A Gourmet Masterclass

The mystery of the missing Swiss gourmet, Pascal Henry, has finally been solved. Henry was said to have disappeared in June after eating at Ferran Adriá’s El Bulli restaurant in Roses. He left without paying the bill and leaving some of his possessions behind in the restaurant. His departure sparked a manhunt in the area around the restaurant, but then last week it emerged that he was alive and well and back in Switzerland.

The Swiss police confirmed that he was in the country via security images taken at cash machines where Henry’s card had been used. What happened next has caused a little bit of embarrassment for the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra. Interpol informed the Spanish police almost a week ago that Henry had been located. However, the contact for the Mossos was not at his desk and so the news was not passed on to Cataluña. So two days later, the Mossos organised an expensive search of the area around the restaurant which apparently even included the deployment of a helicopter.

Henry left behind a bill for €250, and I can understand him leaving given that he was probably presented with a tiny portion of some unrecognisable substance aerosolled onto an enormous plate. For that sort of money you can still eat well for a whole week in Spain.