Zuberoa, three soles Repsol, one Michelin star, is a restaurant of caprice and celebration. It is like a portal to the depths of Basque cuisine, the roots and traditions, the veneration for the product, the immediacy and season, the ancestral stew, the sophistication.
It is the temple of Hilario Arbelaitz, a self-taught cook, a former seminary student, with a reputation for having a magical touch, being persevering and conciliatory, a good adviser and a free soul, who goes his own way. He doesn’t care about decorations. A long time ago when he was left without one of his two stars, he avoided arguing, he only said that “the blows must be dealt with sportsmanship”.
“Working with him has been a privilege,” says Pilar Arteaga, a Mexican cook, who has been part of the Basque artisan’s house for nine years. She describes him as a professional and person, “elegant, fine and respected, who conveys warmth. He radiates peace and tranquility. He has steel temper. He can go through tense or critical moments and with stress under control.
He is an unstoppable worker. It’s the spoon, put the finishing touches. Everything passes through his eyes and senses without haughtiness. With silence he transmits what he wants. It’s Hilario”, adds Arteaga. He considers Zuberoa his family and consults her every time he takes a professional step. He is in Mallorca with Maca de Castro, chef from Port d’Alcúdia, multifaceted, successful and from the Zuberoa school.
The Arbelaitz live in the Garbuno farmhouse, a jewel of the fifteenth century, with a heraldic shield. It is one of the oldest, six hundred years old, and beautiful in the Basque Country. The regional farmhouse is an architectural model with a gabled roof, wooden beams and stone walls. It has large dimensions, in addition to housing, it was a stable, cellar, winery, warehouse, workshop.
It is in Oiartzun, part of the Camino de Santiago, between hills, rivers and the mountain chain of the Pyrenees. It is an area of orchards, cider, cattle. In the dining room, more French and English are whispered than Spanish or Euskera/Basque. Everything is harmony, synchronicity. The waiters show up with a mask, they smile, it shows in their eyes.
Eusebio Arbelaitz, room manager, arrives. We commented that you want to eat the classic and little, we were gastronomic tourism. We wanted whims, brushstrokes of the proposal of Hilario and Joxe Mari, the cooks, their brothers.
He suggested and fulfilled the wishes impeccably. We ate like in heaven. The starters were the foie terrine, Modena caramel, toasted bread and the crispy crayfish with truffled cabbage. The main dishes: grilled red tuna with tomato compote, suckling pig confit and roast pigeon with liver toast.
We drank txakoli, the native wine, generally white and with a little sparkle. We close with the thin apple tart, the liquid chocolate sponge cake with Jamaican ice cream and the pear and cheese tarts; revered by Bruce Springsteen.
The foie deserves an altar. I imagine Hilario patiently deveining livers with religiosity and dedication. It seems simple, but you have to add salt and pepper, macerate, control the bain-marie, refrigeration. It is waste of tradition and technique learned in France. He passed by the Ithurria restaurant, where he understood that there was much more than maternal education. It is in Ainhoa, near Oiartzun, his birthplace. He is seventy years old, fifty between pots and seems eternal.
For the influencer, Marcela Caicedo, author of Donosti Foodies, Instagram, Zuberoa is the Basque way of entertaining. “It is sober elegance, a spectacular mansion, exquisite service and sincere, mature cuisine. It is a place where time does not permeate, they do not want to be modern. They don’t even have social networks. I agree. I booked by mail, without card. They trusted, as was done yesterday and the detail seemed endearing to me.
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