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Archive for Michelin 3 Star

Eating Bilbao – Azurmendi

Aug05

Restaurant: Azurmendi

Location: Legina Auz., s/n, 48195 Larrabetzu, Bizkaia, Spain

Date: June 24, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Basque (Michelin 3 Star!)

Rating: My best meal in years

_

Our final starred restaurant of the trip is Azurmendi, located about 15-20 minutes east of Bilbao in the beautiful hills of Basque country.

Azurmendi Gourmet is the only restaurant in the Biscay province with three Michelin stars.

Azurmendi is possibly one of the most unique sustainable buildings of the modern architecture. It reflects the canons of the Basque identity and integrates photovoltaic solar panels and a geothermic system to produce electricity, harvests rainwater to cover a number of operations, recycles waste, etc. A charging station is available for electric cars. For all these reasons Azurmendi was granted the Sustainable Restaurant Award 2014.
  There are resteraunts in them thar hills!

It has been built into a hillside surrounded by autochthonous vineyards. Eneko´s house, and he calls the restaurant, was conceived and built prioritizing sustainability, a foundation of his philosophy.

The architecture is subdued from the outside, fitting into the beautiful countryside.

But inside is stunning and dramatic.

Mixing the natural and the sculptural.

Plus cool fountains!

The formal menus today.

But first, we enter in “The Azurmendi Experience” which includes a series of amuses presented in different locations. Here some of the chefs begin with…

The welcoming picnic.

Garden vegetables cake (upper right), eel sandwich (left) and Txakoli punch (green ball in the foreground). Everything had a smooth, rich, harmony to the taste.

For act 2 we proceed into the kitchen.

Here we are presented with a hibiscus “potion” and

Hazelnuts growing on a little bonsai tree — except surprise, they were chocolate hazelnut.

And the vegetarians received this vegetable crisp with avocado mousse.

The third act takes us to the lovely greenhouse.

Quite magical.

The dry ice mist chills some of the amuses.
 T

Morokil. A porridge of corn flower, formed into a sort of corn soup in this case.

Herbs, cookies, and cheese. Growing amongst the herbs.

A close up of the actual treat.

 Our son received a bit of floral/vegetable “pasta.”

The in the cotton fields there was…

Asparagus cotton. Cotton candy like texture.

And growing from the rocks…

Mushroom leaf. A salty potato chip like thing that tasted of mushroom.

Finally the fourth act takes us to the dining room and our table.

The place setting.

There was a choice of two menus, we chose the Adarrak menu on the right.

And it begins with yet more amuses, frozen olive and vermouth. The yellow things tasted of olive, with a frozen ice cream bon bon texture. The little dark sticks were edible as well.

A cocktail of juice and vermouth.

Egg from our hens, cooked inside out and truffled. This gooey soft blob (eat in one bite) tasted of egg yolk and truffles — which meant it was scrumptious.

Chinese bun-like bread.

2003 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Reserva Viña Tondonia. Couldn’t resist more Tondonia blanco.

Simple pasta for our son.

Oysters, tartar, and seaweed traces. Very much in the Azurmendi style, with the different bits of sauce and the sphere.

Vegetarians received this mini squash blossom and a beet tartar.

And we had this tempura ball.

Tomatoes… local varieties and anchovy. Even I, the tomato hater, loved this. So fresh tasting.

And tomato water granite!

Garlic mushrooms. A noodle spun about and with all sorts of earthy mushroom and garlic flavors.

The vegetarians received this alternate version.

Roasted lobster out of the shell, its crunch and mayonnaise. The lobster was prefect.

And “its crunch” was like a lobster infused crispy fruit rollup.

Vegetarians received this dish of artisanal grains.

2013 Castell d’Encús Costers del Segre Acusp. 89 points. As there wasn’t the kind of Burgundy I wanted on the list, and I like to stay Spanish, the Sommelier recommended this lovely young Spanish pinot noir.

“Castanetas” pork glazed in its juice with “Etxano” cheese. Some delicious meatiness, a sweetish sauce, and nice crisp from the cheese.

Cod tripe to the fine herbs. Second or third time I had the cod tripes. Sounds gross, but the dish was amazing. Creamy, with this thick gelatinous texture. Wonderful rich flavors.

Fried Hake, roasted red pepper infusion and parsley. The green blobs aren’t avocado, but parsley mousse or something. This was a perfect tempura fish, wonderfully moist inside and crispy outside. The red pepper “sauce” (almost a gel) was amazing, with a dashi-type flavor too.

Pigeon, green beans, and duxelle. A great bit of bird.

And a bit of foie gras and sherry PX!

