I ate here last year on a ten day trip of Bilbao and it absolutely blew me away, I spent the last year raving about it on this sub, so I decided to go back this year to see if it was as good as I remembered. Just to add, I rated this ahead of 3 star Azurmendi last year, the experience of Azurmendi is incredible, but I found the dishes here much better, and that's more important to me at the end of the day.
For those who don't know Martin Berasategui is the Spanish chef with the most Michelin stars, 12 in total, including 2 three stars, Martin Berasategui outside San Sebastian and Lasarte in Barcelona. Here they offer two menus, and we went with the bigger of the two, the best of Martin Berasategui, which contains about 15 plates… I'm not going to explain them all, and I'm missing a good few photos, so I'll just pick out a few highlights, although everything was at such a high level, it's hard to do that. This has to be knocking on the door of two stars, in 15 years in Spain, I think it's the best one star I've eaten in (along with La Salita in València.
2)welcome snacks and butter. Including his famous, foie gras, smoked eel and apple, this is still served in his three star restaurants, and his frozen green olives that explode in the mouth, with rosmery bread.
3)natural oyster, pipara green sauce (slightly hot pepper) and a powder herring ice cream. Espectular.
4)maybe the dish of the meal, although hard to call. This was on the menu last year as well, not sure if they're getting the idea from the Disfrutar Chinese pan filled with caviar. But this is a buenelo, a Spanish fried pumpkin bun, filled with red tuna, and caviar on top, served with a seafood reduction sauce. Incredible, I swear, I wanted to ask for a second one.
5)another incredible dish, crispy prawn tortilla, tarama, wild mushroom emulsion and yuzu gel.
6)wild mushroom, sweet bread and truffle tartlet.
7)quail egg, calamar, and crispy see weed, toasted onion and basil broth.
8)razorclam, scallops, can't remember what else.
9)incredible.. First of two main courses, sea bass, red curry, octopus, papada ibérica ( finely sliced iberian pork neck) fennel emulsion, and about 3 more things I'm forgetting, an incredible explosion of different flavours on one plate… Incredible.
10)lamb, with lambs feet, and pickles.
11)another Martin Berasategui classic. Gin fizz hot and cold with strawberries and lime, a mixture of hot and cold.
12) milks sheep snow, pumpkin and vanilla cream, orange and black garlic.
13) white chocolate, wasabi and saffron.
14) final petit fours.
by Life-Resort2218