When Ferran Adrià, who has been labelled the world’s greatest chef, announced the closure of his elBulli restaurant, he triggered not only a prolonged period of mourning among foodies, but a mad dash for reservations.

The small 50-cover restaurant near the town of Roses in Catalonia was already accustomed to receiving more than 2m reservation requests a year, and so the already near-impossible job of swinging a table became the culinary equivalent of a trip to the moon.

Before the three Michelin starred restaurant served its final meal last July, the Catalan chef said he intended to replace elBulli with a non-profit food think-tank, or foundation. This, he said, would allow him and his team to continue with the relentless invention of cooking techniques that saw elBulli voted the best restaurant in the world for four consecutive years by Restaurant magazine.