Dinner at Akelare

Akelare was the fourth and final restaurant we tried over the two day 18-hour eating marathon in Basque Country. The Michelin 3-star restaurant sits cliff side, just outside San Sebastian, and overlooking the ocean. Akelare was the one restaurant we were actually thinking of canceling our reservation to. Having just eaten at Mugaritz a few hours earlier, none of use were in the mood to do another 5 hour meal. We were all happy we decided to go as Akelare turned out to be a very good experience. There were two Chef's tasting menus to choose from, each with 7 courses. I chose the "Aranori" which had a crab salad, prawns, wild mushrooms and pasta (which I traded for a vegetable ravioli from the other chef's menu), sole, roasted baby pig, cheese plate, and dessert. Overall the food was very solid. Not quite as good as Etxebarri or Mugaritz, but still very good. The strength of the meal was in its innovation and presentation. All the dishes were beautifully presented to us, using techniques we did not see in the other restaurants. The service was also good, as they kept the restaurant open way past closing to accommodate our late reservation time. We were also able to get a glimpse of the beautiful San Sebastian sunset. Here are the photos:

Various salty snacks made to look like candy. These were served out of a candy box.

Cold and Hot Crab Salad and its Coral.

Prawns and French Beans cooked in "Orujo" Fire. The waiter cooked this right at our table flambe style.

Wild Mushrooms and "Egg Pasta".

Vegetable Ravioli.

Sole in a Sea of Coral.

Roasted Baby Pig with Tomato "Bolao" and Iberian emulsion.

Milk and Grape, Cheese and Wine in parallel evolution. The tastes of this dish were so offensive.

Another Apple Tart. There is an apple tart under the "Akelare Newspaper". The newspaper was edible and was Fruit Roll-Up like in taste and texture. Awesome.

Shot of the apple tart.

Gin and Tonic on a plate. The extra dessert we ordered and had to try.

Our red Benzo in the parking lot.

Safety first when walking in the parking lot.