El Bulli, consistently voted as the world’s best restaurant over recent years, will close for two years as chef Ferran Adria looks to lighten his 15-hour a day workload.

The Spanish chef, widely regarded as the father of molecular gastronomy, will close his famous restaurant in 2012 and 2013 but is likely to return.

“No meals will be served at El Bulli in 2012 and 2013,” he told a shocked audience at culinary conference Madrid Fusion.

“With a format like the current one it is impossible to keep creating,” Adria added. “It is clear that when we return things won’t be the same. But El Bulli is not closing down. These are not two years on sabbatical.”

So much effort goes into dish preparation that the Spanish chef closes the restaurant for six months each year while he comes up with new ideas to delight and excite his clientele. And it works, with critical acclaim accompanying yearly sell-outs within a day.

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