Bulla Gastrobar – Tapas in Winter Park | Tasty Chomps: A Local's Culinary Guide

Bulla Gastrobar is a new restaurant in Winter Park inspired by the most popular tapas restaurants in Spain. Bulla (pronounced boo-ya), which is slang for chatter and what people are talking about, and is led by Bulla Gastrobar Executive Chef Miguel Rebolledo. The sleek and modern restaurant is a bustling, high energy place where friends go to meet up for a drink and to share in good company and good food.

According to his official biography, Chef Miguel Rebolledo “brings his extensive culinary experience, talents and unending love for Spain to Bulla Gastrobar. While Rebolledo’s seaside upbringing naturally leads him to fresh ingredients like seafood, vegetables, and rice, his stints with contemporary chefs have created a constant desire to experiment. After attending culinary school and learning traditional recipes, Chef Miguel Rebolledo improved his techniques at one of Spain’s most famous restaurants, El Bulli, under Chef Ferran Adria. In that position, Rebolledo cooked with some of the biggest names in the industry, for some of the most important people in the world including royalty.”

We recently spoke to Chef Rebolledo via e-mail about his experiences and inspiration who was at first inspired to cook by his family.

He told us, “I started to help my father to cook at 6 years old, I used help him with the paellas every Sunday in summer, and we would also in winter cook rosquillas, traditional dessert like donuts.”

Some of his favorite childhood memories involved Christmastime, when his home was like a tasting – “We started with cured meats and cheeses, cold seafood , and then some fried stuff, like lamb brains or croquetas, more seafood but this time in sauce, like clams in green sauce, then fish , monkfish, spanish hake…then a meat, always baby lamb, and finally an assortment of desserts”

When he worked at Bulli in Spain, “it was at first a dream, and then working in el Bulli with the Adrias brothers changed my life, my vision of the way we cook, the way we understand the food, technique, and I can say it changed the way I see my life.”

Some of the elements of El Bulli that he brings to Bulla Gastrobar include his vision of how they cook, totally respect to the products, and high standard in quality.

One of Rebolledo’s signature dishes is “Huevos Bulla,” made with eggs, homemade potato chips, Serrano ham, potato foam and truffle oil. The dish is mixed at the table.