The great success of the three ordinary chefs of Disfrutar comes to the screen

BarcelonaJust a month before the announcement of the new best restaurant in the world in Turin (Italy), Disfrutar in Barcelona has just released the documentary Blank plate, which revives the moments that led chefs Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch to become the best in the world according to the 50th Best Restaurants rankingThe film premiered Wednesday afternoon at the Phenomena Experience cinema in front of a packed auditorium of chefs, family, friends, and politicians; next Tuesday, May 20, Blank plate (co-produced by Abacus and 3Cat) will also be broadcast on TV3, in the Non-fiction, at 10:05 p.m.

The documentary tells the story of the three chefs, who met at the El Bulli restaurant in Cala Monjoi (Roses) and worked alongside chef Ferran Adrià and maître d' Juli Soler. His parents told him he wanted to be a farmer, and they told him no, not to mention them. So he told them: Blank plate, Xatruch walks through the family fields, with his father, and one of the scenes that raised the most smiles was when Xatruch plucks purslane because he thinks it will be very good, and his father replies that it will be just like all purslane. Meanwhile, in Roses, chef Mateu Casañas recounts that his passion for cooking began in the family restaurant, Por Favor. Due to Por Favor's proximity to El Bulli, Ferran Adrià knew his parents, and Adrià even got to cook one day. This is one of the most curious anecdotes, because that day didn't go so well.

Continuing, Oriol Castro reveals the hobbies that have kept him connected to his father since childhood: He has always gone fishing with his father on a boat, and still does, sometimes alone; with two other children, he works hard with his mother to prepare rice at home, which his mother also wants to cook. Blank plate Chefs who know what it means to be the best restaurant in the world are also interviewed. These are Joan Roca, from Bodega de Can Roca, and Ferran Adrià from El Bulli. Both maintain that Catalonia is the only country in the world with three restaurants that have managed to become the best in the world, according to the 50th Best Restaurants ranking. This hasn't happened even in Denmark or the United States. Concepts like creativity, freedom, and excellence blend and work well in our country, which is why the world has turned its attention to our cuisine. The same is true of other existing lists and guides, such as the French Michelin Guide. Catalonia has 60 Michelin-starred restaurants, and the number, to understand it, can be compared with that of Madrid, which is a total of 28.

The Best of the best, forever

Finally, the documentary manages to move the audience with the most tense moments, those experienced by the three chefs in Las Vegas, where the ranking was announced last year. From the day they arrived, the three chefs believed they wouldn't win first place, although everything pointed to that, as they had finished second in the previous edition. The fact that the organizers of the list didn't treat them with the same kindness as their other colleagues, as the chef of Denmark's Alchemist restaurant, who sat in the front row at the events prior to the Chef's Talks, made her believe it. At the gala, the three chefs, always accompanied by press officer Susana Farrerós, intensely experienced the countdown to the last ten positions. Chef Oriol Castro asked Mateu Casañas to shake his hand, but Casañas told him no, that everyone should manage their nerves. Finally, Casañas took Castro's hand, and the moment arrived when the presenter announced the best restaurant in the world: Disfrutar in Barcelona. In the Phenomena Experience room, the audience was moved as they watched the four chefs and Farrerós embrace.

On June 19, in the Italian city of Turin, the 50th Best will announce the new best restaurant in the world. El Disfrutar, along with El Celler de Can Roca and El Bulli de Roses, are part of The Best of the Best, a category they will never leave. It is in this category that Catalonia demonstrates its strength as a culture, because gastronomy is culture. And culture connects its knowledge with all intellectual and social disciplines.