Day Seven Continued...For dinner, we drove to Lasarte, just outside of San Sebastian, to go to Restaurante Martín Berasategui. This is a Michelin Three-Star restaurant, considered one of the best restaurants in the area. It opened in 1993 and the chef, Martín Berasategui, has opened a couple of other restaurants as well, though this remains his flagship.
When you know you are going to a Michelin Three-Star restaurant, you have certain expectations. It is supposed to be the best of the best. You expect an exceptional meal and experience. The meal should immensely impress you. So, did Martín Berasategui fulfill my expectations?
The restaurant is very elegant and certainly provides an excellent ambiance. It is the type of place where you want to dress your best, though it is not required. The tables are separated enough so that conversations at other tables do not interfere with your own meal.
We started off with a glass of chilled Cava as we read over our menu. We had a set meal, the Great Degustation Menu which is a selection of the best of Martin Berasategui’s cuisine.
This included:
2007 Lightly Smoked Cod with powder of hazelnuts, coffee and vanilla
1995 Mille-Feuille of Smoked Eel, Foie Gras, Spring Onions and Green Apple
2007 Peach Gazpacho with cockles and Txakoli
2006 Oyster with water cress, rocket leaves and apple chlorophyll, lemon grass and fennel cream with oxalis acetosella
2007 Green Tomatoes Jelly with grey mullet roe, lemon and basil sherbet with olives juice and ginger and citric air
2006 Razor Shell Custard with soya sprouts, coffee, cinnamon and curry cream
2007 Farm’s Egg with beet root and liquid herb’s salad , carpaccio of Basque stew and cheese
2007 Soup of Chestnuts and Cardamon with pigeon cream and autumn sprouts
2002 Warm Vegetable Hearts Salad with seafood, cream of lettuce hearts and idionized juice
2007 Roasted Red Mullet with crystals of soft scales, consommé of cucumber, tomato and vodka emulsion and raw cauliflower
2007 Roast Araiz’s Pigeon with cream of apple, lime and basil and its toast
2007 Yogurt Liquid Bubble, mango and passion fruit sauce, mist of gentian and crunchy flowers
2006 Creamy Coffee Ice-Cream on top of a soft hazel nut and chocolate cake with whisky ice shavings
Our wine with our meal was a Santa Cantabria Crianza, and we later had a dessert wine from Navarra with our desserts. Both choices were excellent.
I really took no notes at dinner as I just wanted to savor the multi-course feast. I wanted to concentrate my efforts on the food and the experience. And it was a superb dinner.
Chef Berasategui does a bit of molecular gastronomy, working with such items as foams and bubbles. Yet he does not over do it. I thought his dishes were quite inventive and absolutely delicious. I ate some things that I would not normally because they were done so well and combined perfectly with the other ingredients. Even the pigeon was fantastic. The Mille-Feuille was exceptional and one of my favorite courses.
I was very full and satisfied at the end of the meal. It certainly ranked as one of the best meals I have ever had.
Service was impeccable, very professional and courteous. Multiple servers attended our table, placing our plates down simultaneously. We did not have a single complaint.
Before we left, we had the opportunity to meet Chef Berasategui and get a picture with him. It is good to see such famous chefs still working in their restaurants.
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