All posts by Heart2Heart
Another wonderful dining experience!!! So blessed to have been able to witness this! Chef Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter, Elena, each have 3 Michelin Stars so put together this restaurant has 6 Michelin Stars! A MUST when in San Sebastian! Though many will probably say they prefer Arzak over Martine Berasategui, I would say they are two different types of dining experience. Arzak is more contemporary and appeals to a wider market, Martin Berasategui offers a totally unique cuisine with his own unique flavors. So I am blessed to have tried both and get a taste of their unique talents
previous entry: Martin Berasategui November 17, 2013
We were so happy that Chef Juan Mari Arzak was there and of course everyone had a photo opportunity with him. He was patient enough to have us take his photo
Click below to go to their website for more information
[email_link]
We went to Cutchara de San Telmo which was recommended by almost all our friends who have been here. Even if we were quite full already, we made sure we went here and we still ate! The place was jam packed! I don’t know how they can enjoy their drinking and eating when it’s so crowded and everyone is just standing
We were lucky to get a table outside and yes we were willing to get whatever portion was required 🙂 I would say these are already modern pintxos and not the traditional ones. We loved them! Definitely a MUST when in San Sebastian!!
They gave generous portions for the price
Toasted goat cheese, roasted vegetables and sesame oil
Creamy Cannelones of stewed and roasted meats
with Bread and tomato sauteed in garlic and basil
Roasted Maine Sea Scallops Wrapped in Acorn fed Iberico bacon
Foie Gras of Las Landas sauteed with Apple Compote
Click below to go to their website
[email_link]
In the Basque country, instead of Tapas, they call it pintxos or small plates. Our plan every night was to just have light dinner and go pintxos hopping. For the Spaniards, this is just their cocktail before dinner. Supposedly ten minutes per bar. But I ended up going only once out of the three nights because I was already very full from lunch! We finish lunch at 3pm or 4pm and then pintxos supposedly was planned at 8pm but I just could not anymore eat
We went to the old quarter – the Konstituzio Plaza
They used to have bullfights here and you can rent the apartments here and view the fight from the balcony. That’s why there are numbers on the doors
This is the main street where they have the bars and people hop from one bar to the other to drink and have different pintxos
The custom is to really stand but we always want to sit 🙂 A table with candies
We were quite full already! We are really not used to the hopping part 🙂 So we just went to take a peek at Gandarias, a recommended place
[email_link]
After lunch, they took us to Chef Martin’s kitchen!!
If I remember correctly, he has around 56 staff behind the scenes running the restaurant!
This is the brand Chef Martin endorses which of course he uses as his kitchen tops
This is similar to the gadget I featured here at H2H
Previous entry: Vellux Wireless Calling System August 23, 2013
I took a photo of the chefs and kitchen staff who all help prepare a wonderful dining experience
I like it that his kitchen is very clean and very organised
Cooking school on the floor below the kitchen
[email_link]
What an experience to be able to visit Martin Berasategui and witness this culinary adventure
You can order ala carte which some of us did
Grilled sole with Clam, liquid chili, foamy potato juice in green sauce
Roast Foie Gras with Seaweed resting on Horseradish curd, fermented soy broth and hazelnut salt
Oyster with cucumber, sour fruit, Kaifir and coconut
Many times we look for rice and it’s quite difficult to ask for this in Spain. They try to please us and it comes in different forms 🙂
Tripe Stew in Traditional Style – Callos! Everyone loved this!!! This was Paul’s order but when everyone tried it, they all liked it. And the good news is it’s in the cookbook! The bad news is, it is in Spanish! haha!! So someone has to try to translate then cook it 🙂
And you can do the degustation. It was amazing how he put together all his dishes. I have never tried so many flavors and mixture of tastes all in one dish. It was a wonderful experience to try new flavors I have never tried in my whole life. Don’t expect ordinary because this is far from ordinary. 
I love it that everything he has is personalised
In between the meal, Chef Martin came out to greet us!!
To add to James’ collection of Chef photos 🙂
Mom told Chef Martin that he looks so young! Of course he was happy!
Mom always tells chefs about her grandson who loves to cook! 🙂 She asked Chef Martin to dedicated his cookbook for Chef Javs
Continuing to dessert. The degustation usually lasts for 3 to 4 hours!
Click below to go to his website
Collaborations of Chef Martin
[email_link]
We visited Chef Martin Berasategui, A Three Star Michelin Chef, in San Sebastian. San Sebastian being the culinary capital of the world has several Michelin Star Chefs considering it is such a small city.
This Chef is so entrepreneurial. Aside from his restaurant, he endorses a lot of brands
he has frozen packaged food which you can buy at El Corte Ingles
and he even has a TV show 🙂 We went to his studio where they do his video taping for his show
Beautiful greens outside his studio
[email_link]
Recent Comments