It’s the WORLD’S #2 BEST Restaurant, but I SEE IT DIFFERENTLY - Asador Etxebarri 

Yeah its so great! I've done it with wines I ordered a lot smaller than this Vega 57, but in the same way, Pichon Lalande 1989 and Trotanoy 2000 for example. Sometimes, even not at all the point, I also get kickbacks, like the best table reserved when returning, suddenly zeroes next to the water, desserts and so on, plus sudden free glass samples that show up at my table to taste, from the sommelier staff etc, it's great!

It was either that or drinking a whole bottle of wine for lunch. They tend to serve too much wine in star restaurants so I would share as well.

That is the standard for rare and expensive wines.

Generous gesture that is appreciated 😊

He’s letting him test it for poisons, an ancient tradition.

In fairness, €280 for a tasting menu with some of the best ingredients Spain has to offer, cooked at a high level, isn't outrageous. I've seen some menus at 3* restaurants where the price has been similar, the level of cooking and the harmony and thoughts behind the dishes have been outstanding but the ingredients aren't especially expensive or rare.

This is the reason why i never go to really highly rated restaurants : i hate the "fuss" the pretense of needing three or four dedicated waiters, of feeling like you're supposed to be important, when the only important person in the whole building is the chef. Same with hotels, i feel the "submissive" attitude that's asked of staff is delirious in 2024, and i hate it. The greatest dining experience i had in my life was in the back garden of a friend, he had a starred michelin chef buddy come for the afternoon, and he decided on a whim to come over with enough to cook for us some safran rice and hake, "à la bonne franquette" on the side of the table with a portable grill. We laughed, we drank, we ate some amazingly simple but delicious food, with the chef not only cooking at our table, but dining with us. That's where it's at, not a waiter anywhere, no pretentious rich people with no palates spending thousands on cheap wine for the social , just an amazing slice of life. The restaurant in this video is not that back garden, but it's still trying to stop the moronic "decorum" that surrounds place that fart higher than their asses, and bring back the core of the experience : the food.

Usually the "extra bells and whistles" amounts to overbearing wait staff, which is exactly what I dislike about fine dining. This restaurant seems up my alley.

I totally agree.

Which is fine but the price should reflect that. 280 for that meal is just a bit much, especially with the location of the restaurant being so cheap, it's not like the building costs 2 million in centrum london, it's probably like 200k.

Himalayan tears of virgin Mary*

😂😂😂😂

Agreed - the Michelin rating system was never intended to represent all that it currently does. The only criterion was quality of food; somehow along the way, presentation and pretense took over. Nice to see a restaurant featured that only cares about (and obviously excels at) making amazing food, not chasing awards.

That's not a restaurant, it is a "casa de comidas". A food-house. And they they don't care about rankings and awards. They are just focused in please the person who goes to their house. Sometimes restaurants lost the real target of their business.

Fantástico 😎🤟🏻💯

So much simplicity or miss understood minimalism makes you fell you are in army . You start to feel no creativity no feelings no story no connection. However when we talk about our favourite foods about our childhood we always choose complex , special and custom foods not high quality cheese.

If I were a chef, I would want everyone to be able to taste my dishes instead of the rich and happy few. This place looks much more appealing than other star restaurants precisely because of its simplicity.

@@vincentp.2280 There is places called canteen or bistro and cheaper than this very well fits your idea. This restaurant is not cheap.

Cooking becomes cooking again, none of that texture stuff... respect Ur product , express it's taste

I like it, too. Once you've attained this level, why not pay for experiences?

The marginal utility of such an expensive wine is probably low.

@@pistolen87 I think it's just that the initial satisfaction and experience for people truly passionate about this is so high that the rest doesn't matter.

@@pistolen87 you think he notices the money leaving his account?

@@pistolen87 for the very rich, money holds little value. when they already own several houses cars yachts etc. what would the surplus money even be useful for? they arent like you and me who have to worry about making a living.

If simply dressed was the best way to go, all we need to do is just throw the right ingredients on a plate at home and never go out to eat. I need that flash when I dine out.

@@rsybing Flash can be distracting, I prefer the focus to be on the food. The food here looks amazing and it very much looks like my kind of spot.

@@rsybing There's no hiding though with so few ingredients on the plate. Every product has to be of the highest possible quality and perfectly cooked. And in that regard I believe Etxebarri is on the top of the game. I certainly can't get these ingredients at home.

@@lilykep I'm with Alexander, I prefer a more holistic approach than a singular focus to the dining experience.

@@rsybing at home you can never get the very best ingredients...this restaurant can.

Then you’re simply not into Michelin starred restaurants because they revolve around the experience not just the food, which encompasses many layers of details including *all* the bells and whistles. I agree with you. I’d prefer a no star restaurant with the best ingredients and service because like you I don’t need the pomp and practiced elegant movements of the almost robotic staff

@timbometcalfe Il tema più importante di questa recensione non è se sia un ottimo ristorante, con ottimi ingredienti, con ottima tecnica ecc... È, invece, se questo ristorante, che è al 2⁰ posto della classifica 50 Best Restaurants..., sia il migliore al mondo (2⁰). Se qui si possono mangiare piatti che non si trovano ... in nessun altro ristorante ... del mondo. E tu scrivi che questo è vero. Che non c'è niente di meglio al MONDO. È la tua opinione e la rispetto. Sentiamo l'opinione degli altri. Davvero non ci sono al MONDO ristoranti che non sappiano cucinare sulle braci con la stessa abilità tecnica?

Thats cool!

