El Celler de Can Roca is a free-style restaurant, committed to the avant-garde, but still faithful to the memory of different generations of the family’s ancestors dedicated to feeding people. It was founded by the brothers Joan and Josep Roca at the end of August, 1986, in Girona. Joan, in the kitchen, and Josep, in the dining room. Immediately after that, in 1987, Encarna Tirado, now married to Josep Roca, joined the project in the dining room. And the youngest brother, Jordi, started in the kitchen of El Celler in 1998.
El Celler started out in a small premises, just next to the house of the parents, Josep Roca and Montse Fontané, owners of Can Roca, a bar-restaurant opened in Taialà-Germans Sàbat, a popular neighbourhood on the outskirts of Girona. The first premises were small. In 1991 they set their sights on can Sunyer, a country house, a hybrid of modernist and colonial styles built in 1911 by the architect Isidre Bosch i Bataller, standing just a few metres away from the family home. After purchasing it they adapted it as a banqueting hall called la Torre de Can Roca. Fifteen years later, in November 2007, – the new Celler was relocated to the Tower. The former 170 square metre premises were quadrupled by a new and more comfortable premises: 200 square metres of kitchen, 200 of winery, 200 of dining room and 60 for the hall, plus a welcoming garden.
El Celler de Can Roca’s commitment to cuisine and to the avant-garde, and its link to academia, has led it to defend the dialogue between the countryside and science, a total dialogue. All three brothers studied at the Girona Catering School and believe in pedagogy as the basis for the professionals of the future. In fact, El Celler de Can Roca is the outcome of the evolution of a family that has been engaged in the restaurant trade for many generations and with a permanent avant-garde vocation.
The father, Josep Roca i Pont, was born in Can Reixach, which still operates as a restaurant, in Sant Martí de Llémena, on November 24, 1933. He was the local bus driver, roasted chickens on a spit and grilled meat, and spent a good many years behind the counter at Can Roca. His mother was Grannie Angeleta, her grandchildren’s’ muse, who spent “all her life stirring pans and feeding people”. Montserrat Fontané i Serra, their mother, was born on June 8, 1936, in Can Batista de Sant Martí de Llémena. She is the revered driving force and cook, the person who has had the greatest influence on cooking at Can Roca. Montserrat Fontané’s family may possibly have been in the restaurant business since at least circa 1700, the 18th Century, in Sant Martí de Llémena.
All the leading restaurant guides and gastronomy critics have acknowledged El Celler’s achievements over its first twenty-five years. The first Michelin star was awarded in 1995; the second in 2002 and the third on November 25, 2009. Three suns by the Repsol Guide; 19/29, by 5 a Taula, by La Vanguardia; 9.5, by Gourmetour; 9.75/10, by the Lo Mejor de la Gastronomía and Gourmand guides. In 2009, the English Restaurant Magazine placed El Celler de Can Roca 5th in the World’s 50 best restaurants. It reached fourth place in 2010 and finally second in 2011.
Photos: El Celler de Can Roca
Michelin Guide: 3 Stars
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Ranking: Best of The Best
Can Sunyer 48, 17007 Girona, Spain