Beñat Ormaetxea has always been a young greedy chef who used to cook with arrogance. Every proposal used to hide a really daring artistic project. This was the rule. His work didn’t leave anybody cold. In the course of time, the maturity he has reached and the need to consolidate his business have made his offer more possibilistic. Without abandoning his dreams nor his passion for being different, he has performed the definition of his message. He has assumed that the customer is entitled to his/her say. He/she is given the possibility to choose a groundbreaking proposal in an evolving world that makes some concessions on tradition. His long professional career and the training that has harden him in the best restaurants and with the best Basque cooks shine in all the fields: solid and profound dishes based on extraordinary products that are treated with irreproachable techniques, enhanced with velvety sauces and generally sprinkled with hints of genius.
In this house, you must always –absolutely always– taste the cod assortment: the fish, immaculate, is extremely juicy. The Club Ranero version is one of the best in its kind, the pil-pil formula is synonymous with delight and the a la vizcaína proposal, very attractive, also deserves some “Bravo” although it doesn’t reach the others’ magnitude. The squids, brilliantly cut into slices that remain together and form a fully unified body, made of one strip, are as brilliant as the cod. They are briefly and precisely cooked just before being served in order to keep all their natural properties; deliciously smooth. The cephalopod is swimming into a traditional but refined and elegant soup of fairy ring mushroom soup which adds naturality to naturality. The crayfish carpaccio with pine kernels, vinegar ice cream, trout roe and microvegetables is a frankly tasteful, immaculate and delicate composition. The crunchy oyster over seaweeds and crustacean concentrate is a real show of top product, technique and sensitivity. The lobster medallion over tomato soup with flying fish roe and nasturtium leaves is as nude as the oyster, or even more!
The chef plays safe: grilled hake cheeks over a thick bed of cooked and shredded spider crab coated with a green pil-pil sauce that deserves a Golden Spoon –Spoon, fork and knife, we might say! The egg cooked at low temperature slightly bound with chicken broth and served with parsnip purée rimes with humility and intelligence; excellent. And the bonito belly over truffled bed of al dente spring onions accompanied with truffle cream is an extremely original recipe whose traditional flavours are obtained with a different doneness. Every single element the guest sees and tastes is the fruits of an intention. The chef leaves nothing to chance.