That is amazing if true

I would agree, I went in 2013 whilst it was still relatively unknown, and I would say it’s the best restaurant I’ve ever been to from a pure taste perspective; the service was fine and the interior was ok but from a pure taste of of food standing, best place I’ve ever been

Yea best food I've ever had. He's extremely dedicated.

I hope you tipped like $10,000 for that. People lost an hour with their family because of you, and who knows exactly what they hoped to do when they got free from work and were unable to do. How many of them had to scramble to have someone else pick up their kid, or missed out on dinner with their families, or had to have their own children just heat up leftovers in the microwave because Mom or Dad was still busy serving you instead of being home in time to cook. I'm not criticizing you, and it sounds like an honest reason why you were late. I just hope that you understood enough what you were costing the staff that you upended your wallet to pay them back for staying late

nah

nah

For today's desert, we will be having "The Life of Chocolate" Then they give you a cocoa tree seed and you have to grow it and come back years later to tase the chocolate from it. Actually fuck, that's something the fine dining public would go crazy over...

the chef/owner is a liar if he said he doesn't want the excessive praise. You are not well informed or gullible if you believe that.

@@Majinbuh chill bro

@@Majinbuhchill out. But yea the chef is full of crap. Classic “oh no I don’t want a star” but deep down he loves it. If he doesn’t want the accolades then refuse em.

​@@mannyr8795 Oh, come on! Of course he must like it deep inside. Everybody likes recognition and praise. It's human nature. All while it guarantees a pretty good and steady cash inflow. But that's not what he's saying. He's saying this awards is not what he's going after, it's not his goal to win those. That it has arrived to him, not the other way around. And that's something I can surely believe from a basque.

@@DavidMateos56 whatever, he’s been caught saying he would give it all back and that he hates running the restaurant (see chefs table episode). That’s all bullsh!t

I’m in Cambridgeshire, England. I love finding and organically growing potato varieties that are the most tasty. My favourite so far is Alouette. I can eat them just boiled in a little salted water. You hardly ever get such a simple but complex flavour of a single ingredient in a restaurant!

it seems very clear this is just his opinion on what he likes when dining. When I first saw the title, I thought he was not going to like it, then while watching him rave about the food I thought he was going to clickbait with a "I disagree it's number 2, because it's number one! But it's pretty clear he likes a high level of fancy service and values creativity. Some of the places he reviewed that he loved wouldn't appeal to me, because it just seems like too over the top. This place looks like my kinda place. I don't need a server to pour my water for me. But I always appreciate Alexander's clear reviews. He perfectly balances subjective and objective takes, and makes it clear which is which.

You just described the cuisine of Spain and of the Basque country in a nutshell.

I think you are on to something. Of course, making these "simple" things is no easy feat either. To be exceptional you need to have the best ingredients, adjust for season, and adjust your treatment of the ingredients on a day to day basis. There is definitely a move away from the classic french hectic cooking, where you get the same french food anywhere (they are just the MacDonalds of fine dining) and instead are celebrating and showing off not just local ingredients but also traditional local dished.

I speak way out of my debt but I wouldn't call this "fine dining", and Michelin, as far as I understand, isn't about fine dining but about spectacular food and experiences. This restaurant provides the experience of simple regional restaurant with spectacular attention to quality and unique culinary talent. And that's a bit more rare experience than "fine dining".

*depth of course

Except that's impossible if you're judging by this list; if that's the approach that you're suggesting the Top 50 list is taking, then you cannot possibly have this at #2 and Disfrutar at #1, and you can't include a place like Alchemist at all as they are the very opposites of this. The future of fine dining may veer this way (with top ingredients and simple cooking), with more elaborate preparations and gimmicky effects scrapped as resources are depleted, but we have seen that fine dining can be more sustainable, as several Nordic and Scandinavian restaurants have shown. We shall see.

I also bad the baby eels there, incredible!

Yep, but then you pay twice as much at least for the wine pairing.

god damned it? why? what's the best not-god-damned dessert you've had?

wrr

Can you tell what the ingredients of the beet sauce were from the taste? I would love to try making something like it since I could never afford to eat there, much to my sorrow. Such a beautiful place.

🗣im yapping paragraphs dont read

Maybe these cozy restaurants are more popular these days. And dishes all seemed great.

Considering the price of the ingredients, i found the pricing actually rather moderate. You did hear that the peas cost $200/kg? or $100/pound? And those gamba, fish and other ingredients are very pricey as well. Just the steak alone would be a big part of the bill in any restaurant, even mediocre ones.

Food here it's crazy cheap, the most expensive fine dining restaurant is DiverXO at 365€, elBulli was something around that too

Price doesn't drive people away. It drives modest income people away. This is considered a luxury good, the rich will still fill up that restaurant. It defies basic economics, when you increase price, demand goes down. Not when it comes to luxury goods and services.

No, this is a good tip! Feels obvious but many people forget this.

All the people there speak Euskera and Spanish. Anyone speaking english knows at least 3 languages. Just a note.

It's 2024, no excuse for anyone in a European county not to speak English.

@@nielscarp It's 2024, no excuse to not learn Spanish if you decide to stay there.

@@nielscarp They speaks two languages, probably you only one

@@juliofernandez9616 I speak three languages, Dutch, English and German. And good luck with that narrow minded mindset thinking that anyone who advocates for speaking english must be either American or British. Let's see how far Spanish will get you in China or Africa.

He said for 300, not 3000, so he only took the meal itself into account

if he did not care about awards why was he at the awards ceremony for 50s best restaurants...

@@Majinbuhwell you can still appreciate the awards you get without making the whole concept around your restaurant award focused