Albert Adrià

Enigma, Barcelona

Barcelona's tireless innovator continues to shape world gastronomy

Born in 1969 in Barcelona, Albert Adrià grew up in a household where food was always under discussion. While his parents nurtured his interest in cooking, it was his older brother, Ferran, who ignited his real passion for the craft. At just 16, Adrià left school and joined the team at El Bulli, then a rising culinary force.

Over the next decade, he honed his skills in every section of the famed kitchen, eventually gravitating toward pastry. During El Bulli’s off-season, he trained in top-tier patisseries, including Escribà in Barcelona and Totel with maestro Francisco Torreblanca, and completed a formative stint in Paris at Guy Savoy. This period laid the foundation for a career marked by relentless creativity and innovation.

In 1997, he took a brief hiatus to write award-winning pastry book Los Postres de El Bulli. He soon returned to the newly established R&D department, El Bulli Taller, in Barcelona, where he co-led the creation of the restaurant’s ever-evolving menu, working closely with his brother and future Disfrutar co-founder Oriol Castro.

By 2006, Adrià began exploring new formats with Inopia Classic Bar, a bold reimagining of the traditional tapas restaurant that helped pioneer the gastrobar movement. In 2008, he left El Bulli but remained deeply connected to its legacy through ongoing collaborations.

His next major venture was El Barri, a group of avant-garde restaurants in in the Catalan capital created with the Iglesias brothers, including Tickets, Pakta, Bodega 1900 and Enigma. These concepts further cemented his reputation as a creative force in global gastronomy. Projects such as Heart Ibiza (with Cirque du Soleil), 50 Days by Albert Adrià in London and Mercado Little Spain in New York with José Andrés showcased his range and international appeal.

Adrià’s later collaborations included a unique 100-day project with Alain Ducasse (ADMO) and the reopening of Enigma in 2022, a culmination of his lifetime of innovation. Today, he focuses entirely on Enigma and ongoing research and development projects with leading food companies, continuing to shape the future of cuisine from his Barcelona laboratory.

The Estrella Damm Chefs’ Choice Award is the only peer-voted accolade in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants programme. It honours a chef who has made a positive contribution to the global culinary scene over the last year, as chosen by the teams behind the restaurants in this year’s list.