In a small seaside town by the name of Getaria, only 40mins bus ride away from San Sebastian, you'll find a temple which pays homage to this cooking philosophy: Restaurante Elkano. I could tell you more about the history of this family-owned business, but I want to get straight to what matters most.
To whet our appetites, an amuse-bouche of fresh anchovy with a delicately spicy tomato and onion salsa was presented before us. It did indeed entertain our palettes.
Between the three of us, we had three starters, one complete portion of hake kokotxas (kokotxas de merluza) cooked three ways (grilled on charcoal, deep fried, green sauce), one half portion of grilled white prawns (gambas a la plancha), and one half portion of oven baked spider crab (txangurro al horno).
Kokotxas aren't for everyone, in my opnion. They are a tad slimey and I guess some people would prefer the cheek of a fish or the main body. The fried and with green sauce versions were nice, but not overly impressive. However, in fitting with what this restaurant does best, the charcoal grilled rendition was memorable (middle in the picture below) - smokey, melt in your mouth goodness.
The standout starter for me was definitely the pair of white prawns. Exceedingly fresh - maybe some of the freshest I've ever eaten - whose sweet, tender and juicy flesh, when combined with smokey shell exterior (which I ate) was a truly memorable taste sensation. And, of course, the head juice of these prawns was simply sublime.
The baked spider crab, creamy and rich, was delicious, and paired very well with Elkano's truly awesome bread. But it didn't quite reach the levels of the prawns that preceded it, so we had even high expectations for the main event.
We waited in anticipation for our mains - a whole grilled turbot (rodaballo a la parilla), the speciality of the house (April/May is the season for turbot, so we were in luck). I just had to go and see these beauties on the grill - but be warned that if you also decide to have a peek, the intense heat will make even the hardiest folk sweat just a little.
The sight, smell and sound (yes, you can hear the skin sizzling) of the rodaballo was indeed matched by the taste. The waitress divided up the turbot into 3 types of flesh: 'white' skin flesh with the skin not facing the charcoal, 'black' skin flesh with the skin facing the coals, and lastly the bones and fins.
The first two were delicious; but the overriding memory will doubtless be that of eating the bones and the fins:
The charred outer bones were crispy, and the bones further towards the main body were surrounded by gelatinous collagen. This combination of smokey crispyness and unctuously creamy collagen is a truly memorable taste and textural experience. Of course, this restaurant has great service and an excellent set of cheap yet brilliant matching wines, but for me, this part of the turbot was probably the secret weapon restaurant in helping this restaurant win its Michelin star.
http://www.restauranteelkano.com/
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