Asador Etxebarri

Address: Asador Etxebarri, Plaza San Juan, 1 Axpe-Marzana 48291, Atxondo- Bizkaia

http://www.asadoretxebarri.com

Phone: 34-946583042



Gan: The best meal. I've had it. Before we made the trek from Donostia-San Sebastian to the little village Axpe and its amazing treasure, Asador Etxebarri, the following phrase kept ringing in my head: "There is no other person on earth having a better meal at the moment". I must have read it from some food blog or from our usual inspiration, Tony Bourdain's No Reservation Spain episode while researching for this trip and on this restaurant. You know how it is when you build up such high expectations that the eventual result tends to be less spectacular than it actually is because you were expecting the impossible. I'm happy to say, Etxebarri had not only met my highest expectations but exceeded it! I truly believed that while I was savoring the last desert dish, there is no other person on earth that was having a better meal at that very moment (except of course, for Sarah.. who's right alongside with me. hehe!).

We arrived a good hour before our actual reservations since we wanted to factor in possibly getting lost along the way. Surprisingly, the journey was smooth and quite enjoyable, through the Basque countryside. Btw, I'm still amazed how we had such a good experience in Spain without speaking any Spanish or the local Basque or Catalan dialects. It was great catching Chef Victor Arguinzoniz in the restaurant before the seating. He looked just as I had expected, in his usual white t-shirt and what looks like his farming attire, looking all the bit like he's about to go out to catch a fish or bring in fresh produce from the farm for the kitchen. Victor is well known for being one of the best griller in the world. Most, if not all, of his dish creation are grilled no matter the subject. My guess is grilling or smoking would probably not be the first thing that comes across most chefs' mind when he's presented with delicate produce such as caviar, butter, sea cucumber, or angulas (baby eels). It is this level of dedication to his technique (or art) that makes him a great chef. Strip away all the complexity of more modern cooking technique or even molecular gastronomy that is the rage in most parts of the world, cooking boils down to simply preparing food by applying heat. Why not grill? After all, grilling is one of the oldest form of cooking that we've continued to use since we were cavemen. One advantage to grilling is that it retains the closest of proximity between food and fire; nothing in between, unfettered, unadulterated. It's like making love without... err, I think I'll try keeping this post in its usual G-rating. :-) Heat. Yes, I think more than grilling, Victor knows about fire and more importantly heat. His famously reported self-invented pulley system and fully disassmble-able grill system allows him to control the proximity of the food and the fire. Controlling heat.. can't get more basic than that. What does pots and pans do? Mostly to transfer heat as well as distributing them evenly. I think that's the secret ingredient in what makes Etxebarri's food great.

We had time to venture around the area, which was to say the least, breathtaking. The backdrop of the dramatic looking mountains were just perfect. It was a nice stroll before we head back to the dining room. Victor's sous chef, Lennox greeted us as we were being seated. It was nice to see a chef coming up to explain the menu to us, or maybe it's because he's Australian and is probably the only person who can speak English there. It seems like Lennox who's an Australian and had ended up in Victor's kitchen have quite a pedigree. He had apprenticed at Michelin starred restaurant and clearly provided finesse to the food here (ie: smaller portion compared to usual Basque portion and the plating). It is clear that Etxebarri has been undergoing transformation in the food that it produced. Both Sarah and myself felt that the chef that Victor had brought on, Lennox, is a key component in making what Etxebarri is today and in the future. We deferred to Lennox to create a menu for us and told him as we usually do, that we have "no reservations" on our dietary requirement.

Sarah: Etxebarri is one of the main reasons why the yaokuis flew all the way from New York City to Spain. After watching No Reservation: Spain episode (again) on youtube a few months ago, we decided to stop salivating over Anthony Bourdain eating those incredible food in Spain and go there ourselves. It was one of the best decisions ever. After lunch, we decided that we just had to visit Etxebarri's famous kitchen and take a look at the grill and we were lucky that Lennox was able to show us around. The restaurant added a few more grills after Anthony Bourdain came about 1 1/2 years ago, and they are now able to cater for big groups such as weddings. Lennox also showed us their aquarium where they kept the fresh and live seafood. All the seafood we had during lunch ie langoustine, oysters, eel, palamos shrimp, crawfish, etc were all as fresh as they can be. Given that the restaurant is located in the mountains and some distance away from the ocean, this is a great idea to make sure the seafood produce from water to kitchen to dining table are shortened and at its freshest. This reminds us of how it's done in Asia, especially in HK, where seafood restaurants has its own in house aquariums. As for the meat, we were told that they source it mostly from Galicia, since, unfortunately the farming industry around this area is not as sustainable as before.

