If you have had the luck to visit Japan, perhaps you have experienced the feeling of seeing that there are many things that escape you. And instead of feeling overwhelmed by the situation, you feel the comfort of knowing that you find yourself in a complex cultural framework in which you are ignorant and that, even if you were to stay and live there forever, you could never fully unravel it. An ancestral sediment that goes beyond comprehension and for which you can only feel respect and admiration. This happens with ancient cultures. For this reason, when I set foot in Axpe, in Atxondo, to visit the Txispa restaurant, suddenly it makes a lot of sense that Basque and Japanese culture have understood each other so well. The Basques are one of the oldest and most resilient peoples in the world, and here Tetsuro Maeda has found his home.

Ten years ago, Guillem Salazar and a friend of his decided to start a gastronomic project in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. Covid caused a lot of damage and changed the mindset and priorities of many people. Ignasi, his friend and partner, decided to take another path, and Guillem was left alone at the helm of the project. Today he is the owner, leader, and chef of Debut, a very personal proposal that has the support of a great team.

We were already in tomato injury time –they are practically the last ones of the season–, and Roger Viñas has used them to prepare a wonderful gazpacho. He tells me that people don't ask for it much, even though the tomatoes are from Xavier Carbó, from the Mas Rabassa agricultural estate, in Sant Genís de Palafolls. "If only they knew," I say to myself. And the lamb meatballs? They are from Cal Tomàs, in La Pobla de Segur. Meatballs made of lean organic Xisqueta lamb served with a bread and garlic sauce. A perfect dish: for its quality and the values it conveys. You will find all of this on Passeig de Sant Joan in Barcelona.

What a discovery, dear readers. I arrived there because a restorer expert in spoon cooking recommended it on Instagram. I thought: "If he says so, it must be tasted". It is a small, simple, and charming place in Barceloneta. Finally, I have a favorite spot to go eat rice in the seaside neighborhood. A new establishment, since it is only a year and a half old, but it feels like a restaurant that has always been there. Ideal for those who like to dip bread, for those who slurp shells and do not mind getting their fingers dirty, and for people who know that eating is so important that time must be dedicated to it. This week I present to you the Casa Maians.

Gerard's life changed twice before he reached adulthood. The first, at 12 years old, when his parents decided to leave Barcelona and move to Mexico to start a new life there. The second, at 17, when he discovered what he wanted his future to be. He started an internship at Tezka, a restaurant advised by Juan Mari Arzak, and there he understood that cooking was much more than a job: it was his place. He stayed there for a year without earning a single penny. He didn't care. He had found his path. Tezka was his first school. The second came at the Spanish embassy in Mexico; he had gone only for a period of three months and ended up staying for three years. Afterward, he returned to Spain and passed through Arzak and El Bulli, two of the great kitchens that would mark his way of understanding gastronomy. But Mexico was still waiting for him. He returned there to open Biko, a restaurant that would end up becoming one of the 50 best in the world.

Very close to Plaça Osca there is a charming tavern. Casual. With a nice patio in the back, very cozy. Like "a Balinese space without Buddhas," they describe it. And with an offer that you will not find anywhere else. Catalan cuisine with an Indonesian finish. I ended up there without knowing anything about it, other than that it was called Bitxo. And once I had the menu in my hands I said "hey, we are in an interesting place." It didn't take me long to figure out where the talent came from. And then I understood everything.

“I am a painter!” This is how Laia Armengol, the visible face and soul of the new Beirut, defines herself. “I have gone from spending many hours in silence, alone, still, painting, to not stopping moving, surrounded by people and chatting non-stop”.

Autumn is one of the most attractive times to discover the Garrotxa. The colors of the Fageda d'en Jordà, which Joan Maragall immortalized in one of his poems, the paths of the volcanic zone, charming villages like Santa Pau or Besalú, and postcard landscapes like those of the Vall d'en Bas or the Vall de Bianya make the region an especially suitable destination for a getaway. And, after walking, one of the best ways to end the day is to sit down at the table.

