The finest booking of my San Sebastian gourmet adventure was the San Pellegrino World #3 Mugaritz. I hadn't previously dined at any Spanish juggernaut restaurants and so I was interested to see the difference between gourmet gastronomy Spanish, and those that I was more familiar with in more traditional Spanish and gourmet international/French.
Opinions online have suggested that of the restaurant selection panel between Mugaritz, Arzak (which was closed during the period of my visit), Martin Berasategui, Akelare and others, Mugaritz was rated by diners most commonly to be the favourite, occasionally the least liked, but always the most inventive.
Our menu €165pp differed slightly from the order printed.
- "Satiation eludes bread and olives" - edible paper (tastes like Eucharest bread) & olive paste;
- Garlic tempura - delicious garlic flower tempura with a rich fragrant taste;
- "Fishbones" with nuances of lemon, garlic & cayenne pepper
- Edible stones - boiled potato stones with an odd crunchy shell exterior with garlic mayonnaise;
- Flax and wheat "Kraft" paper with crab coral & sunsho - edible paper with a spot of sea urchin roe covered with crab meat. Fantastic umami flavours, textures of crisp paper, crab flesh and soft uni;
- Slices of foie-gras cured in clay & Sichuan peppercorns. Bath of apple extract - sliced creamy foie gras in apple water. A little strange;
There was a short interlude at this point where we were invited to see the kitchen. They gave as their version of a macaron comprised of pig's blood for the exterior and blue cheese filling. Unexpectedly tasty.
- Ravioli of aromatic vegetables - gelatinous pasta enclosing fresh soft parsley, mint, tarragon, thyme resulting in an explosion of herb flavours;
- Hazelnut & beans stew - warm soft hazelnuts, black beans, mother of pearl and onion;
- Cured cheese, in its own rind, mushrooms & coastal herbs - linen seeds processed in milk then into a clay oven for 2-3 days forming a soft gelatinous and very strong blue cheese;
- Artichoke & Iberian ham "tat in". Clam Chantilly - actually a mirage from lemon rind & potato hash, clam foam;
- Roasted loin of hake with clashing grains of ages mascarpone, cauliflower & almonds - hake with raw cauliflower & mascarpone;
- Daily catch with acidic sprouts of amaranth & vanilla - scorpion fish, amaranth, vanilla, roe forming a very strong fishy taste;
- Breast of guineafowl with lobster emulsion & its roasted skin - sesame seed/linseed/pepper/saffron mortared into pieces, added lilly flower/cosmo herb/soft fowl breast and smoky crackling, filled with a rather weak flavoured lobster soup. The smell of the crushed spices then infused into the soup was the highlight;
- Crunchy terrine of Iberian pig tails with a bunch of bitter leaves & Txakoli sediments - divine pork texture and flavour. One for the memories;
- Mint - mint soaked in alcohol with white rum powder;
- "Forgotten memory from childhood." Small bite of milky wafer with lemon ice cream - sensational lemon cream atop a waffle cracker. So good we asked for seconds;
- "Traditional" almond Fairy cake - nutty ice-cream cake;
- Vanilla-Fern - edible fake vanilla pods with sugar and swiped onto chocolate ganache;
Finally we were given dehydrated paper towels to reconstitute, followed by an enormous wooden box of hazelnuts coated in chocolate and cocoa powder, sitting on top of an edible earth of chocolate pieces and seeds. We asked to take the leftovers home, which they granted us for the hazelnuts.
Altogether a very special and interesting meal. There were some incredible highlights, a lot of good combinations, and the occasionally oddity. Definitely a recommendation to try and have your food senses challenged, but it isn't the type of place or menu I would come back for in the near future.