Travel Series: San Sebastian, Spain, "Arzak"

Arzak

Alcade Jose Elosegui 273

Alto de Miracruz 21

San Sebastian, Spain

+ 34 943 278 465

For our nice dinner in San Sebastian, we decided to go to Arzak over Akelarre.  I was curious about this father-daughter team and after consulting with a few Spanish foodies, Arzak seemed like the place to go.  

When I saw the outside of the restaurant, I didn't know what to expect because it looked quite old fashioned and plain.  As we walked in, we saw a completely different world inside, with a modern black and white interior.  Since it has three Michelin stars, we were really dressed up, but we almost felt overdressed compared to everyone else.  We were shown to a table upstairs, and one thing we instantly noticed was that most of the servers were women.  We of course chose to have the tasting, and ordered a bottle of Monserrat Blanc (because we had seen the mountain earlier when we were in Penedes), which was like a cross between a chardonnay and viognier (slight oxidized taste).  

The food was all aesthetically beautiful and tasted good too.  The only presentation I didn't quite like was the fish course, which I thought was cute but slightly tacky.  I was a lot more impressed with the amuse bouches and starting courses than the fish and meat course, perhaps because I was starting to get very full, or perhaps because the element of surprise diminishes after a while.

One interesting thing about the service that I noticed was how unrefined it was.  The servers were all very friendly but everything they did was rather aggressive and rough.  It made me think back to our visit to Mugaritz, where they told us that they don't want to have an uptight, formal atmosphere because they want their guests to feel comfortable.  Here was a three Michelin starred restaurant that obviously placed more importance on their food then hospitality, and not so much the formality and technique of service.  It was refreshing to experience this at such a renowned restaurant. 

Puding de kabrarroka con kataifi

Humo de jamon con tomate

Arroz amarillo crujiente con hongos

Antxoas con fresa marinada: Anchovies with strawberries- such a weird but perfect combination!

Maiz, morcilla e higos: Corn, blood sausage and figs

Beet chips with sauteed oysters

Lobster: Patata, bogavente y copaiba- the red thing looked like a tomato but it burst in my mouth!

Poached egg with bread crumbs

Rape marea baja: monkfish.  The shells were amazing because they tasted just like mussels!

Lenguado con mamia: venison

A deliciously refreshing herb salad with puffed rice

Jugando a las canicas de chocolate

Travel Series: San Sebastian, Spain, "Ganbara"

21 Calle de San Jerónimo

San Sebastián 

34-94-342-2575 

 

For our second night in San Sebastian, my friend and I went to a pintxos bar (pinxtos is tapas in Basque) called Ganbara because I had read about it on the Food & Wine magazine online.  We had gone to a pinxtos bar the night before and learned how everything works.  You basically pick whatever you want and keep track of what you ate (honor system) and pay at the end.  You can also order the hot dishes because they fry or cook these items to order.

 

This octopus was marinated with onions, green pepper, olive oil and lemon.  Very tender and very refreshing.  Very much my kind of tapas! 

 

This place had a pile of chantarelles, pedron peppers and other ingredients for customers to choose from.

I had wanted to eat gooseneck barnacles since I heard about them about two years ago.  They look like turtle feet... These were just steamed- the sea water gave enough salt so no seasoning was needed.  I asked the guy working there "como como?" (How do I eat?) and he showed us how it's done.  You bend it in half until the skin breaks and suck out the inside.  They were good but not amazing... a little bit disappointing but I was happy to eat them nonetheless!

My favorite item at pinxtos bars was definitely the pedron pepper.  I actually got a spicy one in this lot.  They remind me of shishito peppers from Japan- sweet but bitter and very flavorful.

Went to another pinxtos bar after Ganbara before heading to Tas Tas.

Travel Series: San Sebastian, Spain, "Inigo Lavado"

Avda. Iparralde, 43

20302 Irun, Gipuzkoa

+34 943 639 639

After walking across the bridge from France to Spain, we headed over to Inigo Lavado for lunch.  The building looked a little out of place and as we walked in, there was a cafe type area.  The bottom floor is a concept called Singular and they serve a 12 euro set lunch menu from Mondays to Fridays and 19 euro set dinner menu on Thursdays and weekends.  The lunch is composed of a starter (choose from 10-15), main course (choose from 10-15) and dessert (choose from 8).  Basically you order your food, pay for it, then it gets served to you at your table.

Before lunch, Chef Inigo held a demo to show us how to prepare all the dishes we were going to be served.  He was a very charming and animated Chef with a lot of charisma! When I asked him whether he plans on expanding and opening more restaurants, he answered that he only wants this venue because he doesn't want to own many locations and not physically be at all of them.  But he hopes for his ideas and philosophy to be adapted by others so they can open restaurants based on these concepts.  He described his food as cuisine with personality based on traditions.  He believes in simplicity and utilizes local and seasonal ingredients. 

For the amuse bouche, we had a deep fried (in olive oil) bread dough with jamon Iberico and egg inside.  It is a play on breakfast and supposed to be eaten in one bite.  The yolk was still runny (I definitely noticed the quality of eggs in Spain- they were like eggs in Japan).

The appetizer was Milhojas de Foie y Manzana Caramelizado con vinagreta de mostaza y yogur con manzana verde (a millefeuille of foie gras and caramelized apple with mustard vinairgette, yogurt and granny smith apple).  This was a surprisingly light and refreshing foie dish and the acidity of the yogurt and granny smith definitely cut the fat of the foie.  This is one of his signature dishes. 

 

Jardin de Verduritas de Temporada (Garden of seasonal vegetables).  I did not have high expectations for this dish because I have had similar salads and they typically look good but taste quite bad.  But this salad was actually very flavorful and all the different components were compatible with each other.  The chantarelles were delicious! The black dirt is referred to as "tierra de cebolla" or onion dirt. 

This was Chef Inigo's play on pil pil, which is a traditional Basque dish made by emulsifying olive oil with the fat from the cod.  This cod was fried with an egg white batter.  The dish was good but I personally would have liked a little more acidity (maybe lemon) with it.

This was the dish that I was looking forward to the most! Cochinillo asado al horno (oven roasted suckling pig).  The skin on my piece was not crispy so I was a little disappointed, but I got to try someone else's crispy skin and it was amazing.  The meat was very trendy and fluffy.  

The first dessert was an amaretto ice cream (with praline at the bottom) with white chocolate soup and raspberries.  I don't really like white chocolate but this dessert was delicious!

The last dessert was a grilled brownie.  I don't think I would have liked this brownie all that much had it not been grilled but the char from the grill added a slight bitterness to the dessert that I really appreciated.  The cocoa powder was mixed with spices.

With Chef Inigo!