A Disappointing 3 Michelin Star Meal – Akelare

Audio Deep Dive¹

I first went to San Sebastian, Spain 12 years ago. I only went for food, and I have Anthony Bourdain, and the show “No Reservations” to thank for alerting me to this city. At the time, and I believe this still holds true today, San Sebastian has more Michelin stars per capita than any other city in the world. I have only good food memories from that first trip. From pintxos to 3 Michelin starred places like Arzak and Martin Berasategui, everything was exciting and as advertised. Fast forward to 2024, and now my second time in this city. While the pintxos and city are still wonderful, how are the Michelin starred places? I guess one can tell from the title of this post. Lets see what happened.

Akelare is a 3 Michelin star restaurant and has had 3 stars since 2007. It received its first star in 1978, and a second in 1982. We were offered a choice between two tasting menus: Aranori and Bekarki. I went with the later.

The meal started with the same amuse for everyone (we were a group of 4, and each couple chose a different menu). It started with this “squid, tomato and potato”:

Next, the bread service with a unique butter presentation.

This was followed by 3 more amuse consisting of a macaron, a chicken curry gel, and a kind of ravioli.

The first “main” course was called “crab, talo, and curd milk):

This was followed by “codfish flower” and beets. I found this dish to be emblematic of most of the dishes that evening. First, for a 3 Michelin starred place, I found the plating to be somewhat unrefined, and a bit of trying too hard. Also, the concept was not anything special. It was basically a piece of sashimi that was not the best sashimi I’ve ever had. Not very exciting.

After that, was foie gras which was the only memorable dish of the evening. This was good.

Iberian pork belly:

Razor clams:

Turbot:

Beef:

…and finally, a weak dessert and petit fours:

Overall, service was good, but the food was not of the level of 3 Michelin stars. I think the restaurant, and perhaps Michelin inspectors, are living in the glory days of this restaurant. As a benchmark, I dined at the 3 Star Pre Catalan in Paris a few days after this, and that meal blew me away. For around 300+ Euros per person, I believe, this meal, was not worth it. Even the menu they give you at the end to take home is flawed. Its printed on very flimsy paper, and the logo is printed upside down so that when you open it, the words inside are right side up (or vice versa). I would not return and would not recommend. The plating and the techniques used may of been great years ago, but nothing stood out other than the foie gras.

1. Audio generated by AI ↩︎