Martín Berasategui

Martín Berasategui (Donostia-San Sebastián, 1960) is one of the standard-bearers of Spanish avant-garde cuisine and the Spanish chef with the most Michelin stars to his credit, 11. He is the only chef in Spain who owns two restaurants in Spain with three Michelin stars, in the Basque Country and in Barcelona.

As a child, Berasategui learnt cooking from his mother and his aunt in their traditional Basque restaurant in the old center of Donostia-San Sebastián. At 20, after the death of his father, he took charge of the restaurant. During the holidays he studied – pastrymaking, charcuterie and ice cream – in France. Back home, he gradually introduced new techniques, receiving his first Michelin star. He continued to develop his personal style and was able to open his own restaurant in 1993. 

Located in Lasarte-Oria, the Martín Berasategui restaurant launched a review of traditional Basque cuisine. In 2001, his was the fourth Spanish restaurant to receive a third Michelin star after Arzak, El Racó de Can Fabes and elBulli.

Top priority, the products

There are three specific features in Berasategui’s approach which he has been defending for the last three decades – excellent products, skilled techniques and hard work. Together with the influence from Basque cuisine result in cooking that is sincere and reveals character. Berasategui openly acknowledges that he likes cooking with a minimum of distractions. It is flavor that should stand out, and that flavor should be as natural as possible. He prefers local, hand grown ingredients, reaching him with all their properties almost intact, and playing a full role in the creative process. He often focuses on Spanish products: olive oil, wine, garlic… At home, he still uses an old, energy-saving, coal-fired range, standing next to a simple, modern cooker. His zeal for professional perfection and discipline has not kept him from developing a key aspect of gastronomy today: teamwork. Training has been provided in his kitchens for some of great young chefs guaranteeing a promising future. And mention must be made of the careful service at the restaurant tables under the supervision of his wife, Oneka Aguirre.

From the Basque Country to the world

While being focused on his restaurant in Lasarte-Oria (three stars), Berasategui has done lots of gastronomic advisory services for decades and also launched the spuMb line of disposable catering equipment. From the Basque Country to Catalonia, from Shanghai (China) to the Caribbean enclaves of Riviera Maya, Punta Cana and Dominican Republic, the chef has developed an impressive career that is hard to beat in the world of gastronomy and is dotted with far-reaching recognitions, such as the San Sebastian Golden Drum in 2005, the Doctor Honoris Causa Award by the François Rabelais University of Tours in 2013, the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Spain in 2019 and the Chef Mentor Award from the Michelin Guide Spain & Portugal 2022. 

14 restaurants, 11 Michelin stars…and keep going

Getting to know the cuisine of Berasategui today is possible in any of the 14 restaurants that he advises. In the mother house that he manages himself in Lasarte-Oria. And also in Lasarte (under the leadership of executive chef Paolo Casagrande), Oria and Fonda España (in Barcelona); MB, Txoko MB and Melvin by MB (in Tenerife, Canary Island); La Bodega de Ola and Ola (Bilbao); Fifty Seconds (Lisbon); Etxeko Ibiza and El Txoko de Martín (Balearic Island); Gastrobodega El Hilo de Ariadna (Rueda, Valladolid); and El Club Allard (Madrid).

The granting of the 11 Michelin star confirms an ongoing love affair between the Michelin Guide, the Basque chef and his business model, based on creating a reserve of great chefs capable of spreading the Berasategui style of haute cuisine around the world.