Ferran Adrià on McDonald's: no fan, but full respect

Ferran Adrià, the chef who closed elBulli in 2011, says he does not like McDonald's burgers but respects them: "I don't like it, but I have a lot of respect, because I wouldn't know how to do it better for four euros." The remark comes from an interview on the Argentine podcast Fuera de Carta, which Spanish outlets picked up this week.

Adrià's foundation is based in Barcelona, a city where our guide to what to eat in Barcelona covers the cheap end of the table and our list of the best restaurants in Barcelona the expensive one. His comment sits between the two. He separated taste from economics: the food is not to his liking, but the price is an achievement he does not claim he could match.

Ferran Adrià sets the burger a price limit

Vitónica reports that he went after the critics too: "the know-it-alls who criticise, let them do it for four euros." With a bigger budget, he said, the exercise changes. Asked about a wagyu burger, he answered: "Give me twenty euros to be able to sell a burger and I'll make you whatever you like." The argument is arithmetic. Raise the budget and the problem is easy; cut it to four euros and it is not.

He was equally direct about the fries. According to Que.es, he accepts that they are frozen but considers them much better than some places that make them fresh and serve them oily. Que.es also reports that he asks for more transparency about the product, without saying what exactly he would like to see disclosed.

A price argument he has made before

None of this is new. On 17 September 2025, at the Andorra Taste conference in Escaldes-Engordany, where he received an honorary award, Adrià offered 10 million euros to anyone who could do it better than McDonald's at the same price, adding that a wagyu burger is easy to make, Ara reported.

It also matches what he said about fine dining last month. In an interview with Il Venerdì di Repubblica, reported on 24 October by Il Fatto Quotidiano, he said all haute cuisine chefs would like to offer dishes at 10 euros but that it is impossible, citing a Galician clam that costs a restaurant about 7 euros. In both cases cost sets the limit, whether the plate is a tasting menu or a burger.

Adrià closed elBulli in 2011, and his work now runs through the elBullifoundation and elBulli1846, the museum on the site of the old restaurant. The four euros is his own round figure: none of the reports checks it against a menu price, and he never says which burger he means.