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Arzak

atto de Miracruz 21, San Sebastian, Spain

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This was my third visit to the famous restaurant Arzak. It is located in a residential area on one of the hills overlooking San Sebastian, a short drive from the town centre. The building was actually constructed by the grandparents of current head chef Juan Mari Arzak. These days his daughter Elena runs much of the kitchen service, given that Mr Arzak is seventy years old at the time of writing, though he was still in the kitchen this evening. Arzak was awarded a third Michelin star in 1989, which it has kept continuously. There are two dining rooms, one on the ground floor and one upstairs, seating a total of 55 diners at any one time.

The wine list stretched over 46 pages, and had a fine selection of Spanish wines, including many vintages of the glorious Vega Sicilia Unico. We drank the rare and lovely 1995 Rioja Alta 890 at a price barely above its £86 retail price in the UK, assuming you could find it at all. Bread, a choice of white or brown, was enjoyable, with a good crust (17/20). A tasting menu was priced at €179, in addition to the à la carte menu (where starters ranged from €45 to €49, main courses €55 to €70 and desserts €29. The wine list was extensive and was very fairly priced: as Alion 2007 was €65 for a wine that costs €58 in a shop, Chateau La Fleur Petrus 1999 was €199 for a wine that you can find in a shop for about £151, and a wide range of the glorious Unico was available, some below its retail price e.g. Vega Sicilia Unico 1981 at €309 that retails at about €350.

The meal began with a series of nibbles. A fish ball in angel hair pasta was very good but a corn soup with leaves was too salty even to my taste. A marinated sardine with strawberry was a combination that for me just didn't work; although I can see the logic of pairing a fruit with an oily fish, strawberry just has too much sweetness to pair well with sardine, the combination clashing on the palate. Marinated gooseberry with potato crisps was another strange mix, the crisps infused with mint. Potato with amaranth was better, whilst chorizo with melon tasted mostly of melon. This was a very mixed set of nibbles in terms of quality (barely 15/20 on average).

My starter was on surer ground, a savoury cone of crisp yucca plant filled with foie gras mousse. The mousse was suitably rich and the crisp vegetable was a nice textural contrast (18/20). Lobster with hemp seeds had tender shellfish, with a few leaves hiding a mustard sauce, and on the side a rather odd mix of tapioca and salad leaves (16/20). Squid with onion and lemon sauce was good, the squid without any hint of chewiness, and the lemon part of the sauce providing good balancing acidity (17/20). A plate of seasonal vegetables comprised a series of vegetables that had been cooked but were served cold: broccoli, courgette, mushrooms, asparagus, tomato, with radish, red onion, cocoa beans and pear. The trouble with such a simple dish is that it stands or falls by the quality of the vegetables: this kind of thing works at somewhere like Louis XV in Monaco, where the local vegetables are of peerless quality, but here the dish was just a series of pleasant but hardly exciting cold vegetables (14/20).

Monkfish with figs and gooseberry had carefully cooked fish, though the fig flavour was subtle to the point of invisibility (17/20). Pigeon with red onion had very good and well-seasoned pigeon breast, but the smears of sauce had become literally fused to the very hot plate, just dry blotches. This was simply due to the plates being heated too much, but meant that the dish consisted only of protein. The pigeon itself was very good (18/20) but this sort of basic technical error was not what you would expect from a three star restaurant.

Chocolate with citrus and basil ice cream had good chocolate, but I remain to be convinced of combining shrubbery-based elements into dessert courses, and more to the point the citrus element was subtle to the point of absence (15/20). A chocolate sponge with sesame, like and green gooseberry ice cream was good, but far from earth shattering (16/20). Service was, not to put too fine a point on it, off key. There was an uncomfortably long wait before our food order was taken, well after the wine arrived. Topping up was distinctly erratic, and the waiters were visibly stretched in dealing with the full dining room. At one point a tray arrived for another table with the savoury cones of foie gras, and was set down at a waiter station prior to placing on the table. One of the upright cones had fallen over on one plate, and after a brief anxious glance of one waiter to another, there was a shrug and they served it anyway. Of course this was not going to affect the taste, but this sort of sloppiness, acceptable in a pub, again was not what a restaurant of this calibre should be doing.

This visit to Arzak was much less successful than my previous meals here. Perhaps this was just a difficult service where all the diners turned up at once, and perhaps they were short-staffed, but the waiters were clearly stretched. On the food front, there were some minor errors that should not have crept in, but also and perhaps more troubling, no really dazzling dishes. Elena Arzak came out at the end and asked us about our experiences, and was very nice about the issues we had encountered; she seemed genuinely concerned, and admitted that it had been a particularly busy service. This was still an objectively good meal, but I found it less enjoyable than my previous visits here, and I have nudged the web site score down a point to reflect this.


