Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


1

Disappearance Turns Grand Gourmet Tour Into Manhunt

Swiss man vanishes 40 stops into trek to 68 restaurants with 3 Michelin stars

Share

(Newser) – Swiss motorcycle courier Pascal Henry was more than halfway through his quest to visit every Michelin three-star restaurant in the world when he vanished June 13, the Independent reports. At Spain’s El Bulli, Henry went to his car to retrieve his wallet and never returned, leaving a restaurant journal and other effects behind. It’s not the 46-year-old’s first disappearance, though, and a search is on.

“He couldn't just have vanished into thin air leaving his notebook,” says a chef who befriended Henry early in his journey and encouraged him to keep a record of menus and chef signatures. Despite the unaccounted-for interlude in his youth—and an estranged wife who calls him secretive—Henry’s uncle thinks it unlikely he would abandon a trip years in the preparation.

This terrace of the restaurant El Bulli was packed the night Pascal Henry disappeared, so he could not have fallen from the nearby cliffs without notice, the manager of the Spanish restaurant says.
This terrace of the restaurant El Bulli was packed the night Pascal Henry disappeared, so he could not have fallen from the nearby cliffs without notice, the manager of the Spanish restaurant says.   (Magnum Photos)
Pascal Henry disappeared after eating at the 40th stop on his planned tour of 68 restaurants awarded three Michelin stars.
Pascal Henry disappeared after eating at the 40th stop on his planned tour of 68 restaurants awarded three Michelin stars.   (Shutterstock)
Chef Ferran Adria looks over the food at El Bulli, the restaurant where Pascal Henry was last seen.
Chef Ferran Adria looks over the food at El Bulli, the restaurant where Pascal Henry was last seen.   (Magnum Photos)
Ferran Adria, Spanish chef of the restaurant
Ferran Adria, Spanish chef of the restaurant "El Bulli," where Henry disappeared.   (Magnum Photos)
Chef Ferran Adria rests in the kitchen of
Chef Ferran Adria rests in the kitchen of "El Bulli."   (Magnum Photos)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
1 comment
VIEWING:
 
fionapittkethley
Mar 2, 09 1:57 AM CST
Perhaps the gourmet has turned up? http://www.aidanbrooks.blogspot.com/2008/08/mysterious-case-of-el-bulli-and.html Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

130 Stories

(Newser) - You might suspect a sushi restaurant that doesn’t specify what sort of tuna you’re eating of trying to pawn off an inferior species. Not so. Researchers using novel DNA barcoding technology found that though nearly a third of tuna sold in 31 US restaurants was the prized—and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
endangered species • FDA • restaurant • delicacy • seafood • dining • sushi • Food and Drug Administration • overfishing • bluefin tuna • truth in advertising • DNA barcoding

Pub's Bad Service Leads
to Arrest—of Irate Patrons

No skipping gratuity, restaurant says

Nov 20, 09 11:14 AM CST
(Newser) - Turns out that mandatory 18% gratuity for large parties at restaurants is mandatory enough that skipping it can get you arrested. A Philadelphia-area couple who found service at a pub was so scarce they essentially waited on themselves and their six friends ended up in cuffs when they refused to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
theft • servers • restaurant • arrest • tipping • waitress • food services • gratuity • Bethlehem, Pa.

 100 No-Nos Insulting to Waiters 

Former waiter irked by Bruce Buschel's New York Times list

Nov 11, 09 9:37 AM CST
(Newser) - Along with the rest of the world—or at least, frequenters of the New York Times website—Lauren Bans read restaurateur Bruce Buschel’s recent “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do.” And the former waiter is pretty annoyed. “No minimum wage job should ever require a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
servers • restaurant • dining • etiquette • restaurateurs • employees • restaurant industry • waitress • waiter • Jay-ZTV • rules

130 Stories


Few clues left in gastronome's disappearance
Times (UK)

Spanish police baffled
Monsters & Critics


Arts & Living  •  Crime & Courts 
TwitterFollow @NewserArts on Twitter

 
restaurant • Michelin star • unsolved mystery • Pascal Henry

from our news partners