Eneko Atxa, raw and earthy
A simple metaphor to describe each and every one of the restaurants, bars and temples that populate the pages of Tablecloth & Knife . The allegory (a bit cute, I know) is especially accurate in the case of Azurmendi , and it is that Eneko Atxa in the Larrabetzu restaurant is not normal: It's a dream, a crude fortress, a vision of something better, something more ours, more from here -from the earth, from our roots- so it is impossible not to imagine the ideal world (mine, at least) like this: wood from Biscayan forests, stone, vegetables, iron and glass.
The first sustainable restaurant on the Iberian Peninsula, soon to be said: water accumulators, solar capture in glass roofs, radiant heating thanks to geothermal energy, photovoltaic installations, vegetal drainage and a spectacular roof with a garden cultivated with more than 36 native vegetables.
Egg from our hens, cooked in reverse and truffled
The views? ** These ** And on the table? Eneko's kitchen: calm, identity and flavour. I ask you -I beg you- to define your gastronomic proposal in a tweet: “ identity pleasure . An identity cuisine, linked to a territory and based on roots, while being evolutionary and universal.”
- “Territory cuisine, that seems to be the way, Eneko...”
- “It is what I have sucked and where I develop, but without radicals , knowing how to use products that not only belong to our territory. At the end of the day, feeling free and being able to work with everything that I feel like working on.”
Chestnuts to the Sarmiento of Our Vines
Difficult, very difficult, to choose the best dishes of the Adarrak menu ('branches' in Basque) but before the platoon, I would choose 'egg from our hens, cooked in reverse and truffled', 'tear peas, Iberian gel with potato, garlic and flowers' and 'chestnuts with Sarmiento from Our Viñas' (a tribute to the memory of his father). There is no pose or distance with Eneko -eye, two Michelin stars- and I have to confess that I have met few chefs so passionate, so humble and so children (if I may comment) so overwhelmed with enthusiasm at the smallest thing. You have to visit Azurmendi.
- “Impossible not to ask yourself about three essential restaurants, three fundamental chefs in your life”.
- "For example, Elkano . I like the preamble, Aitor's explanations, how much they know about the product and, of course, the execution. L`Astrance, I like him for his cooking, because his cooking perfectly reflects the spirit of Pascal Barbot, humility, know-how, generosity and good taste.
kikonoi, of Mr. Murata. Reference and of which I keep great memories. I learned something that goes far beyond gastronomy.”
sea caress