Ferran Adrià has looked back on an unexpected chapter of his youth in Ibiza, recalling the intense nightlife he experienced on the island in the 1980s.

The celebrated chef appeared on La Revuelta on Tuesday, September 29, to present Gènesi, the six-episode fiction series about the history of El Bulli and the gastronomic revolution associated with Adrià, Juli Soler, Albert Adrià and their wider team.

But the conversation with presenter David Broncano also turned to Adrià's life before his career in gastronomy.

Adrià went to Ibiza at 18

According to Adrià's account on the programme, he left his studies and travelled to Ibiza when he was 18.

At the time, he was not yet pursuing a career as a chef. He told Broncano that he went to Ibiza to enjoy the island's nightlife, but needed to work to pay for it.

"I went to Ibiza to party, and I worked to pay for it," he recalled. Cadena SER reported that he initially worked as a dishwasher to finance his stay.

Adrià said he spent approximately six months on the island.

His stay eventually came to an end because, in his own words, he was "thrown out". He did not provide further details about the circumstances during the interview.

His memories of Ibiza in the 1980s

Asked about the difference between Ibiza then and today, Adrià gave a deliberately provocative comparison.

He said that today's Ibiza was "a child's game" compared with the island he remembered from the 1980s.

He recalled an environment where people barely slept and described the nightlife as particularly intense.

When Broncano specifically asked him if there were also orgies at the time, Adrià answered that there were.

These comments were Adrià's recollections of his own experiences and impressions of Ibiza as a young man. They should not be taken as a factual description of the island's entire nightlife scene during the 1980s. RTVE itself describes the segment as a discussion of Adrià's experiences of parties and orgies in Ibiza during that period.

Ibiza was before his culinary career

Adrià's Ibiza years came before he had established himself in the culinary world.

Cadena SER reported that he had studied until completing compulsory schooling and had not yet developed a plan to become a professional chef when he went to Ibiza.

His first significant experiences working with food came later during his military service. He prepared meals for large numbers of people and took part in cooking competitions with fellow servicemen.

He would eventually join El Bulli and, together with Juli Soler, Albert Adrià and the restaurant's wider team, help transform it into an internationally influential centre of gastronomic innovation. The elBulli Foundation records Adrià as chef from 1984 and co-owner alongside Juli Soler from 1990.

From Ibiza nightlife to El Bulli

The contrast between the young Adrià who travelled to Ibiza for nightlife and the chef who later became one of the most influential figures in modern gastronomy was one of the striking elements of the conversation.

That transformation is also central to Gènesi.

The series, created by 3Cat with Minoria Absoluta and Fishcorb Media, tells the story of the people and ideas behind El Bulli. Miquel Fernández plays Adrià, with the six-episode series focusing on the period in which the restaurant developed its distinctive approach to creativity and gastronomy.

Adrià also discussed his approach to creativity

The Ibiza memories formed only part of the interview.

Adrià spoke extensively about his philosophy of questioning established ideas and said that one of the principles guiding his career has been to ask what things actually are.

He also discussed the rise of Spanish haute cuisine in the 1990s and the challenge to France's historic dominance of creative fine dining.

According to RTVE's account of the interview, Adrià placed this change in the mid-1990s, when a group of Spanish chefs took risks and developed new approaches to gastronomy.

A tortilla demonstration on television

The chef also brought his culinary expertise into the studio.

Using eggs, a packet of potato chips and a thermometer, Adrià demonstrated his method for making a tortilla de patatas.

He recommended beating the eggs horizontally so they emulsify without incorporating excessive air. He then added the chips and allowed them to rest before cooking the mixture in a pan at around 180°C.

His method involved turning the tortilla several times during cooking, with the whole process taking roughly four minutes.

For a French omelette, he offered another unconventional suggestion: adjusting a sweet jam with fresh fruit to reduce its sweetness before adding it to the finished omelette.

An unusual chapter in an extraordinary career

Long before El Bulli became internationally recognised and before Adrià became synonymous with culinary innovation, Ibiza was simply part of his youth.

His own account of those six months offers a glimpse into a very different stage of his life, before cooking had become his profession and before he knew where his career would eventually lead.

The Ibiza story was brief, lasting around six months, but it remains one of the more unexpected episodes in the early life of a chef whose later career would reshape modern gastronomy.