Visiter l'Espagne
Silabario, Vigo, Galicia
Its not surprising that this restaurant features in the list of the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurants, as it offers one of the lowest-priced menus (named “Berbés”) in this category in Europe. This menu changes in line with market availability and includes seasonal hors d’œuvres (recently, stuffed mussels) two starter options (for example, a creamy wild mushroom soup with duck scratchings, or grilled cod), the choice between a fish and meat main course (such as the Galician version of Fish & Chips (with hake) or the ravioli stuffed with Galician beef stroganoff and “caldo de Gloria”, a typical Galician stock). To round off your meal, choose between two desserts (currently, a Cebreiro cheese flan with coffee cream, and a Greek yoghurt sponge with baked strawberry cream).Berbés menu: hors d’œuvres of the day + starter + main course + dessert + bread for 32€. Excluding drinks. Available for lunch and dinner midweek Tuesday to Thursday, and Friday lunch only. Not available on public holidays and evenings prior to public holidays.
Cod “á brasa” © Uqui Permui - Silabario
Les Moles, Ulldecona, Catalunya
At this restaurant, Jeroni Castell, the self-taught chef at the helm of this family business, offers his Tradición menu, which showcases local, seasonal ingredients and changes weekly. It includes 3 hors d'œuvres, a cold starter, three mains (one fish, one meat and one rice), plus a choice of two desserts. These are all served as half-portions, along with homemade bread. In the eyes of the team here, “Cooking is a way of life, a way of seeing and understanding what is all around us, and this is the way we prefer to learn. Proximity, pleasure and technique are the cornerstones of the dishes that emerge from our kitchen, and are at the core of our continued development and evolution. It is vital that our philosophy, our values, our way of thinking and our understanding of everything that is around us are reflected on the plate.”Tradición menu: 3 hors d’œuvres + cold starter + fish + rice + meat + dessert + homemade bread for 43.90€ (49.90€ for dinner). Excluding drinks. Available for lunch midweek from Tuesday to Friday, and on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Grilled sea bass and peppers from our biodynamic vegetable garden © Claudio Ianau – Les Moles
Nova, Ourense, Galicia
At this restaurant in the heart of Ourense, chefs Julio Sotomayor and Daniel Guzmán, who are cousins as well as business partners, offer their Raíces menu for 55 euros. Their obsessions are as follows: making haute cuisine affordable to everyone, democratising fine dining through prices that are as inexpensive as possible, and making local ingredients the standard-bearers of local agriculture. Via this menu, which is the simplest they currently offer their customers, they explain that they are trying ”to pay an intangible homage to our childhood memories.” Since Nova opened in 2012, one idea has been ever present: that of a restaurant firmly rooted to tradition, the soil, the family and to memories.”Raíces menu: 3 hors d’œuvres + 2 starters + fish + meat + pre-dessert + dessert + petit fours + bread for 55€. Excluding drinks. Available for lunch, dinner and at weekends.
Razor clam, seaweed and smoke salad © Estéphane Lutier – Nova
Trigo, Valladolid, Pisuerga
Víctor Martín, in the kitchen, and his wife Noemí Martínez, in charge of the dining room and wine cellar, are the duo at the helm of this restaurant in the city of Valladolid. Here, you’ll find their “Como en casa” (Like at home) menu, comprising three different hors d'œuvres, two starters, one fish or meat dish, plus a dessert (or selection of cheeses). Dishes here change with the seasons, adapting to the availability of seasonal ingredients, but with a contemporary vision and one founded on tradition. For a small supplement, opt for the wine-pairing recommendations suggest by the team here, enabling you to take advantage of the restaurant’s superb wine cellar.“Como en casa” menu: 3 hors d’œuvres + 2 starters + fish or meat + dessert or cheeses + bread for 40€. Excluding drinks (except water). Available for lunch from Wednesday to Friday.
Chestnuts, acorn and autumn leaves © Trigo
Garena, Dima, Vizkaya
Occupying a traditional Basque farmhouse surrounded by the Gorbea and Urkiola nature reserves, this restaurant offers a “Mercado” (market) menu for 48 euros, which is designed to take full advantage of the best ingredients available daily. Chef Julen Baz uses seasonal ingredients to create a menu of innovative dishes which are teeming with freshness and personality. “We offer a gastronomic experience in a delightful 17C “baserri”, a farm surrounded by vineyards and old traditions. Garena’s cuisine revisits the key elements of our ancestor’s food requirements, which were designed to feed entire families, such as stews simmered for many hours and meticulously prepared by our mothers and grandmothers.”“Mercado”: hors d’œuvres + starter + dish of the day + fish + meat + dessert for 48€. Excluding drinks. Available Monday, Thursday and Friday lunchtimes, and for dinner on Saturdays.
Grilled lamb “zikiro" © Garena
La Tasquería, Madrid
Javi Estévez, one of Spain’s foremost offal chefs, carefully and meticulously transforms this ingredient into top-notch dishes on the 55€ M menu at his Madrid restaurant. Featuring three hors d’œuvres, bread and olive oil, four main courses, one dessert and petits fours, the menu is a delight for the tastebuds, even enticing guests who, for whatever reason, have eaten little offal in the past. It is possible to completely adapt the composition of the menu, for example by ordering different dishes for each of the guests at the table in order to try more options. Other dishes, such as the legendary confit and fried suckling pig’s head (for 2 guests), can also be added as necessary.M Menu: 3 hors d’œuvres + 4 main courses + dessert + petit fours + bread and olive oil for 55€. Excluding drinks. Available for lunch (Monday to Saturday) and dinner (Monday to Friday).
