Day 7: San Sebastian, Martin Berasategui, September 2012

On the third day in San Sebastian, we took our coffee by the beach and then toured around some more, stopping in a couple churches which face one another (several) blocks apart.

This day we went to the "secondary", "less awesome" beach, which turned out to be the most awesome of the beaches, as it had lounge chairs you could rent for the day. My guidebook suggested these lounge chairs were a whopping 15 euro a day. My guidebook was wrong - 6 euro TOTAL for two :)  Amazeballs.

The presence of back support made leaving the beach incredibly difficult; however, we left for lunch at La Tagliatella, the Italian restaurant we had been hoping to find in Barcelona. It smelled amazing and the food lived up to the smell, despite its Macaroni Grill style "create your own pasta" menu. We were both super satiated with the meal.  God bless Italian food!

After a couple more hours on the beach, we headed to Martin Berasategui....

Martin Berasategui

Ok folks, I don't have our menu from this one, just pictures. Sorry - this was a taxing three days on the digestive system.

 This was some kind of foie gras cake/terrine/amazing thing

 Our waiter warned us that we had to eat this in one bite and with our mouths closed. Sure enough, when we bit into it, its amazing squid ink filling came pouring out - it would have been the end of Chris's white shirt if our mouths were open!

 This was Chris's first course. It is certainly one of the most beautiful salads I have ever seen.

 Spanish ham. Enough said.

White tuna

 We originally were seated outside on this beautiful patio. The weather was amazing, but we couldn't get past the table of 6 chain smokers (i.e. Europeans) next two us - all of whom literally smoked a cigarette between each of their first four courses. We didn't even have to ask (though in fairness Rachel wasn't shy with her patented malevolent glare) and our waiter just came up and apologized and asked if he could move us inside. Martin B definitely wins the service award.

Again, remind me to start ordering my steak rare in the U.S.

 Flourless chocolate cake with caramel ice cream and salted caramel flakes.

 Deconstructed apple cake.

 9 Michelin stars in 3 days... Must start juice cleanse

Day 6: San Sebastian, Arzak, September 2012

We spent the first full day in San Sebastian at the "primary" beach. Oh, Europe and its beaches. Eighty year old topless women, 300 pound hairy men in speedos. Also, we are the only people who went to the beach in our bathing suits. Everyone else arrives in normal clothes and changes in full view of everyone. Never change, Europe, never change.... except do.

 Chis takes a nap :)

We didn't last long at the beach that day as we only had our towels to lay on, and that starts to get uncomfortable rather quickly. Also, we have no tans to show for our efforts, as they only option of sunblock sold in pharmacies in San Sebastian was SPF 50.

 Forgot to mention, the bed in our hotel room is the biggest bed I have ever seen. It is seriously like two full beds put together. It. was. awesome. Also awesome was our lovely view from the window.

Arzak

San Sebastian dinner number 2 was at Arzak. If we had to recommend one of the three restaurants to visitors, this would be the one. However, we warn you in advance about the curse of the bald man. Whereas Christopher (a man at 6'2") was able to scrape up and digest every last morsel of each dish, Rachel (a hobbit at 5'0") was not. Each dish that Rachel didn't finish was met by a "you didn't like it?" jest from the bald man (a cousin of the blue-lipped guy from the temple in Qarth in Game of Thrones). It ended up being funny, but became a recurring theme for the rest of the trip :)

Marinated sardines and strawberry, gooseberry with coconut

 Chorizo with tonic (literally - do you see the Schwepps can?) and corn, figs and black pudding

Kabraroka pudding with kataifi

(dry ice!)

