

BASQUE COUNTRYSIDE - VIZCAYA - ATXONDO - ASADOR ETXEBARRI
ASADOR ETXEBARRI One Michelin Star Although not the easiest place to find, this beautiful, rustic, restored stone house is a couple of kilometres out of town. It has a bar at the ground-floor entrance and a couple of stunning dining rooms on the first floor. The renowned chef Victor Arguinzoniz, who deserves his one Michelin star, cooks all the high-quality produce on various charcoal grills. There is no molecular stuff here; it is just fresh, quality food with unique fla


IBIZA - SANTA EULARIA - CASA PIEDRA
CASA PIEDRA Having driven past Casa Piedra (stone house) a few times, I went in to investigate and was surprised to find a true gem of a restaurant. The outside does not reflect the delights of the inside, w ith a covered garden terrace offering views of lemon, orange, and olive trees. There are three tasting menus at €65, €90 and a vegetarian tasting menu at €65. Additionally, the children’s menu is €30, and a full à la carte menu is also available. The kitchen is a Japanese


CATALUNYA - COSTA BRAVA - CALA MONTJOI - elBulli 2009
elBulli Three Michelin Stars This is an old one from 2009, but it's good to look back sometimes, especially when the restaurant is no longer open. This review is from the world-renowned elBulli, which closed in 2011 and was run by Catalan chef Ferran Adriá. Restaurant Magazine judged elBulli Number One on its Top 50 list of the world's best restaurants for a record five times: in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2022, the restaurant was voted number one in the best of th


ALICANTE INLAND - VILLENA - CONDUMIO GASTROBAR
CONDUMÍO GASTROBARr We went to Villena, a town in inland Alicante, to a restaurant we had not been to before, with our friend Howard Goldsmith of Alicante Sunshine Villas. When you arrive at Condumio Gastrobar in Villena, you will find it hidden at the side of an industrial estate. You can quickly drive past and around it several times. Do not, under any circumstances, miss out on this excellent restaurant. It is aesthetically beautiful and comfortable, with a chef from La


ANDALUCÍA - RONDA - TRAGATÁ TAPAS
TRAGATÁ TAPAS Chef Benito Gómez, a Catalan with Málaga roots, has been working at Tragatá for 1010 years, having learned the techniques of Ferran Adrià during his stay at the Alquería de la Hacienda Benazuza in Sevilla. He also has the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Bardal in Ronda. The restaurant is informal, lively, and bright, in a space that combines the modern and the Andalucían. The foodis an eclectic mix of traditional Spanish food and international fusion cuisine. T


ANDALUCÍA - SEVILLA - BARRA BAJA RESTAURANTE
BARRA BAJA RESTAURANTE This excellent restaurant in the centre of Sevilla has an open kitchen. The food is structured as if in a market, with ingredients coming from oyster stalls, fruit stalls, fish stalls, butcher stalls, etc. The freshness of the local 100% Andalusian product is most important here. Once settled in, we had, Carpaccio de cigalas (langoustine carpaccio). One of the standout dishes. I do not know how they could have carpaccioed (if that is a word!) a langoust


CATALUNYA - BARCELONA - DISFRUTAR
DISFRUTAR Three Michelin Stars Disfrutar has just received its third Michelin Star and truly lives up to its name, which means “enjoy” in English. Disfrutar was No. 1 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2024. It no longer has a numbered position. Once a restaurant reaches No. 1, it enters the “Best of the Best” group and becomes ineligible for future World’s 50 Best rankings. So Disfrutar is now listed as a former world No. 1 rather than, say, No. 2 or No. 10. See here


ANDALUCÍA - MÁLAGA CITY - RESTAURANTE BLOSSOM
BLOSSOM - RESTAURANTE EN MÁLAGA One Michelin Star If you’re looking for a restaurant in the centre of Málaga, just a few meters from the Cathedral, this restaurant could be the perfect option. Argentina-born chef Emi Schobert draws inspiration from the sea, the mountains, and local ingredients. The inside of the restaurant is tiny, and most of the tables are on the pedestrian street it fronts. On arrival, we settled in with a small beer and an Aperol spritzer. We started w


ANDALUCÍA - MÁLAGA CITY - RESTAURANTE KALEJA
KALEJA One Michelin Star The name of this restaurant by Chef Dani Carnero is particularly apt (Kaleja is the Sephardic word for alley), given its location in Málaga’s Jewish quarter, just a few steps from the city’s Picasso Museum. It is a gastronomic restaurant based on interpretations of the traditional Málaga recipe book and on enhancing humble ingredients that have sometimes disappeared from large restaurants, such as beans, lentils, etc. There are two dining areas in


BASQUE COUNTRY - BILBAO - ATELIER ETXANOBE
ATELIER ETXANOBE One Michelin Star This restaurant has an unusual setting in a former glass factory in the centre of Bilbao, which has retained a few vestiges from its past. Bilbao-born chef Fernando Canales is at the helm of this culinary project, featuring an elegant and intimate gastronomic dining room where he is keen, first and foremost, to impress his guests with creative cooking based on two tasting menus (Chef Atelier and Chef Atelier Plus) and the very best raw ing

