Customer Reviews

Decoding Ferran Adria: Hosted by Anthony Bourdain

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD is an amazing glimpse of the famous Chef Ferran Adria of Spain. Bourdain was the perfect choice for this doco on such a unique chef whose philosophy of blending science with gourmet cooking is so breathtakingly fresh. Bourdain goes through a complete meal with Adria, narrating his emotions and experiences, while showing the crazy creations of new-age food. From Apple Caviar to Cotton Candy style fish corpses served on dried skin, pasta-less ravioli, to carrot foam, the dishes alone make this DVD worth getting! A must have for any foodie!

I am a fan of Bourdain's. I own some of his books and have purchased NO RESERVATIONS from itunes. This DVD is a 46 minute TV episode. Having to pay almost thirty dollars for this DVD is just wrong.

This DVD helped to satisfy my curiosity about the "best restaurant in the world", at least according to a recent survey. If you are interested in
molecular gastronomy, Chef Adria is the Mr. Wizard of food science, and
he and his crew seem to love their work in the state-of-the-art laboratory where they spend half of each year experimenting with new concepts. Anthony Bourdain is the perfect host to take us through the three-hour dinner that shows off the results of their research. The beginning is a little slow, but
there is nothing quite like this restaurant, and this was a great way to
see what all the fuss is about.

Anthony Bourdain is engaging as always as he looks into the goings-on at el bulli, the restaurant-cum-laboratory where Ferran Adria, the chef-cum-mad-scientist concocts the bizarre creations that the food world is swooning over. You'll learn a little bit about the processes and productions of "molecular gastronomy," but the coverage is not in depth. Still, a good introduction to the chef and the food, and definitely worth watching if you're curious about this curious cuisine.

Ferrán Adrià is one of the most amazing and avant-garde chefs in the world. "El Bulli," near Barcelona, yet off the beaten path, is consistently ranked as the best restaurant in the world; it can take two years to get a reservation, and is closed six months of the year for Adrià to do research into new and exotic dishes.

Although some critics and fellow chefs deride Adrià as the pretentious mad scientist of the food world, this documentary shows why he is so praised by more open-minded critics. This special is hosted by Anthony Bourdain, who previously was skeptical of Adrià, and downright hostile to the role of the laboratory in the science of food. The DVD shows Bourdain's coming to terms with Adrià's radical culinary concepts, and his ultimate embracing of them. From carrot foam to liquid nitrogen, Adrià is definitely a futuristic surreal kitchen firebrand, and Bourdain is the perfect guy to get him to talk about his science and art.

Although the DVD is expensive, it's worth it for a glimpse into one of the most amazing minds ever to step into a kitchen: I highly recommend it.

The video is presented Anythony Bourdain; someone who knows traditional french cooking, and hates frills, fluff, and unpalatable food as he once referred Ferran Adria negatively as the "foam dude" in his book Kitchen Confidential. His views and perceptions are changed as he observes and decodes Ferran's thought processes, experimentation, and menu developement. Great buy for a foodie in the family or friend. A little expensive for what it is, but fun to watch.

"Decoding Ferran Adria" is Tony Bourdain's fascinating journey into the inner world of renowned Ferran Adria. El Bulli is a pilgrimage destination for hardcore gourmands. Open only six months of the year, and taking reservations only in October, it is accessible to few, a Holy Grail&Santiago de Compostela for foodies. It is among the cliffs of the Costa Brava, where Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso once lived. It was the birthplace of Dada,surrealism,and cubism. Now Ferran Adria blends science and art with food.

Tony Bourdain attempts to decode Ferran Adria's cooking by sitting through a legendary multi-course meal. It's a visual rarity. Adria seldom allows the media into his sacrosanct restaurant. Bourdain enjoys a cherry dipped in ham fat, mango caviar, carrot "foam",a fish's skeleton that has become cotton candy,a snowball filled with fruit, the essence of pea ravioli, and even the scent of a rosemary sprig. There's ritual, science, and Adria's ever-present irony.

On his Cook's Tour, Bourdain often enjoys street food. This time, he is in a rarefied realm. "Decoding" is otherworldly. Bon appetit!

While it's obvious Bourdain is a chef, as time goes on, one can tell he's neither a narrator nor a film-maker. Now, one should keep in perspective that the subject of this rather short film is Ferran Adria, a chef himself, or rather a chefs' chef. So, this is not film as usual, but rather kitchen affair.

Watching this film, I came away with the idea that 1) one's mouth is a sexual organ; 2) ALL sex takes place in the head; 3) Ferran Adria is like Scheherazade; and 4) a dinner at elBulli is the Kama Sutra of the taste buds.

Interesting enough is how Bourdain, of French culinary persuasion, is taken by Adria's rather Japanese approach to taste--individual and discrete tastes as opposed to a mixture, texture, etc.

Areas of improvement:

Bourdain should work with a film maker, do titles instead of voice-over, slow the pace of the presentation, think more at what happens to him.
The viewer should try to read A Day at elBulli, and get a dinner appointment with Adria('s team).

Just to be clear, the star of this show is Anthony Bourdain, which is usually wonderful, but you don't get enough of Adria - an opportunity lost, I think. The discussion and meal between Anthony and Ferran was the highlight - why wasn't there more of that?

I like Bourdain but this is sadly a very superficial video. Bourdain is so in awe of Adria that he cannot ask serious questions. Off course you learn some very basic stuff about Adria, but that's all.