Mugaritz: A Culinary Adventure in Spain
Along with its pintxos bars and seaside charm, SSan Sebastián is known for its culinary excellence. Indeed, it is home to three 3-star Michelin restaurants: Mugaritz, Martín Berasategui and Arzak. My girlfriends and I thought it was worth trying to visit one of the three and we managed to score a booking at Mugaritz! It's not every day that you get to experience one of the top 10 restaurants in the world.
I was excited for the culinary adventure at Mugaritz based on everything I had heard and read. And an adventure it certainly was. Mugaritz is located in a little rural town called Errenteria (about a 30-minute taxi ride from SSan Sebastián). The restaurant itself is found at the end of a long driveway surrounded by farms and a beautiful garden. The ingredients for many of the dishes are grown on the property, so every vegetable eaten or herb used is fresh and full of flavor.
From the outside, Mugaritz looks like a small farmhouse. Once inside, the restaurant is sleek, minimalist and modern with lots of wood and ambient lighting. Our evening began with a tour of the kitchen, which was immaculately clean and humming like a well-oiled engine as staff worked as a team to prepare the food for guests. What a treat!
For dinner itself, we chose to indulge ourselves with the wine pairing. Apparently, each table has a similar yet distinct menu for the evening. Ours was 29 courses. You heard me. Now, each was quite tiny consisting of only 1-2 bites of food. Imagine that with a wine pairing for every course and you can see how our heads were hurting the next day!
I'll be honest. I didn't love every course. Some I actually disliked. But when you have 29 courses at one of the most inventive restaurants in the world, the experience more than makes up for it.
