Hamabi, the new gastro stop in Pamplona
After meeting and forming a team in Albert Adrià's elBarri quarry for eight years, Patricia Lugo (room manager and sommelier), Jon Urrutikoetxea (chef) and Rubén Zubiri (chef) decided to disassociate themselves professionally from this wonderful job to make their dream of creating a restaurant steeped in tradition, but adapted to current needs.
The result? Inside the Santo Domingo Market –within the conglomerate of the Zentral leisure and gastronomy space– was inaugurated on September 1 Hamabi, the restaurant that promises to revolutionize Pamplona's gastronomic offer at the hands of this group of young entrepreneurs.
Hamabi is a play on words in Basque, which alludes, on the one hand, to the number 12 and, on the other, to the two "amas" (mothers).
The chosen name is not random, it was meticulously selected by its founders to make clear the essence and purpose of the project. Hamabi is a play on words in Basque, which alludes, on the one hand, to the number 12 and, on the other, to the two “amas” (mothers).
“It refers to the twelve months of the year, since we work on a calendar where we prepare the dishes from the product that comes in each month, in this way we can work and prepare the proposal around the seasonal product” , tell Traveler.es Patricia, Jon and Rubén (founders of the restaurant).
But far from stopping there, they have decided to go a step further and add a new meaning: “Ama bi means 'two mothers'. The first loves mentions our origins, our Navarra land and the second is Barcelona and elBarri, where we have grown personally and gastronomically”, they continue.
Hamabi, inside the Santo Domingo Market in Pamplona
Launching a restaurant is already an arduous task, doing it in the midst of a pandemic is even more so. After saying goodbye to the adventure with Albert Adrià and after the initial moments of uncertainty due to the health situation, The next step for this group of colleagues –and now partners– was to look for a location where the dream they had been pursuing for so long could materialize.
The place was found inside the Santo Domingo Market (the oldest in Pamplona) , an area that exudes magic and gastronomy in all its corners.
“We create the culinary proposal from knowing the place, not prior to it. The concept arose after understanding the customs of Pamplona, we wanted to make a popular but up-to-date cuisine, based on our origins and learning from the time of family food at elBarri and El Bulli” , comment the founding partners of Hamabi.
"Not everything is cooking, but everything is cooking"
There are two options that the diner finds as soon as he enters through the doors of the Santo Domingo Market. Two concepts in the same 'changing' restaurant that translate into two totally different experiences that are well worth discovering –and enjoy them– one by one whenever you get the chance.
The first choice called 'Family meal', is –as its name indicates– the midday offer whose service is given between 13:30 and 15:30 when the market is at its best. Here are two menus that the customer can taste: 'Jack, horse and king' and 'Liturgy'.
In the first, a proposal similar to the menu of the day where you can choose a first, second and a dessert tasting. Some of the dishes that were present during the month of October? Salmorejo tomato salad, casserole noodles with bouchot mussels, hake with green sauce, Biscayan tuna or meatballs in tomato sauce.
Patricia Lugo, Jon Urrutikoetxea and Rubén Zubiri, creators of Hamabi
If we go to 'Liturgy', we have a closed culinary proposal that delves into seasonal products and where everything that entails the moments around the table in family or popular gatherings takes on special importance. Here mussels in homemade pickle with bread, seasonal ajoarriero, grilled mushrooms, Iberian pork with grilled hearts or Bresse chicken with its crispy skin.
As can be predicted, all of them are traditional homemade dishes where it is shown that in most cases less is MORE and that There is no need for great pretensions to offer a quality product in which the diner experiences the food with all five senses.
“Hamabi is a simple restaurant where gastronomy is breathed, here we explain things without bragging about them” , commented to Traveler.es those responsible for the establishment.
And what happens when night falls? When the market has ceased its day-to-day commotion and the stalls sleepily wait for a new dawn to arrive, the 'Serendipity' show begins and Hamabi turns into a totally different restaurant.
“Uniforms, environment, average ticket, capacity, music, gastronomic proposal are changed... for us Serendipia is our gastronomic whim, It's like going for mushrooms and finding a Rolex. In addition, the atmosphere that is created as soon as the ritual begins is unique, you enter through the Santo Domingo Market in a closed market environment, almost clandestine. Impossible to describe in words! ”, tell Patricia, Jon and Rubén excitedly.
Once seated, there is the option of à la carte dishes or the Serendipity menu with some delicious proposals based on the seasonality of the product such as the ugly tomato from Tudela, impregnated with piparra juice in tartar with guttiato bread; stewed autumn beans without skin with Bresse quail; marriage of anchovies and charcoal foie gras; lobster with rib fat or Idiazábal cheese cake. “We are not only looking for the product but its soul”, they continue.
But what has been said, depending on the time of year in which the place is visited, the diner will find one offer or another depending on the seasonality of each ingredient, so it is impossible to go with a preconceived idea of Hamabi, the best thing is to let yourself go and taste every moment of lunch or dinner.
If we go to his Instagram, more of the same happens. Here they offer a profile in work file format in which ideas and reflections are published in render format Some may even never see the light of day.
“We believe that it is more beautiful for the client to come, enjoy and discover what is there. Maybe a little more romantic maybe” They comment excitedly.
When asked why we shouldn't miss out on Hamabi, this trio of dreamers is clear: "Because customers leave happier, we work day by day with the sole purpose that whoever visits us leaves happy, that they like the food and enjoy it, that they can have a moment in which they disconnect and feel fully satisfied”, they comment. And the truth is that in these times, it is just what the world needs. Nothing more and nothing less.