Mugaritz

"No matter what we write in this caption, you really just need to see Mugaritz for yourself. Mold is a staple on the menu, sea urchin gets served with enzymatic molasses made from rye bread, and you might get to try a jellied, finger-shaped carrot. This dinner is going to be a pretty wild and fun ride, and you simply never know what you are walking into. Even though this is one of the fanciest spots in the country, you might eat your meal without any cutlery. Book a table here months in advance, and get ready to be totally surprised." - marti buckley

"Mugaritz is much more than a restaurant, offering food-enthusiasts a very different dining experience. Here, absolutely everything is questioned, hence the focus on both individual and general tastes to the extent that, in the words of the chef, “the experience here is as much playful as it is gastronomic”. The intentions of Andoni Luis Aduriz, who likes nothing more than breaking the rules, can be seen in a small glossary placed on your table, detailing terms defined by the chef, his staff and even his customers in a cooperative endeavour to add meaning to the dining experience. Dishes do not follow a classic order and constantly aim to transcend borders, both in terms of flavour and the flow of the single tasting menu. One particularly outstanding dish is called “De frente: la piel que habito (“Front on: the skin I inhabit”) – a conceptual creation in which a false skin of cider gelatine is added to a face, accompanied by pieces of fried bread with a pepper emulsion." - Michelin Inspector

"No matter what we write in this caption, you really just need to see Mugaritz for yourself. Mold is a staple on the menu, sea urchin gets served with enzymatic molasses made from rye bread, and you might get to try a jellied, finger-shaped carrot. This dinner is going to be a pretty wild and fun ride, and you simply never know what you are walking into—even though this is one of the fanciest spots in the country, you might eat your meal without any cutlery. Book a table here months in advance, and get ready to be totally surprised." - Marti Buckley

"Rank: #21 "Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz has been pushing the envelope on fine dining experiences for nearly 25 years. Year on year, those experiences get more experimental, and more provocative – a recent dish featured a jellied carrot as a sawn-off finger – but he’s arguably truer to his vision than just about any other chef, serving up a thrilling, at times dark, always unexpected, culinary universe."

"In 2007, the chef Victoria Blamey was offered a job at the end of her stage (as a kitchen internship is known) at Mugaritz, a restaurant near San Sebastian, Spain, that’s considered to be among the best in the world." - Hannah Goldfield