with virtual reality glasses.
It’s about “cooking and presentation techniques these combined elements make the menu different,” explains the man who runs the kitchen from where a piece of clay that enveloped the fin of the breamanother way to work other parts of the fish.
Also the fermented play an important role, like beans which have been sprouted and converted to tempe and tempeto (techniques that come from Indonesia). “Working with the dishes, like the scanned hands, the snack box which represents the distillery” are other tools with which they “play”.
“Everything has a job, like nevertheless, what will most likely remainor the 200-year-old press to which heat must be incorporated and which was not used until now. Little games for which you have to do a lot of research”, as is also the case with thermoactive paper which, when you add heat (that of a broth for example), opens and produces a visual effect pleasant.
They were the Meta Quest Virtual Reality Glasses those which captured the full attention of the guests, who by putting them on were able to immerse themselves in a fantastic universe born from the ingenuity of the youngest brother. “We go backwards, but also we move forward with virtual reality glasses, both in real time because you can’t stop looking at the table at the same time as you see the tropical jungle,” says Joan.
Meta Quest virtual reality glasses, to complete the service.
This gentle universe from which the ideas of the man who became the best pastry chef in the world in 2014 emerge. An abyss of lights, sparkles and colors, where. cocoa beans suspended, they dared the restaurant to get caught. The closest thing to this secret paradise where the main ingredient and the chef’s research product transcend the limits of imagination and that “they will join here” assures the cook. “It’s not easy to perform well, but today it worked.”
