Awards for restaurants are almost meaningless. The perfect omelette and chips is, in its own way, as deserving of praise as any of the restaurants in last night’s top fifty. But ask almost any serious chef whom he – they are mostly hes – most respects and the response will almost always be Ferran Adrià. Joel Robuchon, a legend in French gastronomy, calls Adrià “the best cook on the planet”.

Whether El Bulli ‘deserves’ this year to be back in top spot, and The Fat Duck down to second, is a pointless question. What matters is that both are uniquely wonderful restaurants, serving glorious food to customers every day. Eat in any of the top fifty and you will have an exceptional experience.

I am lucky enough to have eaten in Restaurant’s Top Three, and many others beside. I could tell you that the meal at The French Laundry in California was the most perfect of all I have ever eaten, that the butter and greens alone at Arpege in Paris made the €328 cost worth it, and that The Fat Duck far exceeded my already over the top expectations.

But for the entire experience, and for the memories and thoughts with which it left me, the meal I ate at El Bulli was in a different dimension. I put in my mouth dishes which no human being had, until they emerged from Adrià’s laboratory a few weeks earlier, ever contemplated. I experienced sensations which I had not realised were possible. And I did so in a building which seemed more natural, less pretentious, less stuffy and more comfortable than any other restaurant I have ever entered.

El Bulli’s USP is the reinvention of food and taste. My favourite of the 27 courses sounds ridiculous but was anything but. The ‘Tierra 2005’ consisted of a polystyrene box, with a mound of parmesan foam inside. It was as full of flavour as any meat. To add to it I was given a bag of “raspberry muesli”. The combination was breathtaking.

El Bulli only opens between April and September. The rest of the year the chefs spend in a laboratory in Barcelona, where they deconstruct food and the process of cooking. Adria’s technique is known as molecular gastronomy, because as well being some of the most technically accomplished cooks in the world, his chefs are also food scientists, experimenting and learning, and then delivering the results of their research to the customers the following season.

Last year there were 200 applications for every table every night. If you want the experience of a life time, the only option is to keep trying. It worked for me – after five years.