Local Txakoli Itsas Mendi No 7 - local wine to match local produce


handmade chorizo - O-M-G

Gan: The 12 courses that followed was the most amazing experience so far. Some good restaurants could only strive for a signature dish that others can judge it by. Great restaurants aims to give you something to remember for each plate that comes out of the kitchen. We got exactly that. The handmade chorizo was simply scrumptious. The smokiness of the ground fat and meat of iberico pork (black pig like kurobuta) matched well with the hearty bean soup. Then came the trio of the most amazing shell fish course I've had. First was the quisquilla small female shrimp which has plenty of roe underneath. It's just plainly grilled with salt. There's only one way to eat them, which is with your bare fingers. The saltiness of the roe compliments the sweetness of the shrimp. Next was one of my favorite seafood in Spain, the Palamos shrimp with its head filled with liquid goodness. There's no other way to enjoy it but to suck the head. It's juicy, briny, gooey, and it's delicious. The langoustine was the perfect ending to the trio. Its meat is cooked perfectly and you can see how skillful the chefs managed the heat in all three trio of shrimp shellfish dishes. The oysters with the seaweed and foam was briny and tasted like it was scooped right out of the ocean. The butter was creamy and smoky with the aftertaste of ash. The smoked caviar was intense, and you can smell the seaweed smoked with applewood coal. You see the history of Victor's forrestry background and intimate knowledge of the different wood and coal used to grill and smoke his dishes in just this one dish. Eating the angulas (baby eels) was like eating one of those Chinese noodles made of fish paste. It was a harmonious balance of texture and taste. The Galician chuletas was a lot more marbled than it looks and was absolutely delicious. In fact, it's a bit gamier than the Kobe beef or most of the beef we could find here in the States. I think it speaks volume to think their steak would've given any of the best steak-specialty restaurants a run for their money. Certainly, it's as good if not better than Peter Luger's, in my opinion. Most surprising of all, the dessert has the most impact for me. We had a 4 hour long meal and 12 courses which could've filled most people, even those trained with American portion :-) but when I had a taste of the sheep milk ice cream and its absolutely perfect wild fruit sauce, I was blown away. I had my favorite dessert in Aquavit when I had their goat cheese ice cream. For some reason, my taste bud are just attracted to ice cream made of cheese. Yes, I had second helping (free of charge).

This female quisquilla (shrimp with roe) was amazing. Grilled and seasoned lightly with salt, it was smokey, juicy and so flavorful.

handmade smoked butter - you can really taste the smokiness of this "dish". It sounds strange to eat a ball of butter, but it was so good that you almost forget you are eating one. I like the crunchy butter and ash like bits on the side

Palamos shrimp was so succulent. Once you remove the head from the body, there will be hot greenish juice/liquid flowing out and we drink/suck the juice. It was heavenly. Then the shrimp itself was just out of this world

Langoustine fans, I can bet you that this will be your favorite langoustine dish ever if you try this. Any other langoustine dishes will not be able to come close to Extebarri's Langoustine dish. Simple yet amazing

Oysters with seaweed and foam

Caviar smoked with seaweed - we saw this dish on "No Reservation" and wondered how it tastes like. It was really really good. The seaweed taste is successfully smoked onto the caviar, enhacing its taste

grilled mussels in tomato

grilled baby octopus

grilled vegetables soup - I love soup and this soup just made me happy!

grilled angulas (baby eel) with olive oil and garlic

grilled mackerel with pickled onions and spinach stems


grilled galician steak chuletas

sheep milk cheese ice cream with infusion of wild fruits - best dessert ever. Gan had to order additional serving of this. some other blogs mentioned the ice cream is smoked (the sheep milk smoked before being made into an ice cream) but we couldn't smell any of the smokiness.

Gan: Asador Etxebarri is a rare gem. A confluence of the old and the new. The tradition and the evolution. Simple yet creative. It is no coincidence that many publications and foodies around the world had praised Etxebarri for its food, yet the accolades still elude them. I'm sure Victor Arguinzoniz would not have given much thought or stressed about it but as I've told Lennox, the Michelin stars is as much of an affirmation for us who appreciates greatness do not come by chance, but by sheer dedication and care. Just like any of the best meals we've had, all the accolades aside, all the techniques aside, and all the wrangling over why it's so good, it comes down to flavor. I've had the best tasting meal at Etxebarri.. now, let's go find the next best meal!

Sarah: Eating at Asador Etxebarri was one of the most unbelievable experience for Gan and I. We never thought we would be so impressed. Ever since we ate there, we find it hard not to compare the food elsewhere with the ones served in Etxebarri. Etxebarri is like our benchmark for excellence when it comes to food now. At first, Gan and I thought the restaurant was already awarded Michelin star sometime ago, but they weren't. Strip away all those superficial elements (aka ratings that has nothing to do with flavor) that Michelin rating system judges a restaurant, we think Michelin should award Extebarri Three stars, because they absolutely deserve it.

