Restaurante Arzak

We arrived in San Sebastian two days ago, and it will get it’s own blog post, but today we visited Restaurante Arzak, a 3 Michelin Star restaurant that is listed in the Top 50 Restaurants in the world (currently #31).  Here is the view from the bus stop.  I love taking the public bus to a 3 star restaurant!

This is the 3rd 3 Michelin Star restaurant we have been to (the first two being Arpege in Paris (#8 in the world…truly amazing), and Auberge de I’l in Alsace).  We chose the tasting menu, and picked out a half bottle of white and a full bottle of red to pair with the menu.  The interior of this place is really gorgeous.

The company is really gorgeous as well!

Our waiter for the afternoon was Cesar, who was exceptional.  He laughed at all of my bad jokes, spoke really good English, and explained every course with exceptional detail. 

The meal starts with 5 Amuse Buches (all of them were truly exceptional).  First is the Citrus and Mussel Sphere.

Then the Urban Seafood “Talo” (I have no idea what the Talo means, it was good…that’s enough for me!)

Then the Fortunate Fish and Cured Yolk (not quite sure how fortunate that fish was to be honest….he can’t be too happy to be in that little morsel of yummyness).

Then the Maseca Corn….scrumptious little corn tortilla!

Finally the “Chasing Karramarros”.  Again, lost in translation (it was basically crab pate’ on a ginger cookie, but very tasty regardless)!  I love the little crab net it was served in.

Then we were on to the real courses.  First up was “Fish of the Day Marinated with Patxaran and Purple Corn”.  Good thing we had bread so we could get every last molecule off the plate!

Then the Scarlet Prawns with Krill (you can barley see the lovely prawns under the cover of the crunchy krill….but it was devine (and deveined!).  Seriously, we have seen a lot of shrimp/prawns in Portugal and Spain that are not deveined!  Ok, back to the amazing meal.

Then the egg with Corn and Tomato Candy (it actually tasted like candy!)

We then switched to red wine (Tinto).  This was an amazing Temparnillo….we have a new found respect for this varietal, and will be buying a lot of it in the near future.

Check out this stemware!  It’s like a damn fishbowl!  Love it!

The next course was Grouper (Kim) and Monkfish (Chris).  The Monkfish won this one hands down.  The skin from the Monkfish….meh.  Can’t win them all!

Then the “meat” course, Roasted Duck.  Each one of the little purple pieces was made of potato, and had it’s own meaning (they actually called it Symbolic Duck).  I honestly can’t remember the meanings, but waiter emeritus Cesar gave me his email address, so maybe I can find out.  The duck breast was cooked perfectly…..such a great match with the Temparnillo!

Then we are on to dessert…..Seasonal Frost (Guava Frost with Lemon Sorbet and Acai) for Kim, and Mezcal Sweet (Mezcal Frost and Snow with Almond Praline and fluffy Raspberries….fluffy??) for Chris.  I think Kim won this one.

Second desserts (everybody knows in Michelin Star restaurants you get multiple desserts) were Square Moon (Lunar chocolate cube (lunar?) with a fluid core of mint, neroli and kiwi….it also came with some raspberry sorbet?) for Kim and Cacao Debris (Smoked chocolate, vanilla ashes and cacao shavings) for Chris.  The fluid core of mint on the Square Moon was amazing.  They were both excellent regardless,but I could eat that mint for a few hours.

The 3rd dessert was some homemade chocolates that were all pretty damn good….but then we had already drunk 1.5 bottles of wine, so at this point cat food might have tasted good!  I kid, these were excellent finishes to the meal.

Before we walked out, Cesar rounded up the world famous Chef Jaun Mari Arzak and introduced us.  He had heard we were there from California, and I think we were the only Americans in the place, so he wanted to say hello.  Very gracious, and I STUPIDLY DIDN’T GET A PHOTO WITH HIM!!!  Regardless, it was very nice to meet him.  Thanks Cesar!!  You rock!