Further reviews: 01st Sep 2002

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  • Peter Auburn

    13/07/22 We ate lunch here and had the full tasting menu at 260 Euros per head. Juan Mari Arzak was in the kitchen. The service was excellent, attentive and very friendly. They even mentioned that it was my second visit. We had a bottle of Ribeiro El Paraguas Atlantico 2015 at 51 Euros; glasses of Ribero del Duero Aster Finca El Otero 2018 at 14 Euros each; a glass of Torello Dolc Vittios Merlot 2015 from Penedes and 3 bottles of mineral water costing 10 Euros. These prices are very reasonable for a 3 star restaurant. The meal started with nibbles : a Chinese roll delicately flavoured with garlic; an ear of blue corn studded with toasted prawn legs and stuffed with foie gras mousse plus an overpowering aniseed pebble; a sunflower shot with cod fish to drink and anchovy with absinthe with sundried tomato on a savoury biscuit. 14/20. White sourdough and brown bread was very good. Lobster came in a lavender and fermented asparagus sauce, the claw being the tastiest part. 16/20 My wife chose grilled hake chins ( Kokotxas) with fried yucca, black roe and fresh goat's cheese 16/20. I chose a large scarlet prawn in a herby and spicey sauce. 17/20. A marbled egg came next with wild rice ( Zizania ) and wild mushrooms. 14/20 Monkfish with fish skins and avocado in a very fine pastry case and a basque whisky jus 16/20. White tuna belly ( ventresca ) with a seaweed, chilli and mussel were both very good but oddly came with a yam rack and blue butterfly pea flower powder, which were incongruous. 16/20 My wife chose roasted pigeon with marinated endive, rhubarb, coriander and honey in an orange and ginger sauce. 16/20 I had very good roasted lamb with mole and a pickled gem lettuce but with incongruous orzo and turmeric. 16/20 My wife chose a Yuzu and cherry cream with a mint crisp and churro pastry 14/20. I had a sweet Mezcal frost and snow with an almond praline, fresh raspberries and a hard raspberry meringue 16/20. My wife then had Vietnamese chocolate columns, creamy carob and crispy honey in a passion fruit sauce 16/20 I had a substantial chocolate cube with a fluid core of mint, neroli and kiwi. 16/20 We were sent away with different coloured chocolate frogs. Overall it was 16/20 due to no outstanding courses and some odd accompaniments to the main ingredient of each plate.

  • RestaurantCritic.eu

    Reading the reviews from Andy's three visits, it seems that a meal at Arzak has always been a bit up and down, but judging from Andy's latest visit, other recent reviews, and my own visit in August 2012, the cooking seems to have gone downhill lately. My visit was very similar to Andy's latest visit but probably a bit worse: One great dish (the cornet that Andy also had), and one great element in another dish (the dressing for the lobster that Andy also had). The rest of the dishes ranged from being okay to plain forgettable. The main problem was the lack of flavour, and that the food simply seemed so incredibly ordinary – not to mention that it was rarely even nicely presented on the plate. Hopefully Arzak was better in the past 'cause my meal was not even worth one star. See full review and pictures at http://www.restaurantcritic.eu/the-reviews/spain/arzak

  • John

    My wife and I came to San Sebastian to dine at Arzak, Akelare and Martin Berasategui ....in that order. We are both working chefs and were incredibly excited with the anticipation. We left this restaurant with a complete sense of bewilderment and confusion about the Michelin star system. Plodding unrefined service and less than impressive flavors. Come on Michelin! Get your act together, this can't be 3 star food or service!

  • Jesse

    I've recently come to live in Spain and I'm already a fan of Arguiñano cooking. I like his style and if you are lucky enough to get a table at his seaside Zarauz restaurant, then you'll have your perfect day. Other than that, for my fellow expats owing take away and home delivery restaurants, I can only recommend this service I found: http://www.homedelivery.es/. From what I've seen they list your restaurant for free.

  • Bruhlmeier

    In June on the way to Bilbao we stoped at Arzak for lunch. It was an amazing experience. From the out look of this house, it was difficult to imagine it's modern interior. We like the creative dishes, the deco and what were presented on our table. More detail please check : http://blog.udn.com/bruhlmeier/2100537

  • Oliver Thring

    I visited Arzak and Akelare in July 2008. Full reviews available on my restaurant review blog at http://oliverthring.blogspot.com/2008/07/arzak.html and http://oliverthring.blogspot.com/2008/07/akelare-san-sebastin-spain.html

  • Percy Covitz

    I have recently made a reservation at Arzak only to discover that there is a smoking and non-smoking erea with the non-smoking erea nearly always sold out. Yet Martin Berasategui is totally non-smoking. This is a pity as Arzak comes so much more recommended that Berasategui. It looks like I will have to bite the bullit on this one.

  • Alex Chambers

    For my money the best restaurant in Spain, perfectly balancing the Adria influence with the Arzak style of old. The duck egg starter would make it into my top ten dishes and the sommelier is superb. Although there are less heavily marked up options that he can guide you to, the Belondrade y Lurton 2004 (now most likely 2005) is an absolute steal at 40 euros, given that it retails at circa GBP 19 in the UK, if you can find it. It's currently 48 quid at Fino's! A stunning wine for a stunning restaurant.