Joan Roca, multiple-Michelin-starred chef: We still serve a daily menu in the local bar “where it all started”
If you ever find yourself in Girona, in north-eastern Spain, you can taste a famed family’s cuisine without paying a high price.
A short walk away from El Celler de Can Roca, the prize-winning restaurant run by Spain’s renowned Roca brothers, visitors to the Catalan city of Girona can sample the family’s cuisine without having to pay top dollar.
From haute to hearty
At El Celler de Can Roca, a fine-dining restaurant that has amassed Michelin stars and twice been voted the world’s best, dinner for two will leave you facing a bill for several hundred euros. That’s even if you avoid the wine list.
However, just 100 yards from El Celler, you’ll find Can Roca - the low-key, traditional eatery that was the genesis of Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca’s rise to culinary prominence.
It’s a spot where you can get a menú del día - a three-course set meal of hearty, everyday local fare - for €18 ($20) per person.
“Where El Celler was born”
Located on Carretera de Taialà, a 10-minute drive from Girona’s central Old Town, Can Roca was founded in 1967 by Montserrat Fontané and Josep Roca Sr., the parents of El Celler’s sibling trio.
“Can Roca is where it all started,” Joan, the head chef at El Celler, told an interview with the Spanish radio station Cadena SER this week.
“We still serve a menú del día there. It’s where [Josep, Jordi and I] took our first steps, where we learned our trade and where El Celler de Can Roca was born.”
Joan, 61, opened El Celler in 1986 with Josep, 59, who serves as chief sommelier. They were joined there by 46-year-old Jordi, the head pastry chef, in the late 1990s.
“Keeps us in touch with our roots”
Joan says he and his brothers make sure to sit down for lunch at Can Roca every day: “It’s what keeps us in touch with our roots, helps us never to lose sight of our origins.
“When you’ve got people telling you your restaurant is the best in the world, it’s really good for us to go back down that path and embrace everyday life - to enjoy a more down-to-earth dining experience.”
Joan Roca, chef: "Seguimos sirviendo un menú del día en un bar de barrio que es donde nacimos"https://t.co/HQMsIiyFuw
— Cadena SER (@La_SER) October 20, 2025
“At the heart of our vision”
At Can Roca, Montserrat can still be found in the kitchen, preparing traditional staples such as her famed cannelloni.
“It’s a dish that’s at the heart of our culinary vision and our history,” Joan told Cadena SER. “It’s there in the origins of the menu we now serve at the [El Celler de Can Roca] restaurant.”
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