Eating our way around Europe: Mmmmm Mugaritz....

This restaurant is considered one of the world’s best restaurants. Since 2006 it has made the world's top ten. Tony was soooo excited this morning…he has been dreaming about the experience since he booked, over one year ago…

We commenced our 24 course tasting menu in the garden…with a glass of cava (local champagne) and over the next four hours we were presented with amazing dishes on chopping boards, on rocks, wrapped in leaves, on exquisite ceramic/glass plates and in a set of wooden bowls that locked into each other (shaped like a Michelin man)…more about the bowls later…

The restaurant was very stylish and spacious with about 15 tables-of which 5 tables were Australians…proving we travel a long way for good food! We visited the very busy kitchen where we met the head chef, she explained the food was seasonal and the menu was adapted on the spot for personal preferences. There are 40 chefs in the kitchen almost one for each patron!

Back to the food…each dish was a surprise… for example one dish we were given metal mortar and pestles that had a mix of corn, herbs and spices…we were then instructed to crush the morsels which released a gorgeous fresh aroma AND the bowls began to sing (like Tibetan singing bowls) AND this had been coordinated by the staff so all the patrons did this at the same time…AND there’s more…we were given a very pretty gelatinous cube (it had flowers trapped inside) that was placed in our mortar, we mixed again & after several minutes a beautiful broth…

Another pretty dish of delicate colourful flower looked like a mini bouquet… all from the Mugaritz garden which was impressive…lots of herbs too…we almost lost Bern in the oregano!

There were six desserts… which were also sensational…to get better idea have a look http://mugaritz.com/en/ AND to accompany our food Steve chose a lovely Tempranillo…I was relieved he did not choose the €2,200 bottello!

Back to the wooden bowls which were presented with the coffee…inside the wooden bowls were chocolates with each bowl having a theme of the 7 deadly sins…pride: chocolate eggs with gold dust, envy: chocolate coins in a soil of chocolate…I’ll stop at gluttony…I am sure you have got the picture!

On an amusing note, Tony was in control of unlocking/locking the bowls and managed to get some bowls stuck…somewhere between lust and gluttony…it took him a while but he fixed it…a bowl was upside down!!

Temperature: 25C Kcals: undisclosed Blood sugar levels: elevated