Why the world’s best chefs have gone to Scotland

Having turned down projects in more glamorous locations, the brothers behind one of the world’s top restaurants have set up shop in Speyside

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The Roca brothers have been saying “no” for years. Since the Catalan trio – chef Joan, sommelier Josep and pastry chef Jordi – set up El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, with three Michelin stars and twice the winner of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, they have received countless invitations to open new establishments all over the world, from Europe’s historic capitals to the gleaming skyscraper-filled cities of the East. However, regardless of how enticing the location or attractive the financial offer, the answer has always been a resounding “no”. Until now.
October 31 saw the opening of TimeSpirit, a sleek new Roca brothers restaurant, not in Dubai or Tokyo – but in Scotland. Rural Speyside, to be exact, midway between Aberdeen to the east and Inverness to the west, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the River Spey and the surrounding hills and valleys.
The restaurant is the result of a collaboration between the Rocas and one of Scotland’s foremost producers of single malt whisky: The Macallan. It sits within The Macallan’s multi-million-pound distillery and visitor centre, which opened in 2018 on its 485-acre estate.
What was it – apart from a presumably lucrative financial proposal – that finally changed the Rocas’ mind and persuaded them to bring their superbly refined cuisine to the land of tatties and neeps?
“For us this was something out of the ordinary, something exceptional,” Josep Roca tells me. “The other offers we had received were always in big, densely populated, built-up cities where everything happens at high speed and where chefs use products that have travelled thousands of miles. 
“In Scotland, there’s countryside and local produce and a slow way of life. There’s a life rooted in traditions and also this extraordinary light which inspires us to be creative. We have wonderful produce around us in Girona but there’s something more wild about it in Scotland, more remote and more untouched.”
Joan adds: “The quality of the lamb, beef and game they have is extraordinary, and the techniques they have of preserving and smoking fish… All of that gave us the opportunity to learn and to offer something of high quality.”
The Rocas were introduced to Scotland via their relationship with The Macallan, which in fact dates back to 2012. They initially began serving The Macallan’s whiskies at their Girona restaurant before going on to make a series of documentary films in which the Rocas, together with the Scottish firm’s distillers, visited different destinations including New York, London, Jerez and Scotland, exploring their food and drink culture. There was also a lavishly illustrated recipe book, Distilling Scotland, featuring dishes the Rocas had created inspired by their Scottish journeys with The Macallan.
The Macallan then proposed the idea of a restaurant, not as a pop-up, but as a long-term project, with the opening planned to coincide with the whisky brand’s 200th anniversary this year.
Award-winning Danish designer David Thulstrup, who created the interiors for Copenhagen’s Noma – five times named Best Restaurant in the World – was brought in, while the Rocas trained both chefs and front-of-house staff in Girona. Members of their own team continue to spend time in Scotland, overseeing the proceedings.
The open-plan restaurant area sits under the vast wooden, cathedral-like roof of The Macallan’s distillery, made up of some 2,500 wooden panels. The quiet, almost zen-like space seats only 25, and the open kitchen gives you the choice of either ogling the countryside while you eat, or watching the chefs methodically whisking up culinary wonders and using tweezers to arrange the Rocas’ intricate creations.
There is no à la carte offering at TimeSpirit, simply a six-course tasting menu at lunch or a nine-course menu at dinner. Both are available with wine and whisky pairings and having eaten at El Celler de Can Roca myself, I was curious to see how they would compare.
First up, alongside a superb whisky and cava aperitif (Josep Roca’s take on a champagne cocktail), was a dainty selection of bite-size morsels inspired by the Roca brothers’ travels around the world and not a million miles from one of the big-hit dishes at El Celler de Can Roca. From Scotland, there was a haggis bonbon with whisky-spiced mayonnaise – unquestionably the most elegant haggis I’ve ever tasted, but still with a peppery kick. From Jerez in Spain’s south, there was subtly cured mackerel with amontillado sherry, and from Mexico a light, zingy radish-and-mango-filled taco.
Other courses featured mushrooms foraged on the estate and silky oysters steamed over whisky, but if there was one dish which for me seemed to sum up the Rocas’ playful mingling of Scottish and Catalan culture, it was the combination of slow-cooked pork, xuxo (a traditional, doughnut-like pastry from Girona), consommé and girolles. 
“There’s a big tradition of meat pies in Scotland,” Joan explained. “This is made with pork from a local breed raised on the farm right next to the Macallan distillery. So this is our version. The savoury xuxo is a way of combining the two cultures. But the most important thing at the end of the day is that it tastes really good.’
It certainly did, as did the final dish, billed as “From Cask to Chocolate” – a whisky-infused chocolate ice cream and mousse, garnished with crisp shards of chocolate and gold leaf. The perfect wine pairing? The Macallan’s 18-year-old Sherry Oak single malt, of course. 
The Rocas already have their own mini-empire of projects in Girona, including not just El Celler de Can Roca but two hotels, a museum, a chocolate factory and a distillery. Now that they’ve created this first venture outside of Catalonia, might we expect other Roca projects elsewhere? The answer from both Joan and Josep came without even a pause for breath. “No,” they tell me. Absolutely not.” Let’s see.
Eddi Fiegel was a guest of The Macallan at TimeSpirit. Tasting menus cost £60 per person for the six-course lunch or £95 per person for the nine-course dinner. Additional wine pairings are £55 for lunch, £75 for dinner, and whisky pairings £65 for lunch and £95 for dinner. See themacallan.com/en/experience-the-macallan/distillery/timespirit-dining-experience. 
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