Mugaritz

Otzazulueta baserria Aldura-aldea, 20,

20100 Errenteria, Spain

Tel: (+34) 943 522 455 / 943 518 343

 

The gluttony continued the next night at Mugaritz, ranked 3rd on San Pelligrino's 50 Best Restaurant's in the World. We didn't come into this dinner with the lofty expectations we had going into Arzak, as we'd been thoroughly disappointed with our dining experience there the night before. Nevertheless, Mugaritz is ranked five spots higher than Arzak on the top 50 list so it had to be better, right?

The restaurant is located in the countryside, approximately 20 minutes from our hotel. Or at least what should have been twenty minutes which turned out to be double that thanks to poorly functioning iPhone GPS. After traversing some awkward country roads and numerous u-turns later, we arrived at the beautiful country cottage that is Mugaritz.

After we were seated, we were handed two small envelopes.

The outside of the first envelope was stamped: "150 mins... submit". When you remove the card from within, it read:

150 minutes to feel, imagine, reminisce, discover.

150 minutes to contemplate.

The other envelope was stamped: "150 mins... rebel!" With it's corresponding card reading:

150 minutes to feel embarrassed, flustered, fed up.

150 minutes of suffering.

What does this all mean?! Two simple cards, yet we debated quite a while on what to do. We were under the impression that the choice you made determined the outcome of your entrees. We ultimately decided that for our first experience, we should simply"submit".

Shortly after making our selection, we were invited to take a tour of the kitchen. Our first impressions were how immaculate the kitchen was. Everything had its place and everyone had their job. We spoke briefly to a chef (name escapes me) who was originally from Mexico. He was very generous with his time and forthcoming in answering any questions.

1. Edible stones - These baby potatoes were cleverly disguised as rocks. The outer shell had the texture of the "skipping stones" you find at the lake. They were paired with a mild, yellow cream sauce. Earthy and warm but nothing spectacular.


2. Grilled pueraria focaccia - This looked like dried zombie skin. (Just finished watching season one of Walking Dead.) A bit tough but very aromatic and crispy. The tomato paste was sweet and a great compliment.


3. Grilled beans - Truly, truly simple. The beans were grilled just right. They were firm but yielded easily to each bite. The sea salt really helped bring out the natural sweetness.


4. Fleeting crunch of oregano and egg yolk - A black onion brioche topped with garlic, egg yolk and oregano. The garlic was very sweet, lacking all of its usual bite. The yolk added little flavor but helped bind everything together with its richness.


5. Homemade mozzarella, whey emulsion infused with rock tea - Within the broth was a melty piece of mozzarella. The cheese was creamy and delicious. The accompanying broth was very subtle. Very little salt with a nice umami flavor.


6. Over a gelatinous pine nut cream, glutinous cod fish and mastic resin - Another subtle dish. Neither the pine nut cream nor the cod fish expressed much in terms of flavor. The fish itself had a soft and gelatinous consistency. Interesting, but not too tasty.


7. Artichoke and bone marrow ragout, creamy ku(d)zu bread - A hearty sauce of artichokes and bone marrow served in a hallowed out kudzu muffin. Our waiter tried to explain what "kudzu" was, noting that it's an asian ingredient but we struggled to think of any asian dish that was similar. Apparently, the kudzu plant is quite versatile, both in its uses and it's ability to grow, with uses in things from medicine to clothing.

The ragout was very rich and had a nice depth of flavor. The kudzu bread was steamed and  quickly changed consistency upon chewing. Much of its structure collapsed, turning almost pasty within your mouth.

8. Hazelnut and bean stew - Although the hazelnuts had been stewed, they still had a nice firm consistency to them. Combined with the beans, this dish tastes more or less what you'd expect. Somewhat of a mild, meatless chili.



9. Shhh...cat got your tongue! - Our waiter didn't tell us what was in this dish, challenging us to guess after tasting. Without the benefit of the name of the dish during dinner, we'd never had imagined it could have been cat meat. Which it wasn't. The meat was dry and tasted much like Chinese beef jerky. Turns out to have been strands of beef tongue. This took a bit of effort to chew but doing so yielded a very nice beefiness upon the palate. A bit of garlic on the bottom added a welcomed bit of sweetness and aroma.


10. Textures of coastal fish - Scorpionfish is one of the most venomous marine animals in the world. Luckily, unlike the blowfish, the dangerous portion is easily removed by cutting off the dorsal spine. The flesh was firm in texture with a nice bounce to it.

On a side note, there's a recent movement on the East coast of the United States to start eating scorpion fish (aka "lionfish") to help control its exploding population in the Gulf and southeast Atlantic as these fish are voracious predators with few nature enemies. Their growing population continue to ravage many of the other local fish species. Eat more scorpionfish!


11. Pork noodles with arraitxiki extract and toasted rice - A second helping of a gelatinous entree. The noodles were similar in texture and flavor of pork tendons. Overall, very similar to the cod fish we had earlier. The toasted rice gave off a very pleasant aroma.


12. Sheets of entrecula grilled steak emulsion and salt crystals - this meat covers the kidneys and while chewy, has a very rich beefy flavor.


13. Quail armagnac - Served warm in a stemless wine glass, we thought this was cognac as a palate cleanser. Very similar to a consomme, rich, lacking in fat and not very tasty.


14. Iberian pork tails, crispy leaves and toasted sweet millet oil - Crispy leaved topped the crispy skin tails. The flesh under the skin was very tender, gelatinous and rich.


15. Camelias and tea - A very subtle palate cleanser. The ice cream wasn't too cold but very creamy. Speckles of tea flakes brought out the tea flavoring. Nice and refreshing.


16. Broken walnuts, toasted and salted, cool milk cream and armagnac jelly - Edible flowers with "fake" walnuts that housed the armagnac jelly. The milk cream was made from goat's milk and had a bit of tang to let you know. Actual walnuts were parsed throughout to make for a tasty dessert. This was one of our favorites of the night.


17. Nails and flowers - Sugar shell topped with cream and edible flowers. Very similar to the two other desserts prior with a slight hint of coconut.

As it turns out, your entree selections are in no way influenced by whether you "submit" or "rebel". It is the restaurant's attempt to force you into a personal choice on how you will perceive the food to come. Overall, a fun experience. The food was simple and good overall. The service was very attentive, for the most part. Only quarrel is that it took quite a while to get our check at the end of the meal.

Though much better than our experience at Arzak, Mugaritz isn't necessarily a restaurant that we'd be returning to anytime soon. You can feel that many quality ingredients were used with a lot of technique involved. However, once on the plate and into our mouths, the food wasn't extraordinary. We tend to lean more towards bold and heavy-handed flavors so a lot of the subtlety used here is lost on us. That being said, Mugaritz is definitely a place to try once. At the very least, just to say you went to the 3rd best restaurant in the world.