It is fascinating how so many talented chefs can come from the same region in Basque Country. There is probably a magic potion that secretly is given to the chefs when they are small babies or something in the water they drink. San Sebastián and its beautiful surroundings are like a dream factory producing talent after talent like Pedro Subijana, Andoni Aduriz, Juan Mari & Elena Arzak and of course Martín Berasategui.

The Chef Patron was born in 1960 in San Sebastián. He started to work in his family’s restaurant el Bodegón Alejandro when he was 13 years old and continued from there to several different restaurants such as Le Louis XV in Monaco. Martín Berasategui was only 20 years old when he took over his family’s restaurant in 1981. Restaurante Martín Berasategui was opened in 1993 in Lasarte. In addition the chef has achieved numerous accolades and become a world famous chef and a restaurateur in later years as well. Martín Berasategui’s restaurant group MB manages several excellent restaurants such as el Bodegón Alejandro, the Guggenheim Bilbao restaurant, Kursaal, Mugaritz, and Restaurant Martin in Shanghai, to name a few and he also consults as the culinary advisor for the Lasarte at the Hotel Condes de Barcelona, for the M.B of ABAMA Resort and the EME Catedral Hotel in Sevilla.

There are loads of fantastic restaurants in San Sebastián, but Martín Berasategui Restaurant undoubtedly belongs to the top four along with Akelare, Arzak and Mugaritz. You will have a wide selection of the amazing Basque cuisine to choose from like the starter “Gorrotxategi” that is egg resting on a liquid salad of red tubers and dewlap carpaccio or the impeccable Roasted Araiz’s pigeon, fresh pasta with mushrooms and spring onions, touches of truffle cream. The tasting menu will set you back 175 Euros per person exclusive wine pairing, but it is definitely worth it. Little pearls of fennel in raw, risotto and emulsion are fantastic and the same applies to the warm vegetables hearts salad with seafood, cream of lettuce hearts and juice to mention a couple of the dishes you will have.

San Sebastián is a must for everyone with even the smallest little interest for gastronomy and Restaurante Martín Berasategui is one of the most important restaurants on the to do list. You will not regret it.

Images courtesy of Martín Berasategui Restaurant

Written by Andy