“We are just getting the stall started,” says Ton Díaz. In a corner of the Ninot market in Barcelona’s Eixample district, Tonet del Mercat—or just Tonet—has been set up for a few weeks now. It bears Ton Díaz’s name because he is the axis around which this project revolves, based on nose-to-tail cooking, such as offal and other meat by-products. “This week we are adding sweetbreads and kidneys with sherry and onions,” says a thrilled Díaz.

Virgilio Martínez (Lima, 1977) is one of the most renowned chefs in the world. His restaurant Central, in Lima, was considered the best in the world in 2023. It was a milestone that no one had ever achieved in Latin America. And he achieved it by placing at the center the ingredients used in all the ecosystems and altitudes of Peru. Many of them, safeguarded by indigenous communities. “When I was a child, they told me that these people were poor. Later I understood that they were rich,” says the chef. In addition to Central, he has the Mil restaurant, where he cooks Andean cuisine at 3,800 meters, and a multidisciplinary knowledge center called Mater. Martínez speaks to ARA at the Andorra Taste congress, dedicated to high-mountain gastronomy, where he was awarded the career achievement award. An award previously received by Michel Bras, Gastón Acurio, Ferran Adrià, and Carme Ruscalleda.

The Ter river is born in a spring in Ulldeter (Ripollès) and flows into the Mediterranean. Very close to the Gola del Ter there is a restaurant founded in 1961 by the Xicars family. In this location, converted into a hostel restaurant, there used to be a farmhouse where Josep Xicars' great-grandfather lived, trying to cover basic needs to help the family grow. "At eight years old, I was already peeling potatoes. The shower was a basin and we had to go to the fields to relieve ourselves. My father turned it into what it is now, and I have followed in his footsteps," comments Josep, feeling the weight of the passing years.We are in a pleasant place that is part of an enviable environment. "The river is life", as was claimed in the early 2000s in the Terres de l'Ebre in an environmental and territorial protest. The sea is right nearby. The clientele is mostly local, with some visiting practitioners of the noble sport of golf. Within a radius of very few kilometers, we find Empordà Golf and Golf de Pals, two highly renowned golf courses.We don't play around, but we really enjoy discovering places where one can eat well, wherever they may be. Knowing the virtues of the restaurant (fish, seafood, and good rice dishes), we begin the meal with some Gillardeau oysters, some steamed rock mussels with orange vinaigrette, a plate of sand eels, and an exceptional jig-caught squid. The wine that accompanies us is Els Boscals, a 2023 black garnacha from the Boscals valley, in Les Gavarres.Once we have finished the first courses, we move on to the second, in the singular. We play it safe and order a Pals rice with lobster. Everything is perfect: the ingredients, the flavor, and the cooking are at their optimal point. We can only say good things about it. For dessert, puff pastry with angel hair and communion wine, coulant of chocolate and nougat ice cream.Waiting for relief

Josep is a peculiar guy, with good conversation. We sit in the dining room, where there are paintings representing his father. “My father started by doing a bit of everything. He worked as a cook, he was a fisherman, a hunter, he had made the tables himself... He lived basically off the river environment”. Josep is not a professional cook, he is one out of necessity and because life has brought him here. “Well, for me, just like for my father, I have always liked to eat well, and that is the main basis for knowing how to cook. If you know how to eat well, you will know how to cook well, because that is the best way to satisfy the diner. You want the best for them”.He is nearing his seventies and is eager to retire, but for the moment he cannot find anyone to replace him. In the meantime, he enjoys the satisfaction of a job well done and the recognition of his customers. Sooner or later he will leave it, and we hope that life grants him many more years of health so he can live without working and enjoy a rest that he has earned since, at the age of eight, he started peeling potatoes in the family business.We, as long as we are at the foot of the canyon, will return. There are meals and people that become unforgettable.

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These are major festival days in the city (with the permission of Santa Eulàlia). So, I am taking the opportunity to make a list of highly recommended restaurants in the city of Barcelona. A question I am asked very often is “what is your top 10 restaurants in Barcelona”. I am not a big fan of rankings. Besides, there are too many factors that make them impossible to compare. To go with a partner? To celebrate an anniversary? To go with children? What budget are we talking about? So, take this compilation as a handful of restaurants that I encourage you to visit.

