Martin Berasatagui’s 3 Michelin star restaurant in Lasarte-Oria, San Sebastian, Spain

The 2021 Michelin Guide describes Martin as:

Through his passion, humility and virtuosity, this renowned chef considers himself a “conveyor of happiness”! In this elegant, contemporary-style house, nestled in an idyllic natural setting, discover innovative cuisine that combines quality ingredients with true mastery of the culinary arts and raises the palate to new heights.

I’m becoming a bit of a chef groupie asking for autographs everywhere I go (but only if they have a Michelin Star darling)

If you look up the chefs with the most Michelin stars, Martin ranks 3rd in the world, with Gordon Ramsey coming in 7th with 7 stars and Heston in 11th place with 6 stars.

The top three are:-

Alain Ducasse – 19 stars
Pierre Gagnaire- 14 stars
Martin Berasatagui – 12 stars

So, on our trip to France and Spain on 1st October 2021 we just had to drop into San Sebastian and visit his place to sample his food (he actually lives upstairs above the restaurant) in Lasarte-Oria. We were very lucky a) to get in b) that he was there AND cooking our meal and c) that he was lovely enough to come out and sign my menu and pose for a photo. He really is a nice guy and of course the food was sublime. I can’t even begin to describe the flavours but I did take a photo of each course (spoiler alert)

The restaurant is in his home town in the outskirts of Lasarte-Oria and from the outside looks pretty unimposing (apart from the 6 foot high bronze signature) but once inside it’s modern, uncluttered and serene. We were allocated a table by the huge picture windows overlooking the gardens and a small army of staff looked after us like mother hens. I was pleased that we’d left the motorhome back at the campsite and we’d booked into a nearby hotel so we arrived by taxi otherwise our motorhome would have looked out of place parked alongside the Porsches and other posh cars in the car park.

Just in case you’ve forgotten who’s restaurant it is!

Stock image of the restaurant from the gardens

Stock image of the interior of the restaurant

I’d looked on line beforehand to see a sample menu and there was a list of dishes and the dates they had been created. I assumed that the tasting menu we had booked in for would only include these new dishes as there were five but in fact the menu included the whole list, all 15 not including the few amuse bouche and an amazing selection of ‘goodies’ for desert.

The full menu – yes we ate everything and more! With his autograph on the top. Bless him

So here are all the photos I took in order of serving :-

Shrimp tartare on crunchy beetroot pearls

Gilda (anchovy, chili pepper and olive) with ‘Agrucapers’ caper soup and ‘Balfego’ tuna tartare

Mille-feuille of smoked eel, foie-gras, spring onions and green apple.

Surprisingly, although I’m not really into anything fish related the eel dish was delicious and was my favourite course . Who’d have thought!

Oyster with green olive juice, wasabi emulsion and crunch sea lettuce

The oyster was beneath the emulsion. The sea lettuce was sooo tasty.

Vegetable hearts salad with seafood, cream of lettuce and iodized juice

The level of detail on this salad was amazing with every tiny leaf having been placed just so

Clams over watercress and rocket leaves chlorophyl, kaffir lime and coconut

This was a bit too fishy for me!

Carpaccio of red shrimp over trembling of crustaceans, with chicory, anchovy and sardine canape

Thankfully I didn’t feel anything ‘trembling’ but it was very tasty.

Langoustine over an aniseed sea-bed and coral mayonnaise

Loved the langoustine and the mayo was delicious

Infusion of marinated mushrooms “Laumont” with yolk and crunchy crumbs of herbs

Another favourite, the egg just oozed out and flavoured the broth

Roasted in vine shoots pigeon with pickled cucumber, liquid tubers, crunchy toast and its juice

By this time we were both so full, thank goodness the meat portion was so small

Hot and cold Ginn Fizz of strawberries “Corazon Berry” and lime

There was definitely not enough of this pud

Lemon and basil juice, green bean and almond

This one was a little heavy on the basil but the little white chocolate egg which you had to pop open with lemon ice cream inside was so refreshing

Crunchy hazelnut toffee, frozen wasabi and “Pacari” chocolate frost

The goodies: walnuts and honey nougat, candy of red fruits, mango and chocolate macaron, coconut sponge, cold chocolate soup, infusion of passion fruit and blueberries (couldn’t get it all in one photo)

Some of these were exquisite (oops already eaten one before I took the photo)

Alongside all of these dishes we opted for the accompanying wine flutes, 10 wines in all! We hadn’t realised this when we ordered champagne on arrival as an aperitive. Needless to say at the end we rolled out of the restaurant and staggered into the waiting taxi, when we got back to our hotel room we both collapsed on the bed and slept it off. Later on that evening when we came to we were still full so went for a stroll around the town. Where we tempted to stop off for a late night snack? NO WAY!!!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience but was the food out of this world? Well some of it was and some of it wasn’t to my taste as there was a lot of fish, however, it was a meal I will always remember and I will no longer be put off from trying eels as I found it quite meaty tasting but I still don’t like oysters! Everyone to their own as far as taste is concerned.

The staff were amazing and so helpful and patient especially with the amount of questions my other half was asking about the wines, the ambiance was relaxed and not overly stuffy compared to some places we’ve been to, so maybe they (other restaurants) could learn it’s all about the food. However, I totally contradict myself when we went to Nectari, a 1 star restaurant in Barcelona, but that’s another story.

If you’d like to find out more back ground info about Martin Berasategui have a look here and here is s link to his restaurant.

Foodie heaven