Munching on Michelin Stars

A LIVELY, cosmopolitan country, Spain is home to a wealth of well-known attractions including the Prado museum and the magnificent Royal Palace in Madrid, the Basilica de la Sagrada in Barcelona and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Spain is also feted for its exciting and varied cuisine ranging from home-style recipes to elaborately prepared feasts. And it was this aspect of Spain that Siam Paragon chose to highlight recently for the fourth in its series of gustatory voyages that express appreciation to its loyal Platinum M customers.
Our journey starts with a walk through the Spanish capital’s Plaza Mayor, the grand arcaded square in the centre of Madrid built in the 16th Century during the reign of Philip III, on our way to lunch at Marisqueria Norte Sur. One of the best-known seafood restaurants in the city, its stars dishes include steamed Galician Crab, baby squid cooked with onions and prawns in garlic sauce. 
Sated but unable to resist a sweet treat, we enjoy extra dessert at Chocolateria San Gines, a cafe justifiably famed for its churros and hot chocolate. 
Madrid is a hospitable and very open city, and this is also reflected in the cooking. Football fans, especially those who support Real Madrid, like to dine at Asador Donostiarra, the well-known Basque steakhouse that’s frequented by Cristiano Ronaldo and other celebrities of both sports and stage. Opened in 1976, it offers an outstanding meat menu and bookings must be made well in advance. Fortunately for us, Siam Paragon had planned well ahead and we dined like emperors on home-made bread with olive oil, preserved olives and Gildas peppers followed by steaks that arrived at the table sliced and raw along with a scalding asador (grill).
The same stringent reservation requirements are also required for the one Michelin starred eatery Asador Etxebarri, and Siam Paragon’s Saruntorn Asaves tells us that she spent six months trying to get a table. A regular on the list of the world’s 50 best restaurants, Asador Etxebarri is located in Atxondo, a small town near Mount Anboto in Biscay province. It’s run by Victor Arquinzoniz, who is happy to open his kitchen to his Thai guests. His speciality is to cook everything over a grill including his signature desert – a reduced milk ice cream with beetroot juice and chocolate curd. Arquinzoniz is proud to preserve the ancient techniques of grill cooking using carefully selected firewood from different trees to work in harmony with the locally cultivated produce, most of it from his own back garden. The menu varies according to the products available and for our lunch he prepares chickpea broth, foie gras and beetroot, goat butter and black truffle of Pergola, sea urchin with pumpkin, Palamos prawn, fresh chorizo and corn, anchovies and arugula and more. 
The next stop finds us in San Sebastian, which is home to an impressive 14 Michelin stars. Basque country is considered one the most celebrated culinary regions in Europe and Rekondo’s chef Inaki Arriet takes our breath away by letting us peek at the restaurant’s cellar, which holds well in excess of 100,000 bottles of rarely found wine. 
But Basque gastronomy isn’t all high-end eateries and despite having one Michelin Star since 2014, the family restaurant Elkano in Getaria, a small fishing village just west of San Sebastian, is relatively modest. Opened by Pedro Arregui in 1964 and now run by the third generation of his family, it’s devoted to fish. Among the star dishes are kokotxas (hake) and turbot, which are grilled on an open fire in front of the restaurant. Our tour leader explains that Spanish food is recognised by the folks at Michelin purely for its taste with presentation and decor counting for little.

We also spend a short time Bilbao, considered a reference in contemporary urban renovation and home to the truly amazing Guggenheim Museum.
Our Basque adventure over, we return to Madrid to experience Zen Market, Europe’s largest deluxe Asian restaurant led by Hong Kong chef Roger Chen. Apart from fabulous Chinese and Asian cuisine, the restaurant offers a panoramic view of the magnificent Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. 
Anxious not to upset our Spanish hosts, we also drop in to the Vicente Calderon Stadium, the home of Atletico Madrid Club where we meet Fernando Torres, one of the team’s star players.
The last day in Madrid is special and we start it at hip restaurant StreetXO. Located inside El Corte Ingles department store, it’s owned by the only three-star Michelin chef in Madrid, David Munoz. The cuisine of StreetXO is based on a philosophy of street food devised by the Mohawk-toting chef, who offers a range of Asian-inspired dishes. As much gastropub as restaurant, the food here is Izakaya style with such creative dishes as Korean lasagna old Galician beef, smoked baby scallops with garlic butter, Marinated and lacquered rabbit shoulder Balinese satay, Cocido Madrid-Hong Kong and Crispy burger XO.
We bid farewell to Spain with dinner at the two Michelin starred La Terraza del Casino, an exceptionally luxurious restaurant surrounded by the historic buildings of Calle Alcala. Since 1988, the restaurant has been run by chef Paco Roncero and is acclaimed as one of most innovative options to enjoy a good table and Spanish haute cuisine. Here guests are welcomed with traditional music and Flamenco dance followed by a feast that includes eight starters and two mains. Among them Jerusalem artichoke revolconas, Guacamole with toasted corn, Thai peanuts and Mackerel Vietnamese roll, Cod fish kokotaxas with black olive tempura, Baby squid in their own ink dumpling, Hake with shallots and codium seaweed, and venison sirloin with sweet potato and cassis.
  TREATS FOR THE TUMMY
- “The Gastronomy Trip in Spain” is one of the special activities organised by Siam Paragon to strengthen its position as the unparalleled service provider. 
- Special thanks are due to Emirates airline for its excellent service.