- Rating: 13/20
- Address: Paseo Padre Orcolaga, 56, 20008 San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain
- Phone: +34 943 31 12 09
- Price per pax: €190 ($255 at 1 EUR = 1.35 USD)
- Value: 1/5
- Dining time: 150 minutes
- Chef: Pedro Subijana
- Style: Modernist
- Michelin Stars: 3
I have two warnings to gourmet-travellers who are considering whether or not to go to Akelarre.
The first is that the Classics menu is a relative disappointment. Akelarre offers three menus, one based on seafood (Aranori), one based on meat (Bekarki)*, and one a series of Akelarre’s Classics. I ordered the Classics menu, thinking it was a menu of signature dishes. Akelarre has a reputation for turning out creative dishes, and I was hoping to get a meal featuring its creative signatures. I found it to be more Classic in the other sense**, with a very classical dish profile (risotto, pasta, beef, lobster salad). Yes, there were some interesting twists on them – a foie-oxtail tiramisu was interesting – but generally they seemed needless elaboration on top of the classical flavor profile. I was disappointed in the Classics menu, and I think I would have enjoyed myself much more with the other two menus, which seemed more creative, as I found out over lunch by noticing what the other tables were being served.
*(Reference: Entry on “Akelarre”, Where Chefs Eat, Joe Warwick,)
**(This double-meaning seems accidental, for that menu is indeed a compilation of Akelarre hits that have graced the Aranori and Bekarki menus in previous years. They seem to have selected a conservative set of dishes as their “classics”.)
The second is a warning about ingredients. I was served frisee leaves in the lobster salad, that had clearly reddened at its stems. This is a tell-tale sign of old-leaves that have been prepped a long time in advance (maybe hours or days ahead, who knows.) That it made its way to my plate is either a failure of Quality Control from the kitchen, or ridiculously zealous cost-saving from the kitchen. Neither reflects well on Akelarre. I choose to believe the former, since the whole raison d’etre of haute-cuisine is to sample great ingredients, or at very least, better-than-normal ones. I hope my dish was an isolated lapse from the kitchen, and that this is not a systemic pattern at the restaurant.
My meal here plodded with the ordinary. It was less accomplished than a disappointing Arzak meal I had the previous day. While I might return to savour the view (Akelarre is situated beautifully on the Basque shore), I would not order the Classics menu, and in the mean I hope Mr Subijana can ensure that less-than-optimal ingredients will not leave his kitchen.
- Sea Garden
- Prawn’s Sand (4.5/5)
- Delicious. Sweet, salty, prawny
- Oyster Leaf.
- with local wine jelly. Tasting remarkably like oyster.
- Mussel with “Shell” (4.75/5)
- Shell of cocoa butter
- Sea Urchin’s Sponge
- Beach Pebbles (Shallot and Corn) (4.5/5)
- Nice corn flavor
- Codium Seaweed Coral (goose barnacles tasting tempura) (4.5/5)
- Supposedly tasting like percebes.
- Good
- Prawn’s Sand (4.5/5)
- Lobster salad with Cider vinegar (4.25/5)
- The lobster was well-prepared, savory and appropriate on the lobster claw, tail and other assorted parts. The whole emphasis on the luxury-ingredient, lobster, made it seem like hotel cuisine.
- Upon inspection however, I found oxidised salad leaves. Not just one, but multiple oxidised leaves, the red ends of which were not trimmed. That this found its way to my plate in a 3* restaurant is very questionable. Presumably, Chef Subijana does not intend to send out days-old frisee salad leaves (after all, they are one of the cheapest ingredients, a fraction above the price of air). Who then prepares the salad leaves? His sous chef? And how can Mr Subijana allow this dish, using clearly old salad leaves to leave the kitchen? I am forced to conclude that either the Quality Control of the kitchen has dropped, or Akelarre is economising on even the cheapest ingredients (then how can a diner trust that the kitchen is providing the best?)
- Neither possibility reflects well on the kitchen. This is not a failure of technique (which would be understandable), but of ingredient-quality, the foundation of haute-cuisine. That the days-old leaves made it to my plate, would be questionable at any Michelin-starred restaurant. Even more so at 3* Akelarre.
- Very disappointing.
Reddened stems
- Pasta, Piquillo and Ibérico Carpaccio, Mushrooms and Parmesan (4.25/5)
- A carpaccio of pasta, not entirely successful, for the dough-sheet had a starchy texture in the middle, probably a bit undercooked.
- The truffle had little taste (understandably, given they were not Australian truffles and we were in June), but was redeemed by the earthier dark mushrooms.
- Rice with Snails and Periwinkles in Tomato and Basil Film (3.5/5)
- Carnaroli rice.
- A lukewarm risotto rice, a bit crunchy, seemingly undercooked, with some sausage-like meat (periwinkles and snails).
- Whole-Grain Red Mullet with Sauce “Fusilli” (3.75/5)
- Red mullet fillet, head and bone praline, liver and onion. Fusilli stuffed with parsley, soy, ajo blanco sauce
- Whole-grain = use the whole red mullet, head, bones liver
- The red mullet was good, though a residual shiny sheen of oil on its skin was a bit thick for my taste. The conceit of using fusilli for the different sauces was creative, though the jelly tasted like tasteless water, and it was hard to get into the sauce.
- Carved Beef, Tail Cake, “Potatoes and Peppers” (3.75/5)
- Tail Cake with Foie
- Coppered Potato and Piquillo peppers
- A tiramisu of foie and oxtail, bitter. And some beef with jus, and pepper and potato crisps. Okay. Very classic flavor profile. I guess I can’t say I wasn’t warned. I guess I assumed classics meant signature dishes. Given Akelarre’s reputation for creativity, I was hoping for their signature creative dishes, but what I got was classic dishes with a little twist.
- Gin-Tonic on a Plate (3.75/5)
- Jelly of gin and tonic, juniper sauce (the gin parfum). Mix as desired
- Bitter jelly, with lemon ice cream. It was okay.
- Warm Red Fruit Cake, with Candied Fennel (4/5)
- A nice fruit/spice cake, flavor profile like British mince pies, except with a bit more raspberry. Good fruit spice.
Kenneth Tiong eats 