What to anticipate from El Celler de Can Roca’s new chocolatier and lodge

Spanish fine-dining powerhouse El Celler de Can Roca was twice named the “World’s Finest Restaurant” by Restaurant Journal. To not point out the three Michelin stars that it has maintained since 2009.

Whereas the restaurant’s closure as a result of coronavirus pandemic ends subsequent week, its new stablemate Casa Cacao is already again in enterprise.

Owned by the acclaimed Roca brothers who additionally personal El Celler de Can Roca — particularly Joan, Josep and Jordi — Casa Cacao is, as its identify implies, a world-class “home of sweets.”

Set in a historic five-story constructing in downtown Girona that when housed a hostel, Casa Cacao is a bean-to-bar chocolatier operated by Jordi Roca, the youngest brother and present pastry chef of El Celler de Can Roca. Resort Casa Cacao, a 15-room luxurious boutique lodge is situated in the identical constructing; it is managed by Anna Payet, the spouse of Joan Roca.

Topped the “World’s Finest Pastry Chef” by William Reed Enterprise Media in 2014, Jordi Roca launched Casa Cacao with a trio of chocolate-centric ideas — a workshop the place cocoa beans are roasted, fermented and became chocolate merchandise of every kind; a cafeteria the place the general public can style them; and a boutique to take particular purchases dwelling, a few of that are delicately packaged in recycled cocoa fibers.

“We import cacao beans immediately from farmers and communities of six totally different origins,” stated Jordi Roca. A few of the sources embody Peru’s indigenous Awajún folks, Colombia’s Arhuaco neighborhood and Venezuela’s prestigious Hacienda Cacao Caribe farm.

Finish-to-end involvement within the processing of the cocoa beans, he stated, permits his firm to manage the accents and nuances of the cocoa which reveal totally different elements of the “acidity, fruitiness and nuttiness.”

“Chocolate doesn’t must be candy or bitter and black or white,” he stated. “It could present a variety of personalities as wines do. We wish to convey the style of actual cocoa from totally different origins to showcase their personalities.” 

The bean-to-bar idea sells six milk-based chocolate merchandise (three with cow’s milk, two with sheep’s milk and one with goat’s milk) and two specialty chocolate merchandise — one crafted from cocoa beans soaked in Macallan Double Cask whisky and one other macerated in tangerine and licorice.

Moreover, visitors should purchase seasonal sweets, spreadable lotions, chocolate drinks (each cold and warm) and pastries, corresponding to fartons, ache au chocolat and xuixos, the latter a deep-fried Girona specialty stuffed with crème catalana.

Casa Cacao shares floor flooring house with the reception space of Resort Casa Cacao, the boutique lodge run by Jordi’s sister-in-law Payet. She is the daughter of a fisherman from the seaside resort city of L’Estartit in Costa Brava and a 26-year hospitality veteran.

“In 1984, I began a tourism diploma on the College of Girona, and it was whereas I used to be in my third 12 months that I met Joan Roca, then a younger chef and trainer, on the hospitality and tourism faculty,” stated Payet, who went on to pursue a instructing profession in tourism-related fields.

Given her schooling and expertise serving to the household’s companies on weekends, Payet’s transfer into lodge administration was a pure development.

With assist from Spanish inside design agency Sandra Tarruella Interiors — who additionally designed the Roca brothers’ beloved Girona ice creamery Rocambolesc which opened in 2012 — Payet has normal an area that’s bathed within the natural colours of cacao beans at totally different phases of maturation. Shades of mustard yellow, brown and beige mix with touches of inexperienced, which symbolize cocoa bushes, and gray, which mirror the cobblestones-paved streets of Girona.

The boutique lodge has 12 junior suites (known as Cacao Beans) and three suites (known as Cacao Origins) which can be adorned with wood and marble furnishings that had been custom-made by native artisans. The ceramic flooring is blanketed by wool carpets handcrafted in Girona, and the partitions are a sand-textured floor harking back to a zen backyard. For optimum consolation, beds are outfitted with Catalan-made 500 thread rely natural cotton.

However the spotlight of each keep, says Payet, is the breakfast created by her husband Joan which she suggests is greatest skilled on the rooftop terrace.

“The rooftop terrace is unique to lodge visitors,” she stated. “Right here, you may have a leisurely breakfast of locally-crafted produce, whereas having fun with the panorama of the previous metropolis of Girona.”

Whereas Payet is maintaining a lid on the breakfast menu designed by her husband, there might be no prizes for guessing whether or not sweets make an look.