A dish of fava beans and herb mousse.

Chef Eneko Atxa.

Born in 1977 and raised in the Basque Country of Spain, Eneko Atxa hails from a family that always placed value in good food and good eating. At the age of 15, he embarked on his career as a chef at the Catering College of Leoia in the province of Biscay. After graduation, he honed his skills in fine dining and began his journey into haute cuisine as a cook under Chef Martín Berasategui at his eponymous restaurant in Lasarte. He then continued on with greater responsibility at locally revered restaurants Etxebarri and Andra Mari. As these early years of his career passed, he began to develop his culinary personality and style, driven by deep curiosity and passion.

In 2005, Atxa’s path led him to open his own restaurant, Azurmendi, in a tucked-away spot of dense woods just 10 minutes outside of Bilbao. Since then, the chef has garnered a number of awards, including “Best Chef” by local, national, and international bodies, including the Fourchettes French gourmet guide, along with the “Most Beautiful Dish” by Lo Mejor de la Gastronomía in 2010. Just five years after opening, Azurmendi was awarded its second Michelin star in November 2010, becoming the first restaurant in the Biscay province with two Michelin stars — then finally 3!

Watermelon, coriander, and lime. Amazing dessert with its various chilled textures. Bright and refreshing.

Yogurt, honey, and five spices. Another lovely dessert.

Chocolate, peanut, and licorice.

And our son’s slightly “simplified” chocolate dessert.

Tea/coffee service.

Macchiato.

The petits fours come in a box of dirt.
 Various infused flavors, gel, madeline-like pastry.

This gel and white chocolate green tea popsicle.

Ginger gels. Super refreshing and potent.

Macarons.

The menu.
 And the bill box.

Azurmendi was a stunning meal. Everyone present agreed it was their favorite of the trip — and I place it as one of my favorites in the last decade. The location was lovely, the theatrics clever, each dish artful, but most importantly, they all tasted fantastic. The overall balance of flavors, temperature, and textures was uniformly good. Not every dish was as great as the last, but they varied from merely very good to revelatory. And even thought he combinations were often unusual, they meshed together in a delectable manner.

Really, there is a reason Elite Traveller has distinguished Azurmendi as the second best restaurant in the world this year (2016), and Opinionated About Dining as the best restaurant in Europe in 2015. This is current haute cuisine executing on all 12 cylinders, hand tuned by Enzo Ferrari himself — and it shows off the bounty, beauty, and creativity that is defining Basque Country as one of the world’s best culinary destinations.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe
  2. Eating San Sebastian – Zuberoa
  3. Eating San Sebastian – Mugaritz
  4. Eating Senigallia – Madonnina del Pescatore
  5. Eating Modena – Osteria Francescana
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Azurmendi, Basque cuisine, bilbao, eating-spain, Michelin 3 Star, Michelin Guide, Spanish Cuisine

Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe

Jul06

Restaurant: Akelaŕe

Location: Paseo Padre Orcolaga, 56, 20008 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 16, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Spanish Gastronomic (Michelin 3 star!)

Rating: Amazing. Playful and delicious

_

Akelaŕe is the first of the “big guns” in our dining schedule.

3 Michelin stars and helmed by Pedro Subijana, this is a world class dining establishment in every respect.

The view alone is a stunner, perched on the cliff tops of the amazingly beautiful Basque countryside about 15 minutes west of San Sebastian.

No drama here.

The dining room floats above the Atlantic.

The view from our table most decidedly set expectations.

Akelaŕe currently offers three different tasting menus, two current and one more of a “best of” from the restaurant’s long history (it’s the same age as me, having been founded in 1970 and climbed from 1 star in ’78 to 2 in ’82 to 3 in ’07).

Cava to start — always!

This “dish” served as an amuse for our 7 year-old son. It wins hands down for presentation. Sort of “bathroom” themed it consists of a number of playful items. A toast in which the “liquid soap” is used as a condiment. A cheese dish disguised as face cream, and a Shirley Temple in a cough syrup bottle! Great fun.

A tomato amuse. Even I, tomato hater that I am, enjoyed it.

A sort of ravioli, or unusual skin of food with one of those “caviar” not made from fish eggs. A kind of ajo blanco underneath. I remember it being delicious.

Reconstructed olives. These looked like olives, and somewhat tasted of them, but were reconstructed out of olive paste mixed with something else. They were delicious.
 Fried zucchini “chips”.

Mussel fritters. Like a fried mussel, but in croquette-like ball form.

Bread, of course.

2012 Tricó Rías Baixas. 89 points. Light golden color; floral notes and lemon zest on the nose. Lively and fresh on the palate. Good acidity. Medium light body. This is pleasant to drink, very crisp and food friendly wine.