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At the Andorra Taste congress, dedicated to high-mountain cuisine, a large group of chefs comes together to define what this cuisine made at altitude is. They ask themselves what territory is, what tradition means, and, ultimately, a space for debate is generated to help grow the gastronomy of the small country in the Pyrenees and of the chefs from other territories present. In a round table held at the idyllic Borda del Pi titled "From territory to identity" and moderated by Benjamin Lana, director of the congress, the chefs present made several statements that may be controversial. We review them in the form of a list:

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The RíasKRU restaurant in Barcelona (c. Lleida, 7) "is not for sale for more than two million euros despite what a real estate agency says," states manager Borja Iglesias, who adds that he has asked the agency to remove the advertisement stating that it is for sale, and that, if they do not do so, they will take legal action." It is a fact that this year marks forty years since the Rías de Galicia was inaugurated by the Galician couple Cándido Iglesias and Purificación García. Later, their three children took charge, but during the covid pandemic they took the restaurant into insolvency proceedings, and it was bought by businessman Manuel Lao, the current owner.The RíasKru is the fusion of Rías de Galicia, which is located on the ground floor, and the Espai Kru, on the first floor, both specialized in fish and seafood, and both restaurants have marked an era of fine gastronomy in the city of Barcelona.

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Àlex and Pau are two friends and former classmates from the Joviat School, with a shared gastronomic background in both the professional and personal spheres. One day, in La Barceloneta, they decided to set up a business together. The chosen place was Llívia, and this is the short story of the birth of the Trumfes restaurant. That was seventeen years ago.Since Easter, however, the partnership has dissolved. Pau has decided to seek new personal and professional incentives outside of Llívia, while Àlex has opted to provide continuity to the project, bringing freshness and new ideas to it. Àlex Molas is a fighter and a tireless worker. He does what is necessary at every moment to feel good about himself, his family, and a team fully committed to this project so deeply rooted in the territory.Trumfes' cuisine is based on the product and seasonality, to which it adds talent and unexpected connections. We ask Àlex to prepare a menu that allows us to discover, in a single meal, the gastronomic proposal of this benchmark restaurant. We start with a salt cod brandade and an anchovy with aged meat fat. It is a risky combination, because the anchovy has a lot of personality, but the contrast works. In this case, the surf and turf is very well executed. Next, we are served a Russian salad with red prawn tartare; a fig coca with salt-cured foie gras, candied pine nuts and duck ham, and a tiradito of aged old cow with marinated tuna, teriyaki sauce and fresh sprouts. They are tasty dishes that connect very different universes.We stop for a moment to talk about wine. Àlex is an enthusiast and a great connoisseur who tastes, searches, buys, and continues learning every day with the goal of offering a complete experience to the diner. “I always think about what I would like to find in a restaurant, but, above all, I try to understand the customer. It is true that there are wines that I am personally passionate about, but my job is to find what fits with the food and with the person I have in front of me”. He explains this to us while serving us a bottle of Vèrtebra de la Figuera 2022, a fresh Garnacha from the winery Terroir Sense Fronteres. It is a wine we did not know and are grateful to have discovered.Classic dishes and triumphant reinterpretations

We continue with one of the new proposals on the menu: pork jowl with sea cucumber. Àlex and Javi, the head chef, have been adjusting the flavors until finding the perfect balance with the chanterelles and the pil-pil sauce. After this novelty, comes a classic that has been triumphing for seventeen years: the octopus carpaccio. They prepare it by slicing the legs very thinly and serve it with potato foam and olive oil. It is their personal interpretation of Galician-style octopus. We finish the main courses with a grilled sea bass from the Blanes fish market and a cut of Asturian meat. And, for dessert, the famous hazelnut coulant and a cheese board from the Catalan Pyrenees.Once this magnificent meal is finished, Àlex shows us the cellar. We are on the floor below, in a reserved space that is a delight. Since we don't have to drive today, we take small sips of Grandma's ratafia while we chat with him for a while. During the conversation, he especially highlights the role of his team in carrying this successful project forward.Javier, Helena, Ekaterina, Ivan, Camelia and Naia are fundamental pieces to achieve what Alex is pursuing: “We want to provide good food and have people come to enjoy it”. We can assure you that they succeed. The food, the service, the space and the surroundings make the Trumfes restaurant an essential gastronomic destination. The new stage looks very good.

