A culinary trail inspired by the world's best restaurant

Often unfairly dismissed, Costa Brava is home to the town of Cadaqués, where Emma Henderson discovers the legacy of the incomparable elBulli still thriving in many new guises

- Emma Henderson

Look at this picture of a monkey eating a banana. Is this cooking?” asks my tour guide, Polini, totally deadpan. It might seem like a strange question, but I’m at the elBulli 1846 Museum, dedicated to the boundary-pushing, three-Michelin-starred elBulli restaurant that stood here for 47 years. We're on the east coast of Spain's wild Costa Brava. This restaurant, responsible for redefining fine dining, was so revered that it was voted "best restaurant in the world" five times by the prestigious World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards before it closed in 2011.

I'm quietly, and philosophically, contemplating the question, as I know food isn't just food here. I consider the act of finding a banana, sitting down, peeling, eating and enjoying it. Though there's no heat involved, which we usually associate with cooking, I nonchalantly say "yes, why not?", hoping my abstract approach prevails. Abruptly, the American man behind me, who just moments ago eagerly asked to join our tour, sternly snaps, "No". Unsurprisingly, he soon distances himself.

ElBulli was the pioneer of molecular gastronomy, using a scientific approach to food, with innovations such as "deconstructing" and reimagining a familiar dish to create something unexpected, as well as turning anything possible into gels, emulsions or foams. It was famed for its "spherification" technique (turning liquids into spheres with thin skins), best seen in the famous liquid olives that literally burst with flavour.

The restaurant was run by chef Ferran Adrià and his brother Albert, who both joined in the Eighties and took it from one Michelin star to three. At this point, it received two million reservation requests each year but could accommodate about 8,000, and had a 12-month waiting list. The pair rethought what food could be, and the world of restaurants was never the same again. Like couture fashion, these techniques filtered down and created the modern food scene we have now.