April 26, 2007

Europe | Spain, Madrid | France, Paris

Bulli Burger & Fries to-go

By Nicole Cotroneo

Halt! Step away from the Mickey-D's. If you want fast food, you've got new options.

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So you’re on the move in Paris or Madrid and it’s lunchtime. You don’t have the requisite two hours for a multi-course affair, but then neither will you stoop to a Royale with Cheese. Relax. A quiet gastronomic revolution is afoot in Europe, where fast-food mini-chains Cojean (Paris) and Fast Good (Madrid) have proven that fast can also mean fresh. Cojean has done it with quinoa salad, vanilla-pumpkin soup and other seasonal items you can take out or eat in at nine smoke-free restaurants throughout the 8th and 9th arrondissements. The same “anti-fast food” concept is behind Fast Good, created by NH Hotels and the world’s most celebrated chef, Ferran Adrià. Just don’t go there expecting El Bulli-style molecular gastronomy (a term he loathes, by the way). Adrià has kept the menu simple and the ingredients top-notch. Try a gorgonzola burger made with real beef instead of mystery meat and hand-cut potatoes fried in first-press olive oil. If you can’t get to the Spanish capital, there are outposts in Las Palmas (Canaries) and Santiago (Chile), plus new ones opening in Barcelona and Valencia next month. And that’s just a taste of the future: Fast Good has already received over 400 franchise requests from 18 countries.