The “El Bulli Effect”: Feasting on Fumes in Strasbourg

Chemical Cuisine, Au Crocodile Style
In today’s Bloomberg, restaurant reviewer Richard Vines performs the pleasant (but probably unnecessarily redundant) service of informing us about the greatness of the much reviewed El Bulli restaurant in Spain. Eating 40 “fabulous” course is a tough job, but, hey, someone’s got to do it!
The influence of El Bulli’s chef-owner Ferran Adria had reached Emile Jung at Au Crocodile in Strasbourg, France, where my husband and I lunched during our recent Rhine journey. I was glad to see Vines mention that the otherwise dignified diners in Spain were snapping photos of their food, because, feeling slightly tacky, I felt impelled to do the same (above) when a chemical experiment called dessert was being performed at our table. Our waiter said that the “‘extreme’ iced meringue, warm red berries and litchi sorbet” was a relatively new addition to the menu, inspired by the inventions of El Bulli.
The meringue was still fuming from its immersion in the “extreme” coolant (contained in the silver canister to the left and rising from the plate on the right, above) when it was set before us. We were instructed to eat immediately, for the full effect. When fumes plumed through my nose, I understood the meaning of “laughing gas.”