On the morning of the meal I met with Aleta, whom I met on the TripAdvisor board, who has kindly volunteered to drive us to Axpe and join me for lunch. It would have otherwise been a 2 hour trip each way by bus! Thank you Aleta! After a missed exit and a couple of false turns, we made it to Axpe. Etxebarri lies in its central plaza.
We settled down on a window side table looking out to countryside. The tasting menu looked terrific but I was also intrigued to try out their legendary house-made Chorizo. If both my wallet and my stomach were bottomless, I would have also gone for some clams, anchovies and a whole turbot. Alas, if only I had consecutive-day reservations!
After an amuse of cubed beets, French beans and crisped bacon, we began our main meal with some fundamentals – bread and butter. An unabashedly-thick slab of hand-churned goat butter rest atop a hunk of grilled country bread. The butter was quite light and airy which magically dissolved in the mouth without leaving a trace of oiliness. Flecks of ashed salt imparted appropriate seasoning.
The tasting menu resumed with a massive oyster, shell intact. Underneath sits a plump oyster firmed gently on the hearth and branded with wisps of grill marks. It came with some smoked seaweed and its own juice. One typically characterizes oysters as salty, briny and soggy but Etxebarri’s interpretation, perhaps through a controlled dehydration on the grill, imbues a certain meatiness to the mollusk. Superb.
Again and again, diners have declared Etxebarri’s prawns to one of the very best they ever had. These Gambas de Palamos, caught along the Costa Brava, are not exactly local produce but it is certainly a worthwhile trip northwards for these crustaceans to land in the hands of Chef Arguizoniz . When cooked, the hues of red and orange were so bright they threatened to bleed into the air. Interestingly, the aroma of wood fire on this dish is quite evident, even though the prawns themselves look very gently heated. Instead of sucking on the heads like savages, I split them open lengthwise to extract every drop of that elixir. The flavour is unfathomably rich with a sweetness that reveals itself only later. Heaven.
It is hard to follow up on the climax of the previous plate. Therefore, wisely so, the next dish of baby octopus and spinach played for me the part of a palate cleanser. The octopus is the most heavily charred and smoked item thus far (but still quite tender and mildly sweet) and when these characteristics are combined with the metallic spinach, it results in a refreshing bitterness.
The final dish before the mains was a quartet of baby squids on my caramelized onions. They were grilled with their skin still intact and then stuffed with their own tentacles. Blistered over intense heat, they rode an impossible balance between springy, tender and even crispy on the edges. I never knew that it was possible for squid to be so delicate and flavourful. They were undoubtedly of impeccable provenance. Yet another reference point dish.
A simple plate composed of a piece of grouper and summer vegetables, all grilled. The precision of the grilling was commendable – the tasty skin was quite crisp while the firm white flesh yielded to squeaky and juicy flakes. Visually, the coagulated proteins on the grouper made for a messy presentation but provided evidence of its freshness. The fish was minimally seasoned and allowed to speak for itself. The grilled vegetables were all nicely done but I felt that they were overcame by the heavy application of the lemon-butter sauce.
The final savoury course was another all-time favourite of Etxebarri. They use beef from retired Galician dairy cows at least 5 years old. Their age, combined with their grazing diet, results in a deep beefy flavour. Being a table of 3, we received a massive dry-aged beef chop grilled on the bone, sliced and perked with sea salt. Because of its relative leanness, the cooked surface of the beef is rather woody but the rare insides is pleasantly supple and tender if you manage to avoid the sinews. This made the chewing experience a little tedious. The fat, tasting richly of butter and hazelnuts, was unfortunately trimmed off most parts of the steak. I also wish that they left the cap on, for that is my favourite cut of beef!
Next, a perfect quenelle of reduced milk ice cream in a pool of wild berry sauce. Some report that the milk has been smoked but I could not detect any hint of it. However, the ice cream is still quite unmatched in smoothness though I would have liked it better if served more chilled and firmed.
