Asador Etxebarri was the second of our major destinations in Basque Country [the first was our return visit to the outstanding Arzak — about which more in a future post]. And destination is the correct word, because it lies up in the foothills of the mountains — and took us over three hours to get there from San Sebastian.
It was so worth it though — both for the amazing location and the remarkable cuisine.
The destination is Atxondo, a rustic village up in the hills just inland from the town of Durango, in Bizkaia/Vizcaya, the rural heart of Basque Country. It's really not so far from the coast but it's the mountains that dominate — especially at this time of year when they're covered with snow. Legend has it that brujas (wise women/witches) and other "misteriosos habitantes" used to live up in caves in these peaks...
Etxebarri itself is housed in an imposing old stone building right on the village's central square.
The ground floor houses the village bar, a bit dingy and ordinary. The dining room upstairs is much more spacious, with glimpses of the mountain slopes through the narrow windows.
Having come all this way, we decided to go the whole hog with the full tasting menu. It was a long meal — and so this is going to be a long post, with pics of every dish. So I'll keep the descriptions as concise as possible.
We started with a warming demitasse of thick leek and potato potage, topped with a thin slice of dried and reconstituted courgette, with some hearty home-baked bread...
A slice of bread toasted over a wood fire, topped with home-churned goat's milk butter and slices of black truffle, on a slate scattered with volcanic salt ...
Next a pair of gambas (for each of us). One served with a white begonia, the other with pink...
Etxebarri only uses ingredients from the local area — the seafood comes from the coast, just 10-15 km away, and is spectacular.
More seafood: we are now starting to understand why Etxebarri is called an "asador". The word means grill, and every single dish — vegetable, seafood or meat — is prepared over that same wood fire, expertly calibrated to bring out the flavour of each ingredient.
Sea cucumber on a bed of garden-fresh baby peas...
…followed by a row of tiny squid on a compote of onion...
This is on the edge of Rioja Country, so we ordered a gran reserva, which went very nicely with the meat courses that followed...
Fresh chorizo meat, formed not into sausages but patties, served very rare — almost tartare — on a slice of corn cooked in polenta style.
Here's a close up:
That was outstanding. But the highlight was what came next:
The egg opened to reveal a mound of sliced truffles concealing a perfectly molten egg yolk...
...on a bed of smooth purple yam (murasaki-imo).
Then a bowl of what looked like noodles but were actually elvers (baby eels). With some disbelief we saw some people tucking into huge full-size main portions of these. For us, even this small amount was very rich and filling — and like everything we were served at this meal, redolent of wood smoke from the open fire they were (very lightly) cooked over.
Finally we reached the main courses. For her: fish. Grilled bacalao (a fillet of fresh cod, salted but only lightly):
For him: a hearty chunk of Galician beef grilled on the bone, seared on the outside, nice and rare inside. This (obviously) was not local meat, but wonderful nonetheless!
Our first dessert: a mousse of goat's milk in woodland berry fruits (plenty of blackcurrant in that mix):
The second dessert (pain perdu);
Finally coffee and one last sweet:
We staggered out and strolled around the village in a daze, drinking in the clear mountain air like a final heady dessert wine...
Booking the flight now!!! I was there after the bread description
Posted by: Paul | 03/09/2011 at 06:02 PM
Hey Paul,
That wood-fire-grilled bread with the goat's milk butter topped with sliced truffles... Only one word: OUTSTANDING!
Just one word of advice: you might want to take your bike — it's a bugger to get to by public transport.
If you do go by train, it's closer to Bilbao than from San Sebastian. Plus you have to take a taxi up into the hills. Worth it though!!
cheers...
Posted by: tokyo food file | 03/10/2011 at 06:55 AM
that picture of the txipirones and onions is enough to convince me.
Posted by: Martibk | 03/11/2011 at 05:46 AM
@ Martibk
Are you in Spain? If so, I definitely recommend a visit to Basque Country.
Posted by: tokyo food file | 03/11/2011 at 08:33 AM