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Joan is 82 years old. This means that seventy years ago, when he was twelve, he started working. First in a hardware store in his neighborhood, La Barceloneta. Later, to earn a little more money, he started washing glasses on Sundays at the bar next door, Casa Pascual. The owner saw he was sharp and told him to work there full-time. He went from earning 75 pesetas a week to earning 150. Imagine what a raise and how happy they were at home! He kept working hard until one day he realized he needed to have one day off a week: Sunday. They already had two daughters with Soledad Martínez, and a third one was on the way. That is how Bar Joan was born, to be able to have 24 hours of rest.

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“This summer, on several occasions, I have been asked for half a glass of wine,” explains Camila Espinoza. She is a sommelier and owner of Pepa Bar a Vins, a restaurant that is always packed on Aribau Street in Barcelona. Faced with my look of astonishment, she tells me that it is not an isolated incident. In some cases, it is to save money. They ask for one glass of wine and an empty one, and they share it. In others, it is not an economic saving but a way to be able to taste more wines without needing to drink so much alcohol. She confirms this herself with water orders. Before, she used to order four cases of water a week, and now she orders six. “Regarding water, obviously there is also a key factor, which is the heat we have had this summer. This has combined with the general drop in alcohol consumption and the drop in purchasing power, but also the infernal heat,” she clarifies. “I think it’s fine that people want to take better care of themselves, right? It’s just that everyone has lost purchasing power. We have too.” However, she has decided not to incorporate non-alcoholic wine references in her restaurant, despite the trend. “Instead of serving non-alcoholic wine, we prefer to offer water or a kombucha made in Gelida,” Espinoza concludes.

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“Haute cuisine is dead. I am closing Table. On December 22nd I will do the last service,” announced the French chef Bruno Verjus by surprise this Tuesday on Instagram. The reason he gave was just as blunt: “I don’t feel comfortable with the fact of excluding people from my table. Because the idea of haute cuisine is to bring people to discover extraordinary food and service. But more and more I felt that I was doing things that belonged to the past. I need to move somewhere else. I want to feed people, but not just a few.” His Parisian restaurant has fourteen years of life and two Michelin stars and in 2024 it reached the third position of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

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There are restaurants that serve meals and there are others that, almost without realizing it, end up serving memories. Leles gets emotional when she talks about everything she has experienced within the walls of the Las Palmeras restaurant. It is no wonder: she was born here, she grew up here, and she has been working here for more than thirty years. Her father, Gonzalo, opened the restaurant in 1970 on the Passeig Marítim in Torredembarra. Back then, the menu was simple: salads, paellas, and not much else. The promenade was different, too. "Before, palm trees reigned here. Now it doesn't look anything like that anymore," says Leles, amusingly nostalgic. In 2001, the family decided to take a step forward. They renovated the premises, updated the menu, and changed its name. Las Palmeras was a tribute to that promenade of the past. They also expanded the gastronomic offer: in addition to the rice dishes, the house's Holy Grail, they added fish and Galician meats. "When I was young, I was studying, and whenever I could, I would come to help the family. The idea was not to stay and work here, but life takes you down paths you hadn't always imagined," explains Nieves Muñoz, whom everyone knows as Leles.

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The Vermilion Coast has many points in common with the Costa Brava. Coves, fishing villages, vineyards by the sea, and Catalan cuisine. But there is less overcrowding, less international tourism, and often, prices are also more competitive. From Banyuls to Collioure, this coastline of Northern Catalonia offers many ways to eat in front of the Mediterranean. On this tour, we have chosen five, including one on the plain, right by the Leucate lagoon. These are proposals that do not seek the same thing: there are those who prioritize the product and identity, those who put the landscape at the center, those who bet on international cuisine, and those who seek a more sophisticated gastronomic experience. The sea, however, is present at all tables and landscapes. Hurry up, as they are about to close for the season.

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