Donostia-San Sebastian: A Michelin constellation

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Donostia-San Sebastian

One three-star, three two-stars and several one-star restaurants make Donostia-SanSebastián the epicenter of this constellation of haute cuisine. Other gourmet dining guides support the Michelin rating, and some are even more generous in granting stars.

Donostia-San Sebastian is the place in Gipuzkoa with more restaurants awarded. We can go to Urepel Restaurant, Panier Fleuri Restaurant, Arzak Restaurant and Akelarre Restaurant. There are four more restaurants in Gipuzkoa with stars. These are Mugaritz Restaurant in Renteria, Martín Berasategui Restaurant in Lasarte and Zuberoa Restaurant and Matteo Restaurant in Oiartzun.

In any of these restaurants you will be able to enjoy delicious dishes prepared with top- quality ingredients and all the know-how of master-cooks in a land that is well-known for the exquisite quality of its food.

With the Basque Country’s long tradition as a holiday-making destination, it should not come as a surprise to us that the privileged travelers of a century ago demanded a special sort of cuisine. First and foremost it had to be of excellent quality, with anadded festive touch to break out of the daily moulds.

The roots of Basque cuisine grew out of these two ideas and were quickly embraced by holiday-makers and summer residents. Basque culinary heritage was rediscovered and given that different edge like so many other things in the Basque Country, including rural sports, Basque customs and the Basque language.

What was once an upper-class cuisine with cosmopolitan undertones somewhat mired in the past gave way a quarter of a century ago to the so-called nueva cocina vasca (new Basque cuisine), much the same as what happened with the nouvelle cuisine of France.