El Bulli, considered by many to be the finest restaurant in the world (and winning that actual title five times), is closing its doors July 30th with a 48-course menu. Located on a remote cliff overlooking the Mediterranean in northern Spain, the restaurant is hailed as a molecular gastronomy dining experience like no other.

It takes months, if not years, just to secure a coveted reservation. And once you do, you’ll need to actually find the place, which sits atop a winding, mountainous road in the small town of Roses, Spain. But once there you would be treated to nearly 40-courses created by Chef/Mad Scientist Ferran Adria that include wonders such as a pina colada in the “form of cotton candy with freeze-dried pineapple and spheres of rum that exploded in your mouth” followed by “a mojito in the form of a baguette and then a martini glass of fizzy almond foam”. You could also expect “a cookie oozing olive oil; ham and rose wonton; and a dish of “caviar” that was made from hazelnut and hazelnut paste made with caviar. . .and a blackberry risotto with game-meat sauce.”

But, alas, all this will be coming to an end. Chef Adria is turning the restaurant into a culinary institute to be opened in 2014 where chefs can focus on the true creativity and art of food.

Unfortunately, the reservations list up until El Bulli’s closing is booked solid.

For more, go here.

Photo credit: Gordito1869/Wikimedia Commons

• Tag: closings, El Bulli, molecular gastronomy, Spain