Mugaritz: Dining in Andoni's Sumptuous Garden of Delights

At a time when searching for perfection in the culinary world means a movement towards kitchens being styled into mini laboratories in the development of molecular gastronomy, you can’t help but feel that while it ultimately it does make for an amazing sensory experience, you are left wondering how much of it was natural, and how much was engineered and synthesized.

Yet it is the opposite of this, a natural exquisiteness, which makes Mugaritz such a wonderful experience. Standing in the shadows of El Bulli and The Fat Duck, where the Ferran and Heston paint in a vast array of surrealism and theatrics, Andoni plays more with the understated magnificence and wondrousness of what nature's garden itself can bring to us; the beauty of the pure and unadulterated.

The seasonal salad speaks for itself. The course presents itself as simple, yet with each mouthful, it fully reveals its beauty within; each mouthful presenting its own unique textures, flavours and aromas. What makes it stunning is underneath its minimalist façade is the sixty different ingredients that make it (from roasted sweet potato, to radish, to a vast array of edible flowers, any many other ingredients too numerous to mention) finished off with a light emmental cheese broth. The sensory overload in such an understated dish is enough to make anyone think twice about the benefits of becoming vegetarian.

We opted for the ‘Naturan’ menu; a wander through 12 carefully prepared dishes each with its own slant on taking the best that an ingredient has to offer and presenting it in the most modest, most unassuming fashion (and we couldn’t help but sneak in some extra courses too!).

Andoni Aduriz should be congratulated. Bravo Mugaritz!

Mugaritz - Naturan Menu, August 2009

Potatoes cooked in hot clay, with aioli

Crispy/crunchy, slightly sweet and dry on the outside (if only clay is normally this good), and creamy on the inside.

Sardines, mustard seed, sweet miso, and fresh basil

Chiperon squid with almond cream and lily

Vegetables, oven roasted and raw, sprouts and greens, wild and cultivated, seasoned with browned butter and dusted with seeds and petals. Served with a light ‘Emmental' cheese broth

Mixture of 50-60 different ingredients, apparently takes two people per dish to prepare. Turnip, poached cherry tomato, mint leaf, roasted chilli, aubergine, spring onion, heart of a leek, roasted sweet potato... and these were only some of the ingredients!

Silky Kokotxa de bacalao served with an acacia honey emulsion
Portuguese dish done differently, topped with silky smooth skin of the cod fish (lightly poached, very plump and fatty went well with the creamy fish meat and the potato filling and balanced out by the sweetness of the acacia honey (like a savoury honey)

Roasted tomato salad and its own cool water
Is what all tomatoes should taste like! Roasted tomato was very sweet and sorbet itself was very light, but combine the two and the balance out perfectly

Ravioli filling of crab and fresh walnuts in a clear, citrus scented consommé

Carpaccio accompanied by a sweet and sour dressing, D.O. Idiazabal cheese and vegetable splinters

Surprising carpaccio (we won't spoil it) with a sweetened balsamic vinegar beautifully matched with cheese and sprinkle of pine nuts.

Fossilized salsify with briny roe and sea accents

Wild Turbot, under a salted seasoning of borage stalks and a reduction of the bones

Tradition, ocean, and land: braised iberian pork tails and pan fried langoustines. Reduced braising juices infused with Iberian 'jamon'
This was to die for. It was like foodie version of surf-and-turf. Slightly crisped layers of jamon on top, and the most moist and succulent (and crisp!) slow cooked iberian pork tail with the langoustine sandwiched in the middle.

Loin of duck served with iodised compliments, crumbling, and shavings of summer truffle

Red Fruits served with an undercooked orange leaf soup

Celery ice cream, sweets, and leaves

Peanut butter ice cream, caramel, covered in honey bubbles

The bubbles of honey had a wonderful aroma when they popped

French toast, marmalade strip, ice cream
Another additional dish, this was amazing! Caramelised sugar on top so it was slightly crisp, but almost gooey in the middle. Whilst we were full, we were really glad we asked for this at the end.

Mugaritz
Otzazulueta Baserria.
Aldura aldea 20
Errenteria 20100, Gipuzkoa
+34 943 522 455
http://www.mugaritz.com/english/menu.php