Cubed tear green Peas. The center batch is in an edible “plastic” bag.

Then a pea soup is added.

Lobster salad with Cider Vinegar. No shortage of lobster here! Particularly considering this is just 1 course in a big tasting menu.

White asparagus meringue. Smores anyone?

Pasta, Piquillo and Iberico Carpaccio, Mushrooms and Parmesan. This alternate version of the classic Italian carpaccio has the “meat” replaced with a pasta. It did look and taste pretty meaty, but pasta like at the same time.

Prawns cooked in “Orujo” Fire. Not quite sure what the fire part was, but this was a delicious prawn.

And in a very Japanese style, it also came with the fried head. Bugs of the sea!

This bread took on an “interesting” shape.

Hake in Seaweed steam. Plancton and Oyster Leaf.

Very thin and Light Beef Tartare and…

new Potato Soufflé and Aromatic Herb Bread.

The leaves and the Foie under the rain.

Okay the name was a little confusing. It had “salt and pepper” on top — except it wasn’t salt and pepper but I think a sugar and and some kind of chocolate maybe? Hard to say, but it was delicious and a huge chunk of foie.

2013 Ossian. 90 points. An unusual heavier Spanish white.

Rice with Snails and Periwinkles in Tomato and Basil film. Sounds funny, but was delicious. Tasted like some kind of Chinese fried race, maybe a snail sausage fried rice!

Whole-Grain Red Mullet with Sauce “Fusili”.

One of the fusili, which was some kind of corkscrew of sugar? filled with a broth. Interesting. Wasn’t oily or fishy like many red mullet preps too.

I’m not sure what this dish was. May have been mushroom.

“Desalted” Cod Box with Shavings. It just comes in the box.

It was plated like this and basically like a nice piece of cod.

Sea Bass “UMAMI”.

The “Umami” was this separate grouping of stuff that you could put on the seabass to add, you guessed it, umami. I think it was made of anchovies and other bits like that.

2006 Bodegas Muga Rioja Gran Reserva Prado Enea. VM 92. raised in large oak vats for a year, followed by three years in small, used American oak barrels): Dark ruby. Highly fragrant scents of redcurrant, dried cherry, pipe tobacco, leather and rose oil. Lively and precise on the palate, offering deeply pitched red fruit and floral pastille flavors and a hint
of black pepper. The youthfully tight finish features excellent clarity and lingering spiciness.

Roasted Pigeon with a Touch of Mole and Cocoa. The thing on the left was a kind of cookie with spiced pigeon meat inside — delicious.
 Closer picture because this pigeon was SO GOOD. Just amazing. Tender rare meat, and an awesome rich mole sauce.

Carved Beef, Tail Cake “Potatoes and Peppers”.

The Tail Cake in focus. Like a meat tiramisu.

Some dessert amuses.

Melting Cupcake. Like a semi-fredo.

Xaxu and Foaming Coconut Ice Cream. The styrofoam looking stuff tasted like coconut gelato.

Gin & Tonic on a plate.

The Broken Jar of Yogurt, “Gatzatua” and Berries. This won the cool look award for the night. Everything was edible! It was made of yogurt too.

The different Apple Tart. I don’t know what the “plastic” was made of, but it was edible (and good).

The inside was basically a perfect crunchy apple tart like pastry. Really quite awesome.

Some various petite fours.

This was an amazing meal. The style at Akelaŕe seems to be playful reinterpretations of classic French/Spanish/Italian dishes. It uses modernist techniques, but not so heavily as to distort the dish into unfoodlike forms. And most importantly, the dishes retain solid flavor profiles with balance. They don’t always taste exactly like you’d expect, but they taste good and in the “frequency range” of whatever dish roll they serve in the meal. I.e. a savory, while perhaps having sweet notes, still tastes like a savory. As general rule the dishes are also complex, involving multiple ingredients working in harmony, but the chef has a fabulous sense of pairing and I don’t remember anything with a jarring or off-putting combinations as is sometimes a problem in extreme modernism.

Setting, as you can see, was magnificent, as was service. Not only were they extremely attentive, but they easily dealt with several different dietary rule sets, including our young son.

Certainly a worthy three star experience. Akelaŕe is crafting cutting edge food that sings on the palate.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Baztán
  2. Eating Barcelona – Mian
  3. Eating Orvieto – Maurizio
  4. Eating Senigallia – Uliassi
  5. Eating Rome – La Pergola
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Akelare, Akelarre, eating-spain, Michelin 3 Star, Michelin Guide, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine
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