Basque Guest Chef

What a change it has been since the last time we experienced Chef Eneko Atxa's cooking at his flagship restaurant Azurmendi near Bilbao - when he only began to be on the radar of foodies around the world as a promising young Basque chef having just received his second Michelin star for his restaurant. We still remembered that meal as the highlight of our Catalan/Basque trip in the most beautiful setting. Now almost 7 years later, Azurmendi is on its fifth year holding on firmly to the most prestigious 3 Michelin stars, been voted one of the world's top 50, moved to a new location nearby, opened another Michelin-starred restaurant next door, and since then Chef Eneko's wings have spread as far as ventures in Phuket (now defunct), London and Tokyo.

Ametsa with Arzak Instruction

I thought part of the reason why our lunch at Dinner by Heston didn't fare as much as the hype was because it's overshadowed by our lunch at Ametsa the day before. Similar to Dinner which was backed by a chef who owned a Michelin 3-starred restaurant, behind Ametsa was Juan Mari and Elena Arzak, who owned the 3-starred Arzak in San Sebastian in the Basque Country (of Spain), which we had a chance to visit a few years back. This London outpost of theirs was rated as one-star in its own right in the latest Michelin guide.

Chef's Tasting Menu at Vasco

We made our reservation a month ago to try out Vasco, one of the many new restaurants opened recently at PMQ, in a Saturday evening. The restaurant shared the duplex premise with Isono Eatery and Bar, a more casual tapas bar under the same management just one floor below. We did try Isono a couple months back soon after its opening and weren't 100% impressed. But Vasco is positioned to be the finer version, plus I did hear some good words about the food here from various people, so I suppose it's worth a try.

San Sebastian - Arzak

(I suddenly found this sitting in my draft folder and realise this never made it to the blog - so here you are, some 6 months late)

As self-proclaimed food lovers, it's hard not to fall in love with Basque Country. From pintxos bar hopping along meandering streets to fine cuisine at many Michelin-starred restaurants around (the region boasted the most Michelin stars per capita in the world), there's never lack of choice all year round. That plus the abundance of fresh and unique ingredients from the sea and from the land... it didn't take long for us to go crazy about this place.

After 2 amazing days at Bilbao including lunch at Chef Eneko Atxa's Azurmendi, we arrived at San Sebastian with the sole purpose of making a full "frontal attack" of Basque cuisine. And among the many fine restaurants in town, Arzak is perhaps the most famous and arguably the most interesting of all. This family-owned restaurant (currently in its 4th generation) has been rated 3 Michelin stars since 1989 and was consistently selected as the top restaurants in the world. Behind the kitchen is the father-daughter team of Juan Mari and Elena Arzak, whom we had pleasure to meet and chat during our dinner.

We purposely stayed in a mansion within walking distance to the restaurant so we saved ourselves the hassle of driving or hailing a cab after the meal. It's a comfortable 15 minute walk from our hotel to the restaurant. As we arrived and being led into the dining room, we were surprised at how modern the interior is - well we always have this presumption of an old rustic building (given the restaurant is 100 years old) but obviously we were wrong. Only a handful of tables in the main dining room - quiet and intimate.

Our tasting menu consists of some 16 dishes - some more of a bite-size portion but a few are quite substantial - we did our pintxos run the afternoon before coming to dinner, not a good idea as it turned out, given the sheer amount of food being served at Arzak. It's hard to describe accurately every single dish so I won't even bother to attempt, and for most dishes I can't even tell what exactly they were to this date - with names like "Cromlech with onion, coffee and tea" on the menu didn't help much either. But among the many courses we had, I was most impressed at a dish called  "Egg with earth tremor" - we have had the most amazing egg dishes while in Spain and this is no exception.

Not all the dishes worked to my liking though I should say - for example, the low-tide monkfish was served with sides that was shaped in the form of sea shells and stars, which I think was too playful, texture too strange and taste too bland. Fun to look at, but not too enjoyable to taste, to be honest. But all in all I love how they took advantage of the many seasonal ingredients found in the region and traditional cooking methods and turn the food into innovative culinary creations that were presented beautifully.

Dessert is another area that totally blew our mind off - chocolate in the form of a marble, basil ice cream with chocolate that shaped like a grape on top of strawberry "soup" (soup and chocolate "between the vineyards"), the dramatic mead and fractal fluid - red syrup was dropped into a plate of clear liquid to form the fractal shape before being poured onto the custard, and lastly, petit fours served in the form of a toolbox with screw caps and nails... With four courses of dessert in the tasting menu, if you happen to come here, my advice is pace yourself for that and you won't regret.

Another day, another fine meal. Wish we could stay here longer.

when? February 9 2011 (Spain Trip Day 6 )
where? Arzak, Avenida Alcalde Jose Elosegui, 273, 20015 San Sebastian - Donostia, Spain
drinks? Lagar de Cerveza Albarino 2009
menu highlights? Egg with Earth Tremor, Soup and Chocolate "between vineyards"
web: www.arzak.es

You can also check out more pics on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/sets/72157626119658434/