Additional Reference/Article about this great place

• Food and Wine: Victor Arguinzoniz: The Grilling Genius of Spain
• Time: One Man's Meat
• chez pim: Etxebarri: excellence personified
  

La Cuchara de San Telmo

Address: Calle 31 de Agosto, 28

http://www.lacucharadesantelmo.com

Phone: 34 943 420 840

We didn't get to eat at La Cuchara until two days after we arrived in the city because of dinner reservations at other restaurants. We have heard good reviews on La Cuchara (Lennox, the sous chef at Extebarri also recommended this place) so we went there even though we just had a very extensive lunch at Mugaritz. Finding this pintxos bar was quite a challenge since it was hidden at the corner of a plaza on Calle 31 de Agosto. We walked around a few times before eventually found it. But the bar was packed when we got there, a sign that good food is served here.

We managed to make our way into the bar area little by little, and started ordering pintxos from their small kitchen. We had the foie "cuchara" (seared foie gras), molleja de ternera con tximi txjrri, pato hembra (duck), risotto cremos de queso de craba, croquetta cremosa de asados y guisados, ganatxe de txokolate amargo (chocolate dessert) and two glasses of kalimotxo. Of all the pintxos bar we have tried in San Sebastian (well, not as many as we wanted to), La Cuchara was definitely our favorite. We really liked the foie, risotto cremos, chicken and their kalimotxo. If you only have time to try a pintxos bar in San Sebastian, I recommend that you eat at La Cuchara.

kalimotxo

croquetta cremosa de asados y guisados

Pato Hembra

foie "cuchara" (seared foie gras)

risotto cremos de queso de craba

A Fuego Negro

Address: Calle 31 de Agosto

http://www.afuegonegro.com

Phone: 650 13 53 73

We wanted to hit more pintxos bars on the same night, unfortunately we failed to pace ourselves and ate too much before we arrived at the third place of the night. But we could still eat a little, so we went ahead with our plan and checked out A Fuego Negro anyways.

A Fuego Negro is more trendy than most of the pintxos bar in the old quarter area, and it's hard not to notice all those good looking people eating here. In terms of the food, other than the yoghurt de foie con naranja (foie gras with orange), I felt that their bacalao con currymigas y coliflor (bacalao with curry flavored cauliflower) and chicken with potatoes and arroz con amentjas (rice and clams) were underseasoned. But we tried our very first kalimotxo (coke with red wine) here and it was delicious!

kalimotxo

yoghurt de foie con naranja (foie gras with orange)

Chicken with potatoes

bacalao con currymigas y coliflor (bacalao with curry flavored cauliflower)

arroz con amentjas (rice and clams)

Goiz Barc Argi

Address: C/Fermin Calbeton, 4



After our first stopover at Ganbara, we headed to Goiz Barc Argi, which is another pintxos bar located just down the street from Ganbara. After the waiter poured us our second glass of bubbly txacholi of the night, we were ready to order and eat more. They have quite a few items displayed on the bar, just like at most of the other pintxos bars in San Sebastian. The bacalao caught our attention so we ordered that and it was flavorful and delicious. We wanted to try their famous lamb meat balls, but didn't know how to order so we ended up getting the regular lamb skewers instead. The crab meat dish was just alright. During our visit at Goiz Barc Argi, we couldn't helped but noticed all the trash on the floor below the bar area, which consisted of mostly toothpicks and used paper napkins. Maybe the owner should put a trash can there? Or maybe they prefer to have all these trash on the floor to show how many people came and eat there?

Gan: Why is alcohol such an important part of any cuisine and so inter-woven into a cultural psyche? I always ask myself this. It's part of any cultures' adolescence process and seems to transcend geographical differences. When I was a child, I always find it a mystery as to how such a drink could alter behaviors in characters, more in horror than in humor (it became more humorous as I grow older).. which might explain why I've not really been well versed in alcoholic dictionary. That and the fact that I hated the bitterness in most alcoholic beverage.

Odd that the one thing I enjoyed most in life (if you already hadn't guessed - food) encouraged me to explore the intricacies of pairing alcoholic beverages with food. We are by no means an authority in this field but knowing that there's a dedicated profession (sommelier) out there shows that there's a lot of knowledge and industry behind it. Alcohol's effect is probably most distinctive in evoking similar emotions as in different food flavors and aroma. Some heightens your senses, some dulls it but most if not all relaxes you.

