In the wild heart of Catalonia, twenty minutes from Girona, rises a place suspended between dream, memory and avant-garde: Esperit Roca. A new gem of the family's gastronomic dynasty, this ambitious project launched in 2024 embodies the perfect balance between a sense of hospitality and experimentation. A converted fortress, a panorama that enchants and a welcome that excites: here, everything speaks the language of excellence. But how did they, the three brothers, come to expand their business so much over time? They answer themselves.
A dream built on rock: what Esperit Roca is like.
Let's start at the end, going to discover the Roca family's latest project. Once a 19th-century military castle, now a gourmet sanctuary: the building that houses Esperit Roca rises majestically on the mountain of Sant Julià, amid cork oaks and spectacular silences. Transformed first into a hotel-museum by jeweler Ramón López, it is now the beating heart of a gourmet microcosm that includes hotel, distillery, exhibition, and two restaurants.
"It's an adventure that keeps us alive, ” Joan Roca says in a recent interview with 50 Best. And she feels it. The hotel's 16 rooms are an invitation to contemplation: huge panoramic windows, freestanding tubs, wraparound beds, and minibars with Casa Cacao chocolate and craft beer. The spa, with outdoor jacuzzi, provides moments of pure enchantment. Everything is designed to immerse the guest in the landscape, in a constant dialogue between inside and outside, comfort and nature.
At the table with the essence of the Roca's
Cuisine, as always, is the language with which the Roca brothers tell the world. Inside the hotel, the restaurant reserved for guests offers sumptuous breakfasts and a la carte dinners that enhance the territory with grace and lightness. But the real stage is Esperit Roca, a few steps away: this is where the “best of” Celler de Can Roca is staged, in a living tribute to their history (consider that today the 3-Michelin-starred restaurant boasts a waiting list of more than 100,000 people!). Before you even sit down to eat, you are immersed in a sensory journey through a multimedia exhibition: videos, interviews, iconic objects, artist's crockery and pioneering gadgets tell the genesis of dishes that have become legend.
A plunge into the Roca's childhood, the values of Can Roca and the vision that revolutionized world gastronomy. Behind a curtain, lies a “cathedral of wine” with 80,000 bottles curated by Josep Roca. With the notes of Bach in the background, each label becomes a story, a landscape, a gesture of love for the land. “Wine drives the cuisine, inspires it,” Josep explains. And here, more than ever, it is understood.
Playing with memory
Esperit Roca Restaurant is a celebration of gastronomic memory with a playful twist. Iconic dishes such as Apple & Foie, Turbot Trilogy, Grilled Pigeon and Old Book are revisited with irony and artistry. The dessert Bosque lluvioso, with its distilled mushroom vapors, transforms every table into a small theater. Two tasting menus-Salty Spirit and Sweet Spirit-allow you to explore the best of Roca's cuisine, with a balance of technique, emotion and surprise.
A hospitality carved in time
The team, consisting of 30 people for only 50 covers, ensures attentive and warm service in a space of the same capacity as the three-starred sign. Hospitality, after all, is a direct legacy of the Roca parents' teaching. “We grew up in a bar that never closed,” still recalls Josep in the interview with 50 Best. "That means seeing the ‘house’ always full of people: you absorb the sense of hospitality as if it were the meaning of life. And, in this regard, we learned a lot from generosity and commitment, sacrifice and perseverance, and the culture and values of our parents, who were pillars in teaching us how to give everything to the customer. Welcoming is our nature."
So, Esperit Roca is not just a restaurant. It is a manifesto of vision, family and creativity. It is the future born from memory. And it is the confirmation that, for the Roca brothers, the summit is never a point of arrival, but only a new starting point.
