Even though Casamar has long been a rural hotel-restaurant on the bay of Llafranc in the Costa Brava, it wasn't until 2000 that it started to gain the gastronomic momentum that carried it, in 2011, to win its first Michelin star. This was down in no small part to Quim Casellas, the chef and grandson of the founder. Without having shown any particular previous interest in cooking (although he did help out with the family business from a young age), he started to take advantage of Casamar being closed during the winter to undertake intensive training periods with culinary experts such as Jean Luc Figueres, Joan Bosch, Carles Gaig, Joan Roca and Fermí Puig.
The menu is changed three times a year to adapt it to seasonal products, and, for the most part, these come from sources that are no more than 5km away from the restaurant. So if it's artichokes time, you might be able to sample sautéed artichokes with duck gizzards and poached quail's eggs. And if you're lucky enough to find them on the menu, you should definitely try the warm cannelloni of leek with langoustines and Parmesan. Special mention has to be made of the wine list, with almost 400 varieties, the majority of which are from the Protected Geographic region of Empordà.
