The Hotel Esperit Roca in Girona, Spain.
Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
Hotel of the Week: This 19th-Century Fortress in Spain Has Been Transformed into a Bastion of Gastronomy
At the 15-room Esperit Roca, Michelin-starred and World’s 50 Best restaurateurs oversee a serene retreat with breathtaking views and an unparalleled dining program
“The Esperit Roca project is the ultimate expression of our gastronomy and our values,” says Joan Roca, explaining the spectacular complex that he and his brothers Josep and Jordi have created from a formidable 19th–century stone fortress on the summit of a steep mountain ten miles north of Girona, Spain.
The new complex includes the striking the fifteen-room hotel Esperit Roca, a huge 80,000-bottle wine cellar, a distillery and brewery, an exposition space, and two new restaurants—a small one exclusively for hotel guests and another called Esperit Roca (the Spirit of Roca), which serves two tasting menus comprised of signature dishes from the family’s renowned El Celler de Can Roca ten miles away in Girona.
The Hotel Esperit Roca in Girona, Spain reimagines a 19th-century fortress facing the Pyrenees mountains. Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
For Joan Roca, the cook in the family; Josep Roca, the maître d’hotel and sommelier; and Jordi Roca, the pastry chef and chocolate maker, this complex is their monument. From their parents, who ran a simple roadhouse in a working-class neighborhood that was then on the edge of Girona, they learned that hospitality is sacred, and this set them on their way to their current stardom.
The brothers have not only held three Michelin stars at El Celler since 2008 but have twice pipped the title of the No.1 restaurant on the World’s 50 Best list. They’ve also managed to open a boutique hotel, Casa Cacao, an ice cream shop, a restaurant called Normal, five other restaurants—including the newest at the Macallan distillery in Scotland that opened on October 31—and most recently a wine bar. And now there’s Esperit Roca, which opened in June.
The Michelin-starred Esperit Roca Restaurant at Hotel Esperit Roca in Spain. Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
The Michelin-starred Esperit Roca Restaurant at Hotel Esperit Roca in Spain. Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
“When we discovered we had over 129,000 people on the waiting list to dine at El Celler de Can Roca, we were stunned,” Joan Roca explains. “We knew we had to offer more opportunities to sample our cooking and also to understand our gastronomic philosophy.”
The brothers decided to take over a defunct hotel on the site and renovate it. Here, the Esperit Roca restaurant serves two tasting menus that showcase dishes that have been most popular from their three-star table El Celler de Can Roca over the last nearly 40 years. A luscious example? Todo la Gamba (All of the Prawn), a stunning composition of perfectly cooked local shrimp marinated in seaweed vinegar and katsuobushi (fermented tuna) alongside a crispy fried shrimp’s head, all of it plated in a ruddy but silky velouté.
The menu at Esperit Roca Restaurant reimagine some of the most famous dishes of El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain. Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
Cocina en casa con Joan Roca from Restaurant Esperit Roca. Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
In addition to the exception culinary offerings, the hotel has an outdoor swimming pool dramatically set down inside of the fortress, a bar, a small spa. The newly reimagined suites offer calming environment for pre- and post-meal respite.
“The existing hotel had a rather baroque décor, which is not our taste,” says Joan. “We repainted it in neutral colors and refurbished it to make it lighter inside. We also bought plush modern furnishings from Roche Bobois and Kave Home, a furniture manufacturer based here in Girona, and chose natural fabrics in soothing neutral colors, like oat, sand, and sea glass. We wanted to achieve a certain minimalism, because the main element in the décor of rooms at the hotel are the sweeping views towards the Pyrenees mountains on the horizon.”
The Hotel Esperit Roca in Girona, Spain, reimagines a 19th-century fortress into a 15-room retreat. Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
Guest suite at the Hotel Esperit Roca in Girona, Spain. Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
Cover: The Hotel Esperit Roca in Girona, Spain.
Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Esperit Roca
