SAN SEBASTIAN (Spain) Oct 30 — In line with a growing gastronomic trend around the world, another Michelin-starred chef has announced plans to open a more informal, casual and accessible restaurant for the masses.

Andoni Luis Aduriz, chef of Mugaritz, currently ranked the fourth best restaurant on the planet according to the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards, will be following in the heels of fellow Michelin-starred confrères like Ferran Adrià, Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud whose restaurant empires include more casual and affordable versions of their fine dining destinations.

In an interview with Spanish publication El Pais, the chef said he plans to open another restaurant in San Sebastian next year which will be “fun, casual and cool” and explore the social aspect of food, namely the sharing of plates.

Aduriz, an Adrià protégé whose cuisine is an alchemy of food and science, also upped the ante in the gastronomy world when he commissioned a musician to write a soundtrack to accompany his menu. Mugaritz BSO was a three-year project that sent Felipe Ugarte, who plays a traditional Basque, wood instrument the Txalaparta, as far as Peru and Ethiopia in search of different sounds and melodies to serenade each dish.

In addition to more informal eateries, Michelin-starred chefs are also building mass appeal by stepping down from their fine dining culinary perch to pen cookbooks for the home cook — that is, for cooks who don’t own sous-vide machines.

Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adrià, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and the writers of “Modernist Cuisine” have all released at-home versions of their cookery books with recipes that don’t require centrifuging soups at 10,000 RPM, for example. — AFP-Relaxnews