Looks incredible, but can you tell us about your experience? Specifically, I’d like to know how you got reservations as it is a hard ticket to come by.
vinoyvaca
In October last year I had the great fortune of eating not once but twice (!!!) at Etxebarri and these are my photos (taken from my IG https://www.instagram.com/vinoyvaca/) and thoughts.
**Reservations** Before the inevitable questions, no, I don’t have any advice for booking Etxebarri through their opaque petition system. I got my reservation through a regular (by this I mean a local with 100+ visits over 20 years!!) I previously visited in 2020, when a table could be gotten merely by clicking fast. The first lunch was on a Sunday and I observed that most tables seemed personally familiar with the FOH. There was even a family with toddlers occupying a table at the terrace ordering à la carte! This pretty much confirms that regulars and preferred guests book through a different route and you have to be really lucky to get one of the remaining ‘tourist’ tables. I was actually staying in Spain for a month with my wife and toddler but I left them out of the first meal at Etxebarri for the usual toddler reasons. When Moha (the head sommelier / FOH leader) learnt of this he told me that I must return with my family and he would work something out which is why we got to return 2 weeks later.
**Place** The village where Etxebarri is is often described as idyllic and remote. The truth is somewhere in between. The view towards the local mountains are awe inspiring indeed. However, you are also just 3 minutes drive away from the local cement plant and a major industrial zone. Not that all these detract from the food, but just something I found funny. The restaurant itself is inside a historic farmhouse without much natural lighting. The lights they used were comfortable to the eyes but really tricky for photos.
**Service** Adequate – nothing to write home about. Everyone tries to be friendly and helpful but frankly they are stretched thin with so many plates to serve. If you are getting wine I suggest you get in your full order at the beginning of the meal. It was so hard to flag down one of the sommeliers when I wanted to try a new glass of wine.
**Wines** My friend told me to ignore the printed wine menu (which contains all the expected labels but at high markups) and instead inform the somms (Moha, David, or Paul) of your budget and preferences and then let them pick some bottles/glasses from their stash. Highlights:
* Bernard Bonin Mersault ‘Les Narvaux Dessous’ 2021. This was Moha’s answer when my friend said she wanted something like a Coche Dury (haven’t had one yet). Wow, I think this is the best white I ever had. Focused and precise. * Fulcro Nas Dunas Albariño 2021 (by glass). No ordinary Albariño, more complex and lengthy. * Alvaro Palacios Quinon de Valmira ‘Rioja’ 2016 (by glass). Rioja in quotes because it is no typical Rioja. This is from Grenache grown in the highlands. Bursting with red fruit, followed by smokiness and minerality. How many restaurants serve a 300+ euro wine by the glass?
I was a little nervous after having these drinks without knowing the prices, but when the bill came they were more or less on par with retail prices. A steal!
**Food** Food-wise, Etxebarri today is still very much the restaurant I first visited since 2011. They still obsessively procure the best produce and grill them with nanometric precision (no executive chef here, boss man Bittor does the cooking himself!) There is a stark lack of in-your-face creative combinations of flavour and tweezered pretty presentations, which may be why some people find the experience underwhelming. Here, it is all about taking the expression of a single ingredient to its gustatory conclusion. A prawn will be the prawn-nest prawn and a mushroom the mushroom-est mushroom you can taste. If you go with this expectation in mind, it will be an unforgettable experience.
* Chorizo. Very finely minced and the sweet-nutty fat melts on the tongue. So effortlessly perfect it becomes a mystery why isn’t all chorizo as good as so. * Brined anchovy (anchoa) on grilled bread. * Buffalo milk mozzarella. Made fresh daily using milk from the chef’s own herd of buffalos next to his house. Tangy. * Goat butter. Off-the-menu item but a must-order IMO. Lightly goat-y, smoky, and so ethereal it disappears in the mouth. * Marinated tomato and grilled bonito belly (ventresca). Delicate and oily. * Palamos prawns (gamba roja de Palamos). For me, the most delectable of crustaceans. Made of dreams. * Scarlet prawn (carabinero) with an emulsion of its own head. More pow and a very concentrated taste. * Cantabrian lobster grilled with butter. Unbelievably sweet, deeply umami, and toothsome, almost crunchy, flesh. One of the best things we ever ate. * Cockles (berberechos). Huge. Also very firm and intense. * Aubergine, boletus (porcini) mushroom, pickled(?) onion. The taste of mushrooms was fortified with a concentrated mushroom sauce, demonstration that it is not just about slapping stuff on a grill. * Egg yolk, potato purée with chicken stock, Alba white truffle. Elegant. * Alfonsino (rey/virrey) (no pic). One of the weaker dishes. Very soft and lacking in texture. Did not help that I had an unbeatable virrey at La Huertona earlier in the trip. * His Majesty the Beef Chop. Taken from a 10-year-old (!!!) Rubia Gallega ox and hung for no more than 40 days. It was expertly grilled over vine logs and clippings. Very crusty one side and less cooked on the other. Juicy, deep, and redolent of hazelnuts and even vanilla. This was outrageously good. * Reduced milk ice cream with beetroot juice. Simply the best ice cream in the world. Rich and smooth with that hint of barnyard and fireplace. * Cheese flan with apple caramel. Anything dairy-based will not disappoint you here. * White chocolate soufflé. * Apple tart (no pic). * Almond flour madelines (no pic) baked in their wood oven. I swear they used some beef fat in the recipe.
