Friday 13 January 2017

Spain Closes 2016 with Nine Three-Star Michelin Restaurants

Spain Closes 2016 with Nine Three-Star Michelin Restaurants

You can eat some fabulous food in Spain with Andalucía
having 6 Michelin Star restaurants
Many would describe the Spanish culinary scene as being revolutionary. While it is often meant as a compliment it can also be a suggestion that the scene is fleeting; removing old misconceptions and creating new buzzes.

There may be some truth to this – especially given the creativity of Catalonian and Basque chefs and their restaurants over recent years.

For the most part however it’s long past due for these plaudits of Spanish cuisine. Spaniards have always had a lot of creativity when it comes to food and even the lesser-known Spanish dishes are still cooked and loved around the world.

This shouldn’t take away from the strikes that Spanishkitchens have been making recently to increase quality across the board. The rewards are starting to pile up now as Spain will close out 2016 with nine restaurants that have achieved the feat of being awarded three Michelin stars.

The latest restaurant to be bestowed this honour is the Lasarte restaurant owned by Martin Berastegui. The restaurant also had the distinction of being voted as the best restaurant in the world by TripAdvisor. This year the restaurant celebrated their 10-year anniversary and their third Michelin star.

This was also the first time that a Spanish restaurant was crowned a three-star restaurant since 2014. The last restaurant before Lasarte was the Madrid restaurant DiverXO.

Spain is also closing out the year with 23 restaurants with 2 stars, up from the 18 of last year. There are also 15 restaurants with just one star in the country.

The nine restaurants that have all earned three Michelin stars are: Akelarre and Arzak in San Sebastian, Zurmendi in Bizkaia, DiverXO in Madrid, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Lasarte near San Sebastian, Martin Berasategui in Gipuzkoa, Quique Dacosta in Alicante and Sant Pau in Barcelona.

While having nine such restaurants is certainly an admirable feat Spain still has a long way to go if it wants to catch up to France and their 26 three-star restaurants, and Japan with their 25. The UK by comparison has just four of these three-star restaurants.