Esperit Roca Review

Esperit Roca is a culinary citadel, set within a 19th-century fortress, atop a mountain overlooking Girona’s lush countryside. This Roca Brothers gastronomic destination has two restaurants, an impressive wine cellar, exhibition spaces dedicated to the Roca brothers’ culinary journey, as well as a 15-room boutique hotel with pool and gardens. This is a place that envelopes guests in a fully immersive gastronomic experience created by one of Catalonia’s most renowned culinary families.

Roca Brothers exhibition

On arrival, our experience began with quite the surprise, a welcome from Chef Joan Roca, who personally guided us through the fortress, including the ground floor ‘CCR Exhibition’ embodying Cuisine, Conscience, Reflection. We also went down to the vaulted cellars. These spaces are being transformed into exhibition rooms that tell the story of the Roca brothers. Here we encountered displays of awards, artwork, magazine covers, and gifts, each telling a chapter of the brothers’ remarkable journey that led to their global renown and growing culinary legacy, writes Andrew Forbes for The Luxury Editor.

Restaurant Esperit Roca

To begin our signature dining experience at Esperit Roca, with Chef Joan Roca in the kitchen, we first past through the vast wine cellar curated by Josep Roca. The space is breathtaking, domed, with a single oculus that allows a soft beam of light to penetrate the space, which houses over 80,000 bottles of wine accumulated over nearly four decades. Soft arias drifts through the room, setting a reflective mood.

Dining at the signature Esperit Roca restaurant is a sensory journey through the Roca brothers’ culinary universe. The menu revisits and reinterprets dishes from El Celler de Can Roca with fresh innovation and playfulness. The meal begins with a unique pre-starter presented on a bespoke globe, ‘The World is a dish’ inspired by Japan, Peru, Korea, Turkey, and Thailand, weaving disparate culinary traditions into a cohesive whole. Tint morsels are held on clockwork arms, each offering a bite inspired by different cultures and cuisines.

The tasting menu continues with dishes such as steamed brioche filled with St George mushrooms. Sea and vegetal mountain blends marine plankton mousse with sea fennel, Salicornia, and seasonal flowers, capturing the essence of the Mediterranean coast. Peas with cuttlefish combine yeast cream, cuttlefish meatballs, and pea pod powder for a delicate balance of textures and flavours. Palamós red prawn with seaweed vinegar, prawn velouté, and coral distillate, while langoustine arrives dressed in sagebrush, vanilla oil, and toasted butter.

The turbot trilogy offers three preparations of the fish: each seasoned differently with Kalamata oil and oxalis pil pil.

Desserts, designed by pastry chef Jordi Roca, provide moments of surprise and depth. The Rain Forest uses beetroot paste, death trumpet mushroom ice cream, and pine dust to recreate the damp forest floor, while a VOM distillate edible cloud, created tableside and then suspended on a bespoke bracket over the plate, slowly drips moisture. The final dessert, Vanilla, pecans, and tobacco, layers vanilla creameux, praline, and smoky jelly, orange, spiced pecans and PX-hydrated raisins with spiced sponge cake and brown butter ice cream.

Fontané Restaurant

Fontané restaurant promises a contrasting experience. Its panoramic windows overlook the gardens, and the menu serves Catalan traditional cuisine inspired by the recipes of the Roca brothers’ mother. Dishes like black pudding soup with peas and pork meatballs, grilled scorpionfish with olives and orange, and rice with pork ribs and asparagus highlight regional heritage. Rustic dishes such as canelón of poularde, baked pasta Bolognese, and meat stews evoke the comfort food of Montserrat Fontané’s original restaurant, where it all began.

Esperit Roca Hotel

Inside the Esperit Hotel, rooms blend exposed concrete and stone with wood and linen, creating an atmosphere that feels grounded and calming. The colour palette is neutral and earthy, ranging from soft beige linens to warm timber accents and cool grey concrete surfaces. Even the B&O television is housed in a bespoke wooden frame.

Large windows invite daylight and frame cinematic views of the surrounding Catalan countryside. Some suites feature bathtubs positioned by panoramic windows, allowing guests to soak while watching the landscape shift with the changing light. Outside, the gardens and swimming pool offer moments of calm reflection after the immersive culinary experience.

Nearby, the distillery continues the brothers’ innovation, crafting liquors. The boutique shop offers select products, including Casa Cacao chocolates and Rocambolesc ice creams, allowing guests to take home a piece of the Roca culinary empire.

Esperit Roca invites visitors to step into a world where architecture, nature, history, and cuisine coexist, enveloping guests in the creative soul of one of Spain’s most celebrated culinary families.

Information

To help plan your stay in Girona, visit the Costa Brava and the Girona Pyrenees visitor website for a wealth of inspiration and practical information.