orionus
this is on my top top top list.
p0le_
I went to Etxebarri late December last year and I completely agree with all your comments.
We got a 6 person reservation through someone who had dined there before and it seems it’s the only way. Completely surrounded by people who seemed to come there often as the conversations w Moha felt like part of the family (Spanish speaker here)
The food? Marvelous if you are looking for product that tastes like product. This might sound stupid, but when you live in a country where average products are not top it’s really amazing to try simple things the most honest way.
I would recommend everyone who just likes food to try to do Etxebarri once but please don’t go thinking about it as a super Michelin star restaurant as we might see in the movies but as going to eat at your grandmother’s house whose dishes are always tasty and simple. My take.
tgcm26
Eternally jealous. My white whale restaurant, as it is for many here I’m sure
Firm_Interaction_816
The shellfish and steak look gorgeous.
Fickle-Pin-1679
Maybe best in the world
legionpichon
Thanks for sharing, lovely photos!
Designer-Ingenuity75
I constantly add myself to the waitlist here. Anyone know if you have better chance of getting a reservation requesting a table for 2 vs 4 people?
AccomplishedCat6621
wow/ mouthwatering
Powerful-Scratch1579
Wow looks really amazing.
johnmill1112
Just got back from Etxebarri today, second visit. Still processing how absolutely perfect it is. The Gambas are what dreams are made of is absolutely right…I have yet to have a better seafood dish anywhere then this simple grilled shrimp with the sauce from its head. Perfection
12 Comments
Looks incredible, but can you tell us about your experience? Specifically, I’d like to know how you got reservations as it is a hard ticket to come by.
In October last year I had the great fortune of eating not once but twice (!!!) at Etxebarri and these are my photos (taken from my IG https://www.instagram.com/vinoyvaca/) and thoughts.
**Reservations**
Before the inevitable questions, no, I don’t have any advice for booking Etxebarri through their opaque petition system. I got my reservation through a regular (by this I mean a local with 100+ visits over 20 years!!) I previously visited in 2020, when a table could be gotten merely by clicking fast. The first lunch was on a Sunday and I observed that most tables seemed personally familiar with the FOH. There was even a family with toddlers occupying a table at the terrace ordering à la carte! This pretty much confirms that regulars and preferred guests book through a different route and you have to be really lucky to get one of the remaining ‘tourist’ tables. I was actually staying in Spain for a month with my wife and toddler but I left them out of the first meal at Etxebarri for the usual toddler reasons. When Moha (the head sommelier / FOH leader) learnt of this he told me that I must return with my family and he would work something out which is why we got to return 2 weeks later.
**Place**
The village where Etxebarri is is often described as idyllic and remote. The truth is somewhere in between. The view towards the local mountains are awe inspiring indeed. However, you are also just 3 minutes drive away from the local cement plant and a major industrial zone. Not that all these detract from the food, but just something I found funny. The restaurant itself is inside a historic farmhouse without much natural lighting. The lights they used were comfortable to the eyes but really tricky for photos.
**Service**
Adequate – nothing to write home about. Everyone tries to be friendly and helpful but frankly they are stretched thin with so many plates to serve. If you are getting wine I suggest you get in your full order at the beginning of the meal. It was so hard to flag down one of the sommeliers when I wanted to try a new glass of wine.
**Wines**
My friend told me to ignore the printed wine menu (which contains all the expected labels but at high markups) and instead inform the somms (Moha, David, or Paul) of your budget and preferences and then let them pick some bottles/glasses from their stash. Highlights:
* Bernard Bonin Mersault ‘Les Narvaux Dessous’ 2021. This was Moha’s answer when my friend said she wanted something like a Coche Dury (haven’t had one yet). Wow, I think this is the best white I ever had. Focused and precise.
