The last time I was there was 2006! I was in Spain every year in the '90s and four times in the early 2000s. For some reason I just started going elsewhere. Since then everything has changed. I really need to get back there. Some of my best memories are there, especially Bilbao and San Sebastian.
Holy crap! We were there about the same time! We were in San Sebastian the 17-20th this month! I love San Sebastian, and the Hotel Maria Cristina is absolutely top, top notch. We spent most of our time eating pinxtos in various cafes, drinking fantastic wines for 2.50EUR, but for fine dining, we went to Martin Berasetgui, for the tasting menu. Unfortunately, we did not enjoy it that much. 12 courses (15, actually) and each was artwork, but there was not enough variety in textures and savory versus spicy or sour or sweet - it was all foams and gels and creams. The restaurant is wonderful, and the staff is very knowledgeable, but we were very underwhelmed with the VERY expensive meal.
We were so disappointed in this Michelin 3-star that we cancelled our next 3-star appointment, at L’Assiette Champenoise. Fortunately we were able to secure a later reservation, as when we had given up on 3-star dining, experienced the most earth-shattering meal ever. I guess Spanish 3-star is not for us…we much preferred the more casual restaurants (had a nice meal at Bar Ristorante Munto, for example) and pinxto bars.
We did capture a nice photo, though, with Martin…
