12 days in Spain & 4 days in Paris- 9/12/14- 9/9/28/14

Arrival-Amuse Bouche  The 1st 5 course Main & Dessert

ARZAK , San sebastian - 9/23/2014

Chef's menu- Main Dish & dessert

Hoa selected the Monkfish with sea buckthorn.

The waiter brought out an I-pad with a running video of a view of ocean waves completed with sound.

..then the waiter proceeded to put a huge clear see through glass plate on top of the I-pad.  A bit whimsical but it is entertaining as you can eat your monkfish while looking and hearing the sound of waves crashing on a shore right in front of you.

Grilled monkfish filet with sea buckthorn for a touch of acidity.

The monkfish was beautifully cooked and it was so succulent!

 

Minh ordered the White tuna with Rhubard and lilies

In between our main dishes Croquettes were served.

Our waitress try to explain the purpose of these croquettes but I could not understand what she was saying.

The croquette were bite size and they went down smoothly!
 

Loan selected the Beef with vegetable screens

Grilled beef ribeye with caramelized vegetable glasses and couscous

 

I choose the Foie Gras with green sauce

Seared Foie gras with seaweed cubes and green sauce

The dish was paired with a Chateau Villefranche sauternes 2011

Nothing to compare with the Sauternes we get from our personal sommelier 'Phuc"

I love Foie gras and the dish was perfectly executed.  The foie Gras has a nice sear and it is also beautifully decorated.  Looks like a garden full of flowers.

 

Lamb with plaster

Lamb served with roasted and plastered sweet potatoes, fried manioc and their juices.

Panna cotta was served as a cleanse palate before the arrival of our desserts.

 

Dessert

The big truffle

Large cocoa and sugar truffle with a creamy chocolate and carob filling

 

 The big Truffe was served with a lovely chocolate and orange liqueur sauce.

Our waitress pouring the chocolate sauce over the big Truffle.

The portion was too big and none of us could finish it.

 

Next came the Black Lemon.

 

It is a crispy lemon image with a sweet citrus cream interior sprinkled with lemon juice.

Too much chocolate for me... I like desserts but I wish something else was served beside chocolate.

 

Coffee

 

 

For the finale a Chocolate snacks shaped like screws and bolts was brought out.

They looked interesting but that is simply too much chocolate for dessert!

 

 During our meal Elena made the round and stopped at each table to say hi.  We asked to take a picture but she declined and asked us to wait until the end of our meal.

Following her advise and our our way out I asked if she could come out to give us an autograph.

 

We chatted with her a bit and she shared with us her dinning experience in New York and how much she enjoyed the city.  She was very warm and very likeable.

Before heading out we asked her if we could get a picture and she obliged.

 

The presentation of all the dishes were stunning, some of the dishes were more memorable than other and the overall dinning experience at Arzak was very good but it was not extraordinaire.  The staffs are not fluent in English and I think it diminished our experience with the food. Half of the time we could not understand what our waitress was saying while she was trying to describe the food but they took good care of us. We were not offered wine pairing with our meal and I wondered if something was lost in translation because looking at the website Arzak has a huge wine cellar.  The highlight for me was being able to talk to Elena.

 

Next... Paris

 

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