San Sebastian – Akelare

Today we relax in the city of San Sebastian. We take a walk to the old part of the city and around the enormous beach – La Concha pratically in the city center and surrounding the a bay with a narrow inlet. The weather is fair and T who has once again forgotten his bathing trousers buys yet another pair in dusty blue.



A walk around the harbor brings us to a small very busy restaurant where we take lunch in the form of a stuffed crab for K and grilled sole for T and to this a mixed green salad. we have a bottle of Albariño with it. It is a nice meal on a nice day, even though T observes (as usual) that the potatoes appear to be mashed potatoes formed as potatoes. It seems to us that potatoes are over cooked in most parts of southern Europe.

What we are really waiting for this day is our eagerly anticipated visit to the restaurant, Akelare.

We take a cab up into the mountainous area and arrive at a beautifully located and modern house on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. Unfortunately it is now dark but we suspect that panoramic view is lovely in daylight. As it is we settle for seeing the occasional lantern in the dark.

The interior of Akelara is held in warm earthy shades of beige, grey and dark wood. We are welcomed to a spacious table for two. We choose to have one of each of the two tasting menus, the ARANORI (T) and the BEKARKI (K). First a glass of great cava, that we did not get the name of.

The menus both start with a plate of what looks like a sponge, soap, hand cream, bath salt and mouth wash.
It is: sponge – onion, soap – tomato and basil gel
hand cream made of idiazabal cheese
bath salt... salty – prawn cracker like.
mouth wash ... well bitter mouth wash. Perhaps a bit campari-like

T has prawns and French Beans cooked in “Orujo” Fire. The waiter comes to the table with a small iron pot and lights the pot with a match. The dish is nice, but maybe the effect is bigger than the result.

K has Crab Essence, its Coral Blini and "Gurullos". Very well put together. The rice grains are actually pasta, and has a seaweed as an extra herb. And it all has this intense taste of sea that seems to be inherent not only to Akalelare but to most of the meals we eat in San Sebastian. It is like the smell of the concha.

We both have a glass Albariño do Ferreiro – a good companion. 

For the next dish T has Molluscs in Fisherman's net.This is wide collection of tastes from the sea and beautifully served with "a fisherman's net" of rice. As we conclude later, a very significant trait of the meals we have in San Sebastian is that the seafood dishes really taste of seafood, whereas we at other times only get the white fish meat.

K has Razor Shell with Veal Shank and cauliflower mushroom. A theme of textures, flavours and contrasts. The veal shank is the actual bone prepared to a texture of gel. The razor shell almost raw. Excellent.

We both have a glass of white wine from Priorat. This is a white Grenache from Trio Infernal. T likes it a lot, whereas K has some reservations which predictably relates to the barrel aging.

For the next dish T has a Pasta carpaccio with Piquillo and Iberico Carpaccio, Mushrooms and Parmesan and Arugola (Rucola). The effect is that of meat even if it is vegetable. (Which of course is much to T's taste).

T has a 100-year old sherry (well not all of it)

K has a Sautéed Fresh Foie Gras with "Salt Flakes and Grain Pepper". Again perceptions deceive and the pepper is in fact popped black rice and the salt flakes are sugar based. It is very simple and the foie is cooked to perfection. T's experience with sauteed foie gras has not been entirely positive, but after a mouthful of the dish he concedes that this is perfectly prepared – the inside is preserved, i.e. not warm.

Along with the foie gras K has a cider, Malus Mama from 2009. This was very special, and predictably well selected by our sommelier. He is an unobtrusive man who is also very professional. His quiet remark that local wines were not the same as Spanish wines was a reminder that San Sebastian is in fact Basque country. He livened much up when we could tell him that we had just arrived from Bordeaux and had seen harvesting commencing in some places.

The next dish for T came in a box apparently filled with sawdust that nevertheless were edible. T thinks it may have been lightly fried vegetables, some of it potatoes – "Desalted" Cod Box with Shavings

K – Squid Broth, mini squid and Fried Bread.
Again a play with textures and taste. The black squid made of paper like material and the squid cooked at low temperature.

To drink we have Ossian 2009 which is a Verdejo based wine from Rueda

Next, T has Whole-Grain Red Mullet with Sauce "Fusili".
The whole-grain part is because there are small "pralines" of the mullet's head, bones and liver. Along with this fusili with soy, parsley and "ajo blanco"

K – Turbot with its "Kokotxa".
Served with chips of the turbot skin and pil-pil sauce.

To these dishes we are both served a full-bodied red wine, called Demencia, which our Sommelier tells us is a word-play used as the grape used is Mencia.

Now, T has Grilled Lamb with Wine Lees. The

dish is accompanied with a Regina Vides 2004 from Ribera del Duero. It is excellent and because the kitchen is just a little behind when coming to this dish our sommelier has served this a couple of minutes early so they have to give us another glass. The next bottle is also a Ribera del Duero from 2004 this time from Bodegas Trus.

K – Roasted baby Pork with Tomato “Bolao” and Iberian emulsion. The pork is served with crispy skin, fillets of tomato and crisp sugar-tomato meringue. A bit on the sweet side to K's taste but beautifully prepared.

We now come to the desserts and K has Milk and Grape, Cheese and Wine in parallel evolution.
The plate went right to left from curded sheep milk – a very clean milk taste, through powdered fresh cream, quark cheese, idiazabal semi-matured, a torta of grape and raisins to very rich gorgonzola ice cream.

K has a glass of 30 year old Oloroso Dulce, Metusalem.

T gets Xaxu and foaming Coconut Ice Cream. He is told to eat it in a hurry as the coconut ice cream will otherwise collapse. Maybe that is the reason he forgets to take a picture of it, but if you are missing this picture go and have a look at it on the restaurants website: akelarre.net
T has a glass of Jorge Ordonez Old vines.

The last dessert for T is  "Another Apple Tart" which is wrapped in paper made from apple and printed with chocolate letters, Akelare of course.
We conclude that the restaurant's name is spelled with just one r with an accent aigue, but in writing this seems to translate into double-r.

K's meal is concluded with a beautiful Peach Flower. Peach prepared in three different ways and not least the spectacular rose also made of peach. 

To this we have a glass of dessert wine from Chivite

To drink

Finally a tiny brandy, coffee and petit fours. Not because we need it, but just because we would like to extend our stay for a little longer.

We have not rated the different dishes and the accompanying wine, because there was so much, but we arrive at an overall 9,8/10. You might think that the rate should be higher – and perhaps it should, but what if we need to use a higher rate in the future?