One thing I find interesting in the pintxos and tapas hopping we've done in Spain is how much the Spanish had experimented with alcohol and its enjoyment with food. We even learn new drinks outside of the more commonly known Sangria here - txakoli, kalimotxo/rioja libre, and spanish cava, xampanyet. The combination of all the beers, aperitif and digestif liquors, and all the vino tinto (red wines), vino blanco (white wines), vino rosados (rose wines), vino espumusos (sparkling wines), and vinos de postre (desert wine) are endless.

2 of our favorite drinks so far are the local basque drinks txakoli (spanish-basque sparkling wine) and kalimotxo (mix of coke and red wine). I'm even beginning to find txakoli to be one of my de facto beber (drink) of choice when doing pintxo hopping in San Sebastian. :-)

Our second pintxo bar at San Sebastian was Goiz Barc Argi. The food was not as memorable but they are definitely good bar food. That's what's mind boggling. In NYC, food as good as these would've been unheard of or at least rare in bars. Sorry, except for maybe Spotted Pig? Kinda put the British gastro-pub movement in perspective. The very hearty and flavorful bacalao is perfect with the txakoli. It's also very refreshing to wash down the strong flavor of crab roe dish with it. The highlight for me was the shrimp on brocheta. The juice of the gambas soaked up by the bread was marvellous. Otherwise, this pintxo bar is not as impressive as Ganbara or La Cuchara San Telmo.

We didn't order much here. As with food (obesity), we should consume alcohol in moderation. Taken it out of context and abuse is a sure way to destroy your enjoyment of it.

Ganbara

Address: 21 Calle San Jeronimo, San Sebastian

Phone: 34 943 42 2575



We really wanted to experience the pintxos bar hopping that is so famous in the Basque country, so as soon as we touched down in San Sebastian, we went straight to the old quarter area and started eating. Since it was a weekday when we arrived in San Sebastian, the old quarter pintxos bar area was not too crowded, which was good for us since we didn't have to fight the crowd for good food.

Our first stop, Ganbara Pintxos Bar. We heard that Ganbara's specialty is the wild mushroom dish so we ordered a plate. We also had some anchoas, fish roe, peppers wrapped with anchos, jamon croissant, and two glasses of our first Txacholi in San Sebastian. Txacholi is a type of low alcohol sparkling white wine produced in the Basque country, and it's a pretty popular drink in this area. We like that it's low alcohol, bubbly and goes well with pintxos! The anchoas at Ganbara was really good, so was the jamon croissant and wild mushroom egg dish. Since it was just our first stop, we tried not too eat too much as there are more pintxos bars to check out. So off we go, to our next stop- Goiz Barc Argi.

Gan: Pintxos is the basque country equivalent of tapas in Spain. As per wikipedia, it literally mean spike or thorns, which is represented by the toothpick holding up each of this small little bite-size dishes on a piece of bread. In actuallity, the pintxos can be anything from small brochette style dish to more comprehensive cooked to order small portion of dishes. We are seeing a lot of similarity between Japanese and Spanish cuisine in this trip.. seeing that the Japanese has the izakaya. Both pintxo bars and izakaya are bars that serve alcohol and accompanied small little dishes. I'm quite sure the alcohol was the origin of the intent and the little food dishes are there to attract more customers but as any culture with passion for food, the dishes evolved and turned into the focus and attraction. After all, there's only so much you can really do with alcohol as opposed to food.

The first time I saw Tony Bourdain's Spain-San Sebastian episode, I was already hooked to this region and the pintxos hopping. As Juan Arzak personally told us while we were dining at Arzak, in Europe the restaurants are a source of many food inspiration and in South East Asia region we are known by our street food. It's very true, I feel, that as we get wealthier in our culture, our food evolved together with it. The origin of these inspirations usually come from the food that ordinary people eat everyday. In Asia we have the hawker food, and in Western countries, there's the bar food. In Spain, there's pintxos and tapas!

Ganbara's specialty was its mushrooms. As we slowly begin to see the many different idiosyncracies of the Spanish cuisine, the pintxos and tapas has many differences as well. There's specializations in certain produce (mushrooms, shrimp-gambas, meat-carne), food temperature (hot-cooked, cold), and regional styles (basque, catalan, galician). And I have to say, the mushrooms are amazing in Ganbara. The very friendly owner got us a plate of mixed mushrooms simply cooked with egg. The mushrooms are good soaking agent so the sauces are well soaked with the runny scrambled egg sauce. We had a mixture of chanterelle, woodear and porcini. It was very appetizing. The aroma and the flavor was great. It's just a bit steep in price.. I think it was about EUR15 but it was definitely worth the try.