 Cromlech with onion, coffee and tea

 Hemp's mustard and lobster

(everything edible, including the mustard leaves and little clothespins made with lobster essence)

 Dusted egg and mussel

(mmmmm runny yolk)

 Gooseberry, spelt and monkfish

 Pork fat and physalis

(yes, this was as good as it sounds, and yes, it looks like balls)

 Beef with vegetable screens

(rarest beef (aside from tartare) I have ever eaten - will switch suggested cooking temperature at steakhouses to rare on a going-forward basis)

 Playing Marbles with Chocolate

 Homage to Chillida

(don't remember a thing about this one, but it was probably awesome)

 Golden footprint and ladybugs

 Pistachio and beetroot stone

 Not your typical after dinner chocolates.  

These were as tasty as they were beautiful.

 Goodbye Arzak :(

Day 5: San Sebastian, Akelarre, September 2012

I could write a book about the awesomeness that is San Sebastian, but I'll try and keep it to three posts, one for each of the magical days that we spent there and the amazing restaurants that we visited. We arrived in San Sebastian via a 5 hour train ride from Barcelona. Our room at the beautiful Hotel Maria Cristina was not yet ready, so we headed out on the town in search of a non-tapas lunch.

The old part of town.

 The incredible beach!

The incredible "secondary" beach.

 After lunch on the beach, we headed up the mountain, a perilously steep climb for two tired tourists in sandals, but well worth it. Below is the view from the mountain of the rooftops down below.

 Naturally, when we arrived at the apex, dreaming of the views from the base of the Christ statue, we were informed that Jesus was closed for the day. Advance warning people, please!

Still, the views were none too shabby from our vantage point.

 There was an old castle on top of the hill. I can't imagine any army trying to attack it. The climb alone would kill most of them (ok, maybe I'm slightly exaggerating).

Boys and their guns.

Akelarre

In addition to its pristine beaches, San Sebastian is famous for its food, and boasts three 3-Michelin starred restaurants. Making reservations at each was one of the first things Rachel did when we booked this trip back in November 2011! The first night we went to Akelarre. We would normally have ordered one each of the tasting menus, but the "Bekarki" menu looked so good, we both ordered that. The food was both incredibly tasty, but also very whimsical. See below!

 "Sea Garden"

Everything was edible, including the breadcrumb "Prawn's sand".

(From left to right: Oyster leaf, mussel with "shell", sea urchin sponge, beach pebbles (shallot and corn), codium seaweed coral (goose barnacles tempura))

 Xangurro in Essence, its Coral Blini and "Gurullos"

(The crustacean's meat is reinforced by its juice. Accompanied by pasta that looks like rice grains)

 Razor Shell with Veal Shank

(Razor Shell with veal and cauliflower mushroom)

 Sauteed Fresh Foie Gras with "Salt Flakes and Grain Pepper"

(The salt was sugar shavings and the pepper was puffed black rice made to look like peppercorns - something the waiter did not disclose until after the course, leading to some delicious cognitive dissonance of the taste buds punctuated by a big "aha" and a sheepish "knew it at along -- NOT".  This turned out to be one of (if not THE) favorite dish of three days of fantastic restaurants)

 Turbot with its "Kokotxa" (eh.... I forgot a picture).

"Desalted" Cod Box with Shavings

(Crystallized cod presented in a fish box, over edible shavings and cod tripes in tomato water - again - this is just so whimsical - this is actually how salt cod is packed and shipped!)

 Carved Beef, Tail Cake "Potatoes and Peppers"

(aka, Chris should have gone with the beef)

 Milk and Grape, Cheese and Wine in Parallel Evolution

(From left to right: grapevine, curded sheep milk and walnut, powdered fresh cream with chive and grapes, quark cheese with nutmeg and pink pepper aroma, must of tapioca and tomato, idiazabal semi-matured with quince jelly and wine dust, brandy syrup with gorgonzola cheese ice cream, torta of Caesar's grape with raisins soaked in Pedro Ximenez.)

 Layered Strawberry and Cream

(a reconstructed strawberry. basil seeds game. - this was as delicious as it was beautiful - I loved the gorgeous plate the restaurant had made to suggest fresh cream)

 Stuffed and ready for bed :)