* Fulcro Nas Dunas Albariño 2021 (by glass). No ordinary Albariño, more complex and lengthy.
* Alvaro Palacios Quinon de Valmira ‘Rioja’ 2016 (by glass). Rioja in quotes because it is no typical Rioja. This is from Grenache grown in the highlands. Bursting with red fruit, followed by smokiness and minerality. How many restaurants serve a 300+ euro wine by the glass?
I was a little nervous after having these drinks without knowing the prices, but when the bill came they were more or less on par with retail prices. A steal!
**Food**
Food-wise, Etxebarri today is still very much the restaurant I first visited since 2011. They still obsessively procure the best produce and grill them with nanometric precision (no executive chef here, boss man Bittor does the cooking himself!) There is a stark lack of in-your-face creative combinations of flavour and tweezered pretty presentations, which may be why some people find the experience underwhelming. Here, it is all about taking the expression of a single ingredient to its gustatory conclusion. A prawn will be the prawn-nest prawn and a mushroom the mushroom-est mushroom you can taste. If you go with this expectation in mind, it will be an unforgettable experience.
* Chorizo. Very finely minced and the sweet-nutty fat melts on the tongue. So effortlessly perfect it becomes a mystery why isn’t all chorizo as good as so.
* Brined anchovy (anchoa) on grilled bread.
* Buffalo milk mozzarella. Made fresh daily using milk from the chef’s own herd of buffalos next to his house. Tangy.
* Goat butter. Off-the-menu item but a must-order IMO. Lightly goat-y, smoky, and so ethereal it disappears in the mouth.
* Marinated tomato and grilled bonito belly (ventresca). Delicate and oily.
* Palamos prawns (gamba roja de Palamos). For me, the most delectable of crustaceans. Made of dreams.
* Scarlet prawn (carabinero) with an emulsion of its own head. More pow and a very concentrated taste.
* Cantabrian lobster grilled with butter. Unbelievably sweet, deeply umami, and toothsome, almost crunchy, flesh. One of the best things we ever ate.
* Cockles (berberechos). Huge. Also very firm and intense.
* Aubergine, boletus (porcini) mushroom, pickled(?) onion. The taste of mushrooms was fortified with a concentrated mushroom sauce, demonstration that it is not just about slapping stuff on a grill.
* Egg yolk, potato purée with chicken stock, Alba white truffle. Elegant.
* Alfonsino (rey/virrey) (no pic). One of the weaker dishes. Very soft and lacking in texture. Did not help that I had an unbeatable virrey at La Huertona earlier in the trip.
* His Majesty the Beef Chop. Taken from a 10-year-old (!!!) Rubia Gallega ox and hung for no more than 40 days. It was expertly grilled over vine logs and clippings. Very crusty one side and less cooked on the other. Juicy, deep, and redolent of hazelnuts and even vanilla. This was outrageously good.
* Reduced milk ice cream with beetroot juice. Simply the best ice cream in the world. Rich and smooth with that hint of barnyard and fireplace.
* Cheese flan with apple caramel. Anything dairy-based will not disappoint you here.
* White chocolate soufflé.
* Apple tart (no pic).
* Almond flour madelines (no pic) baked in their wood oven. I swear they used some beef fat in the recipe.
this is on my top top top list.
I went to Etxebarri late December last year and I completely agree with all your comments.
We got a 6 person reservation through someone who had dined there before and it seems it’s the only way. Completely surrounded by people who seemed to come there often as the conversations w Moha felt like part of the family (Spanish speaker here)
The food? Marvelous if you are looking for product that tastes like product. This might sound stupid, but when you live in a country where average products are not top it’s really amazing to try simple things the most honest way.
I would recommend everyone who just likes food to try to do Etxebarri once but please don’t go thinking about it as a super Michelin star restaurant as we might see in the movies but as going to eat at your grandmother’s house whose dishes are always tasty and simple. My take.
Eternally jealous. My white whale restaurant, as it is for many here I’m sure
The shellfish and steak look gorgeous.
Maybe best in the world
Thanks for sharing, lovely photos!
I constantly add myself to the waitlist here. Anyone know if you have better chance of getting a reservation requesting a table for 2 vs 4 people?
wow/ mouthwatering
Wow looks really amazing.
Just got back from Etxebarri today, second visit. Still processing how absolutely perfect it is. The Gambas are what dreams are made of is absolutely right…I have yet to have a better seafood dish anywhere then this simple grilled shrimp with the sauce from its head. Perfection