Restaurante Akelarre

This is definitely one of the best restaurants in the world, in my humble but honest opinion. The hillside location means that many of the tables look over an attractive blue sea. The service is pleasantly sublime and prescient as they magically appear to top up the glasses just when the wine is down to exactly 7 mm from the base. And talking of wines, the best Spanish is available, along with some excellent claret, and eventually we settled for a superb rioja.

Pedro Subijana is playful, inventive, technical, and a genius with food. Here is why.

For starters, we had a box of of what looks like chocolates - except that the "chocolates" were actually savouries, such as delicious morsels of succulent meats done to look like chocolate truffles. This was followed by the main courses which had inventive little peas of foie gras, spaghetti made of silky vegetable terrine, beef wrapped in copper foil, etc. Not only did they taste wonderful, they were also visually stunning.

The dessert was simply a joy. We were presented with a dried "saucisson" hung on a string, like a real dried salami. However, the salami was made of chocolate, and it was served with "bread" which was, of course, not bread at all. To find out what it is, you have to come and try the place yourself. Pedro will always attend to the guests after the meal and you can ask him yourself.

This is one place which richly deserves even more than its 3 Michelin stars and you will not regret coming here.