Strolling below the green-roofed rolling humps of The Macallan’s distillery in Speyside, Scotland, is like coming into another actuality. The huge wood construction was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Companions and opened in 2018. It’s the place The Macallan is made, however it’s also house to the whisky model’s coronary heart and soul in addition to its stills, and it pretty takes one’s breath away, gazing throughout the distillery flooring and out over the Moray panorama past. Whisky is alchemy, and it is a constructing the place magic occurs.
Contained in the Roca Brothers’ new restaurant for The Macallan
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of The Macallan)
Final week, that magic was conjured into one other sensory dimension. As the head of the Macallan’s 200-year anniversary celebrations, the whisky model has opened a restaurant with the Roca Brothers, known as TimeSpirit. It’s the Spanish siblings’ first everlasting house outdoors Spain, the place their legendary El Celler de Can Roca has continuously topped lists of the world’s most revered eating places.
What relationship does Spain have with Scotland, you may nicely ask? The Roca Brothers have loved a 12-year partnership with The Macallan, cast over a shared dedication to high quality, heritage and innovation. Sherry can be a key ingredient. The Macallan has a long-standing relationship with the Jerez neighborhood and its sherry suppliers, whose oak casks lend The Macallan’s whiskies their distinct flavour and hues. ‘In addition to sherry, there’s a shared mentality and character between Scotland and Catalonia,’ explains Joan Roca. ‘The panorama is perhaps completely different however there’s one thing deeper that unites us: a way of time and a deep respect in the direction of it.’ The reasoning behind the restaurant’s title – TimeSpirit – hoves into view.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of The Macallan)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of The Macallan)
The 30-seat restaurant has been designed by Danish architect David Thulstrup, who is aware of a factor or two about bringing transversal eating experiences to life because the designer of Noma.
For TimeSpirit, Thulstrup was tasked with making a world inside a world that made the many of the spectacular context with out interrupting the RSHP structure. No small feat, but a problem that Thulstrup met with relish. The nice Dane’s sensitivity to temper and materials has resulted in an exquisite sequence of areas that really feel hallowed and grounded, ethereal and sturdy, intimate and expansive, concurrently.
‘This isn’t set design, however one thing actual and interesting’
David Thulstrup
The volumes play with transparency utilizing sensible, bronzed aluminium mesh; they seem to drift inside their bigger host constructing, with the mesh not fairly touching the ceiling or flooring. Kvadrat-lined partitions carry an acoustic calmness, whereas Scottish slate and oak lend the restaurant an implicit sense of place.
A cellar, clad in Spanish stone with a mirrored ceiling seems like a cathedral to the wines, sherries and whiskies on the coronary heart of the expertise. It divides the principle restaurant from a smaller area for extra intimate eating, housed in two womb-like, curved oak enclosures.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of The Macallan)
There may be an all-pervading sense of softness to the design; an encouragement to really feel current, not pretentious. ‘My purpose is to intensify consideration, to not distract from the expertise of the meals,’ Thulstrup explains. ‘This isn’t set design, however one thing actual and interesting.’
Thulstrup himself loves meals, and it’s clear that he’s a grasp at bringing areas to life that increase the human enjoyment of eating, moderately than turning it right into a distant, chilly efficiency of luxurious. Even the open kitchen – a trope that may make eating places really feel unnecessarily performative – is sensitively lit and thoroughly organized to encourage intimate connections between cooks and diners. Intrigue moderately than melodrama is the temper right here.
‘Dishes range from the easy bordering the elegant to creations that carry artistry and chemistry to nature and gastronomy’
Wallpaper’s Hugo Macdonald
Thus far so good, and what of the meals? We’re honoured to be consuming on the very first sitting and it’s a testomony to the extent of professionalism that the complete occasion runs like clockwork. The nine-course tasting menu takes us on a journey backwards and forwards from Spain to Scotland, interwoven with an applicable (by no means overbearing) quantity of whisky-inspired experiences too. Dishes range from the easy bordering the elegant (celeriac, pear and toasted barley) to creations that carry artistry and chemistry to nature and gastronomy (phytoplankton mousse with Scottish seaweed and herbs).
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of The Macallan)
The menu is balanced between these spectra. Fermented barley with caramelised yeast is way extra more-ish than it would sound. Whisky-smoked oyster is a sensory journey. Whisky-marinated beef tenderloin, chestnut, Macallan mustard and oak bark is a crowd pleaser. Gradual-cooked pork, consommé and girolles is mind- and mouth-bogglingly wealthy and delicate. Dulce de leche with raspberry gel and milk ice cream will allure even the sourest palate. As a eating expertise, TimeSpirit is each bit as magical because the alchemy going down within the casks close by.
TimeSpirit is situated at The Macallan Property, Easter Elchies, Aberlour AB38 9RX, themacallan.com
Supply: Wallpaper
