Joan Roca
🇪🇸 Spain · Spanish cuisine · b. 1964
The elder brother who built El Celler de Can Roca into the world's best restaurant — three times.
Biography
Joan Roca is the oldest of three brothers who together run El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Catalonia — arguably the most important Spanish restaurant since elBulli. He runs the savoury kitchen; his brother Josep manages the wine programme and front of house; his brother Jordi leads the pastry kitchen. The restaurant was named the world's best by the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2013, 2015 and 2018.
El Celler de Can Roca opened in 1986 literally across the road from Can Roca, the family restaurant their parents had run since 1967 — hence the name (El Celler means 'the cellar,' can is Catalan for 'the house of'). Joan trained at the Barcelona Escola de Restauració i Hostalatge and subsequently at some of the finest restaurants in France, including those of Michel Guérard and Ferran Adrià's elBulli.
Joan's cooking draws on the Catalan culinary tradition — its centuries of combining meat and sea ('mar i muntanya'), its mastery of sauce-making, its use of black rice, butifarra sausage, and the wild mushrooms of the Pyrenean foothills — but explores it through avant-garde technique including sous vide (which Roca has been a leading practitioner of since the 1990s), distillation, and perfume-inspired aromatic cooking.
Beyond the restaurant, the three Roca brothers have been deeply engaged in food education and social responsibility — the Roca Foundation provides training and employment to vulnerable populations.
Cooking Philosophy
Memory, territory, and technique. Roca's culinary philosophy is rooted in the Catalan terroir and in the food memories of his childhood — specifically the smell of his mother's kitchen, which he has attempted to recreate through distillation and aromatic cooking. He uses advanced technique not for novelty but as a tool for expressing what the Catalan landscape and tradition feel like.
Restaurants
- El Celler de Can RocaGirona, Catalonia
Three Michelin stars; world's best restaurant 2013, 2015, 2018.
- Casa CacaoGirona
Hotel and chocolate atelier by Jordi Roca.
Awards & Recognition
- 3 Michelin stars — El Celler de Can Roca
- World's 50 Best Restaurants #1 (2013, 2015, 2018)
- National Gastronomy Award (Spain)
Iconic Dishes
Cookbooks
- El Celler de Can Roca: The Book (2011)
- Joan, Josep, Jordi Roca: The Roca Brothers (2015)
Recipes in Joan's Style
These recipes from our database reflect the spanish cooking tradition that Joan works in. They are not direct reproductions of Joan's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.
In Joan's Own Words
“Memory is the most powerful ingredient in any kitchen. We cook to remember.”
— Joan Roca
Career Timeline
Begins formal training at the Escola de Restauració i Hostalatge in Girona, where he later teaches.
Opens El Celler de Can Roca with his brother Josep, across the road from their parents' restaurant Can Roca.
Earns first Michelin star for El Celler de Can Roca.
Younger brother Jordi joins the team as pastry chef.
Earns second Michelin star.
Restaurant moves to its current expanded location in a converted house in Girona's Taialà district.
Earns third Michelin star, joining the elite group of three-starred restaurants worldwide.
Named the world's best restaurant by World's 50 Best Restaurants for the first time.
Named the world's best restaurant for a second time.
Named the world's best restaurant for a third time — the only restaurant to receive the top spot three times under the same management.
Co-founds the Roca Recicla initiative for kitchen recycling and circular gastronomy.
Mentors & Influences
Frequently Asked Questions about Joan Roca
How many Michelin stars does El Celler de Can Roca have?
El Celler de Can Roca holds three Michelin stars. It has also been named the world's best restaurant by World's 50 Best three times: in 2013, 2015 and 2018.
Who are the three Roca brothers?
Joan Roca runs the savoury kitchen. Josep Roca is the sommelier and manages front of house — he is considered one of the greatest sommeliers in the world. Jordi Roca heads the pastry kitchen and creates the dessert programme. The division of roles is exact and was negotiated explicitly among the brothers when the restaurant opened in 1986.
What is the connection to elBulli?
Joan Roca did stages at Ferran Adrià's elBulli in the late 1990s, and El Celler de Can Roca is widely considered the inheritor of elBulli's role at the apex of Spanish (and global) avant-garde cuisine after elBulli closed in 2011. The Roca brothers, however, distinguish their cooking from elBulli's deconstructive approach by emphasising memory, terroir and Catalan tradition.
What is Roca Recicla?
An initiative the brothers founded to put waste streams from the kitchen back into the menu — turning fruit peels into vinegars, bones into stocks for staff meals, and packaging into new tableware. It is now one of the most thoughtful sustainability programmes in fine dining.
Why is El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, not Barcelona?
The Roca brothers grew up in Girona, where their parents ran the family restaurant Can Roca from 1967. They opened El Celler in 1986 literally across the road from Can Roca and have never considered relocating — the connection to their home town and to their parents' restaurant is central to the project. Their parents continued cooking at Can Roca well into their seventies, and the family staff meal each day at El Celler still draws on Can Roca's Catalan home-cooking tradition.
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