The year of the full house. This is how the Repsol guide defines its latest edition, which comes to certify the resurgence of the sector after leaving the pandemic crisis behind for good. This effervescence of new openings, full dining rooms and waiting lists that is felt in the big capitals, but also in rural areas, yields record figures for the reference publication of Spanish cuisine. Up to 101 novelties have been presented this Monday at a gala held in the Alicante Provincial Council Auditorium, which has witnessed the absolute triumph of El Corral de la Morería from Madrid and Moralba from Manchego, new additions to the premier category. Another 18 restaurants have received their second sun and up to 81, distributed throughout the national geography, achieve a distinction that places them on the map for the first time.
“There is no better news than calling a restaurant and being told that it is full,” said María Ritter, director of the guide. Something that usually happens in El Corral de la Morería, since it only offers 8 covers per service. In the mythical flamenco tablao, the Bilbao chef David García prepares a proudly Basque menu that pairs in curious harmony with the impressive collection of Jerez and Montilla wines from the sommelier Juanma del Rey. An experience with a leprechaun that The New York Times has included in its list of 1,000 places to visit before you die. It shares the highest distinction with Maralba, from La Mancha, in Almansa, where chef Fran Martínez and Cristina Díaz -the best sommelier in Spain in 2022- offer a proposal that plays with La Mancha roots and the freshness of Levante fish. Two examples of “serene and emotional cuisine” that, in Repsol’s opinion, deserve to be included in the select club of the 43 most prestigious restaurants in the country.
In the two suns category, the one that distinguishes the restaurants for which it is worth going miles, up to 18 very diverse novelties are included. Amelia and Rekondo or Bo.Tic and Castell Peralada, from San Sebastián, in Girona, show the modern and classic double path followed by gastronomy. Garena from Biscay, Oba or Montia from La Mancha, in San Lorenzo del Escorial, provide examples of decidedly rural cuisines, which make sense thanks to the landscape that surrounds them. Mantúa in Jerez or Ambivium, the restaurant of the Pago de Carraovejas winery, explore the relationship between gastronomy and wine. And in the art of grilling, Hika from Gipuzkoa and O’Pazo from A Coruña shine. There is more: Spoiled in Salamanca; The Lake, in Marbella; Or Camoño do Inglés, in Ferrol; Costa Adeje from Tenerife, Voro from Mallorca or Umiko and Deessa from Madrid, the restaurant run by Quique Dacosta at the Ritz hotel.
Escape from the urban maelstrom
As for those who receive their first sun, up to 81 in this edition, there is a clear vocation towards the rural environment. “There are many who have decided to leave the urban maelstrom behind and bet on returning to the town to cook their dream,” says Repsol to illustrate a sunbath that seems to deliberately flee from the big capitals. Revealing examples are provided by people like Carlos Oyarbide, -fourth generation of the saga at the head of the original Zalacaín- who has returned to San Adrián, in Navarra, or Jorge Asenjo, who has changed Donostia for Erro, in the quiet Makatzeta de Atxondo farmhouse.
But there are many more who prefer to build a project in their places of origin, close to the landscape that inspires them and the producers they know, rather than trying to make their way in the urban jungle. The Mesón Sabor Andaluz in the Cádiz town of Alcalá del Valle -where Pedro Aguilera, Revelation Chef at Madrid Fusión 2022, officiates-, La Casa de Manolo Franco in Valdemorillo, Lula by Aurora Torres in Los Montesinos (Alicante), Versatil in Zarza de Granadilla (Cáceres), the La Rioja Posada del Laurel or El Coto de Quevedo, in Ciudad Real, are just some of those rural restaurants that since Monday shine with the sun.
The list also includes other references to keep track of, such as Casas Colgadas, in Cuenca, by chef Jesús Segura, Cobo Evolución from Burgos, Comparte Bistró and Desde 1911 from Madrid or Kamín from Leon, among others, and certifies the talent of established figures like Albert Adrià in Enigma, Pedro Subijana in Espacio Oteiza or Dabiz Muñoz in RavioXO. The official list of winners is completed with four Soles Sostenibles to El Culler de Pau, La Finca, Molino de Alcuneza and Finca Alfoliz, and the two Soles de Honor awarded to two legends of national gastronomy such as Hilario Arbelaitz, from Zuberoa, and Abraham García, from Viridiana.