Spainish Treasures #3 over Lunch at Mugaritz
San Sebastian, Spain
Tasted September 13, 2009 by JJL with 1,039 views
Introduction
After a great lunch at Arzak the day before, we were all looking forward to an even better lunch at Mugaritz, #4 on the San Pelligrino top restaurants in the world. The rest of the group had been there last year and everyone confirmed it was great. The restaurant is set in a beautiful modern building in the hills of San Sebastian, surrounded by farms and gardens. We all got a tour of the kitchen before service where the Chef greeted us and explained the workings of his kitchen and the 25 international chefs working for him. We were off to a good start.
Flight 1 (1 note)
Amuse bouche #1, the "Rock", ash covered potato
Amuse bouche #2, Popcorn Shrimp, eat em whole, tasty. Better than the ones at Shoney's
Amuse bouche #3 Smokey eggplant with some kind of heavy sauce
This was the only meal where we started with cava as opposed to Champagne - Vintage 2008.
Flight 2 (3 notes)
Lettuce hearts soaked in vanilla brine, a dressing of balsamic vinegar and country milk skins - ie: very small salad
Silky Kokotxa de Bacalao served with an acacia honey - ie: salted cod - looked disgusting, slimy texture, tasted ok
Roasted tomato salad and its own cool water (the white stuff) - very interesting and tasty
Flight 3 (2 notes)
Roasted Sea Bream served over a bed of grilled zucchini seeds - tasty dish
Smoked line caught Cuttlefish in clear pool of liliaceas and infused oil - another tasty fish
Flight 4 (3 notes)
Iberian Sucking Pig portions raised in a salted toffee of lactose and fresh cream - ie: pig fat, it was almost all fat, very little meat.
Milk fed Veal, roasted and perfumed with vine cutting embers and fragments of thyme, cinders, salt and crisp radishes. Perfectly cooked, but completely under-seasoned, no salt and pepper shakers to be found.
Loin of Duck served with iodized compliments, crumblings and shavings of summer truffle - a little undercooked, even for duck, but again no flavor, completely bland.
Closing
Heavy cream, sweets and leaves - what a relief after the duck.
Warm artisian tablet with whipped honey and oats - the tablet was like a carob/peanut butter bar, which I liked. Cudos to the dessert chef.
The empties. There was a flight of '54's (Tondonia and Bosconia) and a dessert wine, but I can't find my notes.
That is a good looking couple - wonder if we will see them again on this trip.
I must say that the wine was the highlight of this meal. The wine service was excellent, thank you Linda, as was the service in general. The food has some hits, but it also had some misses, and by all accounts was not as good as last year, whereas Arzak was better than last year. For a restaurant as highly rated as this, nothing should be amiss, especially the flavor of the food.