Martin Berasategui
Anchovy and Olive Focaccia, Seed Bread, White Hearth Loaf
Sea Crunch Tempura with Txakoli Wine Mayonnaise and Citrus Gel / Kumquat, Potato Firewater, Olive and Anchovy
Mille Feuille of Smoked Eel, Foie Gras, Spring Onion, Green Apple
Red Shrimp Royale and Dill with “Venta del Baron” Oil
Lightly Marinated Warm Oyster with Iced Cucumber Slush, K5, Spicy Apple
Monkfish Liver Marinated in Sea Chlorophyll and served with Seaweed Salad
“The Truffle” with fermented Wild Mushrooms and Collard Greens with “Alma de Jerez” Oil
Vegetable Hearts Salad with Slipper Lobster, Cream of Lettuce, Iodized Juice
Gorrotxategi Egg resting on a liquid Herb Salad, Chorizo, and Dewlap Carpaccio
Crispy Golden Swiss Chard Stems, Cod Skin, with Scallops in their own Aniseed-Flavored Sea Juice
Roast Hake Fillet with Truffle Spinach, Sparkling K5, Iberico, and Peakytoe Crab
Suckling Lamb Chop with Sweetbreads, Parmesan Whey, Fritters, Asparagus with Citrus Dressing
Vanilla Apple Pie with Granny Smith Sorbet and Calvados Cream
Smoked Sponge with Cocoa Crunch, Frozen Whiskey Cream, Crushed Ice, Green Beans, Mint
Americano
Passion Grape Infusion, Cinnamon Armagnac Milk, Apricot Financier, Pistachio Cake, Chocolate, Nougat
The recipient of more Michelin Stars than any Spanish born Chef, his eponymous restaurant in Lasarte-Oria holding three ever since 2001, it seems strange that Martin Berasategui nonetheless seems to be underrated amongst peers in the Basque region, not to mention lists touting the world’s top Toques.
Located just a few miles from San Sebastian, the spacious confines of the dining room more lavish than the likes of even Azark or Mugaritz, it was just prior to 20h00 that a parking space was located at the base of a staircase with shrubbery obscuring views of a glass-encased kitchen, Berasategui himself standing at the pass as a team of at least thirty were already at work across several highly-polished stations.
Modern in design with no lack of refinement, white gloves reapplied by severs as silverware is replaced between plates, greetings in the foyer were followed by escort to a table built for four, the tile floors and spotlighting lent an air of naturalness by white orchids and wood fireplaces plus the linen that seems almost impossibly light.
Known to dabble less in Modernism than others, his cuisine more focused on immediacy and the bounty of Northeast Spain, it is before menus are presented that aperitifs, wine, and breads are offered, a la carte options bound to tempt while the €205 tasting menu is strongly suggested and selected by most.
Offering a mix of old and new, the dishes dating back decades in some cases while others a timestamped to 2015, it is with two small bites touching on contrast that tasting is started, Berasategui’s savory Mille Feuille to follow with creamy foie gras layered by eel, the two bites leaving one wanting for several additional as the unctuous flavors dissipated to a linger that was slightly sweet.
Assuredly a place where ‘filling up’ on bread is a danger, the seed bread and foccacia of olives and anchovies particularly tempting, course two featured a frothy emulsion inside a porcelain “shell” hiding shrimp in an aromatic mousse, the follow-up oyster bursting with warm brine amidst a chilly composition of vegetal notes, spice, and top notes of Spanish wine.
Skewing Japanese in a presentation of Ankimo on an umami-rich backdrop of seaweed, mussels, and radishes in a salty green broth course six was the first in a string of five show-stoppers, the moist black nugget a compression of fermented wild mushrooms while the broth around it offered the rich aroma of truffles both French and Italian atop a bed of stewed greens.
Channeling Bras’ “Gargouillou” with an eye-catching salad studded with Slipper Lobster before offering a sous-vide egg melding complex herbs to pork, plate nine continued a theme of using protein to compliment vegetation rather than the other way around, the crisp bits of salt cod and buttery scallops used to highlight Swiss Shard that ate like matchstick potatoes in a creamy broth made from the plant’s leaves and flavors of licorice.
Substantial in the penultimate savory, a pork-veiled Hake fillet served alongside spinach pureed with black truffles and foamy flavors of K5 atop mounds of crab, it was admittedly a bit of surprise when the three-bone Lamb Chop arrived in an equally pronounced portion, sighs of being ‘too full’ heard from other tables while the tender pink meat served with sweetbreads, cheesy fritter, and light citrus still saw me smiling and faring quite well.
Unable to resist a classic, Berasategui’s 1995 Vanilla Apple Pie replacing a 2015 palate cleanser at no additional charge, it seemed to tickle the Chef that such a request had been levied as he personally saw to its service, the crust seemingly a thousand shattering layers beneath pearls of sugar with boozy cream served in a sidecar, a quenelle of sour apple sorbet pleasantly refreshing between bites.
Again glancing modern with a boulder of chocolate that could have probably been compressed to a small bon-bon were all the air squeezed out, it was with light hints of smoke that the meal came to its conclusion, the frozen components largely present for texture though the mint and whiskey’s interaction was indeed quite interesting, the same to be said of a sculpture crafted by the chef that presented petit fours and a shot of warm brandy-spiked milk.
https://www.martinberasategui.com/es/inicio