Pork tail with smoked eel © La Tasquería
Malak, Jaén, Andalucia
Awarded one Michelin star just a few days ago, this restaurant run by young chef Javier Jurado and his wife Belén Martínez (in charge of the dining room) offers a 54€ menu entitled “Aldeas Perdidas” (Lost Villages), which includes nine courses divided into four sections. The dining experience here takes guests on a journey into the heart of the Sierra de Segura, with its lost villages and delightful landscapes, in a setting surrounded by mountains from where the chef has rekindled fond memories of the past through an exquisite array of flavours. The name of this culinary project, Malak (“angels” in Arabic), is evocative of Javier Jurado’s grandparents’ restaurant in Los Angeles, where he developed his vocation as a child.“Aldeas Perdidas” menu: 8 courses + dessert + petit fours + bread for 54€. Extra-virgin olive oil and sheep’s milk butter available for a 3€ supplement. Excluding drinks. Available for lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Saturday, and for lunch on Sunday only).
Tomato confit, cream of sheep’s milk, Iberian ham and basil © Malak
Radis, Jaén, Andalucia
Still in Jaén, and just a few minutes’ walk away, is a second restaurant which has been awarded one Michelin star in the latest edition of the guide. Radis (the French word for “radish”) offers its 58€ AL-HAYAR menu, on which chef Juanjo Mesa revisits timeless and traditional dishes. Having gained his spurs in the kitchens of leading restaurants such as Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao, Mugaritz, Noor, and Bagá, Juanjo Mesa now offers his own vision of flavours from his childhood on a 9-course menu that reveals his superb and delicate technical ability and showcases his passion for food. As he says himself, “Radis is all about time-honoured recipes and home cooking, the type of dishes my mother would cook. And as I’ve always said, and will continue to do so, there will never be a shortage of croquettes on the menu at Radis!” The AL-HAYAR menu is complemented by a more extensive 15-course option. No à la carte.AL-HAYAR menu: 9 courses for 58€. Excluding drinks and bread. Available for lunch except Tuesdays (closed) and for dinner from Wednesday to Saturday.
“Bellota” ham croquette © Radis
Terra, Fisterra, Galicia
Yet another new Michelin-starred restaurant, where chef Brais Pichel offers a 55€ menu featuring 12-14 dishes depending on the day, on which the best-quality ingredients are always the star attraction. Brais Pichel does not offer “permanent” dishes on his menu, instead he always works with local producers, organic vegetables and, given his coastal environment, fish and seafood from the auction in Fisterra and neighbouring ports. His modern cuisine makes use of fermented ingredients, fresh herbs and home-made vinegars, with the overall aim of endowing his dishes with their own personality, while at the same time paying full respect to his ingredients. Terra is the personal project of this chef (who has previously worked in the kitchens of esteemed restaurants such as Casa Marcial and Mina) which he has established in the former premises of his father and which was previously the house of his grandparents. The restaurant opened in July 2021 and is staffed by the chef himself, his cousin and right-hand man Gabriel, and one server.Tasting menu: 12-14 small plates + bread for 55€. Excluding drinks. Available for lunch from Wednesday to Sunday and for dinner for on Fridays and Saturdays.
Salted and smoked albacore tuna with corn, fermented carrot marinade © Terra
Adrián Quetglas, Palma, Mallorca
Originally from Buenos Aires, chef Adrián Quetglas has given his name to this restaurant opened in 2015, where he offers a five-“step” 55€ menu with a concept that aims to “democratise” haute cuisine for his Spanish and international guests. His cuisine is frequently updated (every two weeks or so) and includes dishes such as “loin of lamb, anchovy sauce, marinated daikon and red berry powder”, which showcases his market-inspired cooking. Over time he has perfected his dishes thanks to his unique vision, imbuing them with a resolutely Mediterranean character and influences from places where the chef has stayed, such as London, Paris and Moscow.Tasting menu (5 courses): 4 main courses + dessert for 55€. Excluding drinks. Available for lunch from Tuesday to Friday.
Loin of lamb, anchovy sauce, marinated daikon and red berry powder © Adrián Quetglas
Chirón, Valdemoro, Madrid
Chirón is proof that it is possible to eat reasonably priced food in a Michelin-starred restaurant withing spitting distance of the Spanish capital! This restaurant offers a Business menu from Tuesday to Friday (excluding public holidays) for just 34€, enabling guests to experience some of the restaurant’s signature dishes such as black pudding (morcilla) yoghurt. For an 11€ supplement, diners can also add the “socarrat rice with scallops and aioli”. In the evening, the restaurant also serves its 45€ “Especial Noches” menu. At Chirón, chef Iván Muñoz conjures up modern, creative cuisine with its roots in the Madrid region and embellished with a few touches from La Mancha, while always respecting the local ingredients sourced from the neighbouring fertile plains of the Tagus, Jarama and Tajuña rivers.Business menu: welcome hors d’œuvres + olive oils from the Madrid region and artisanal bread + black pudding yoghurt + starter + fish + meat + dessert + petit four for 34€. Excluding drinks. Available for lunch from Tuesday to Friday, except public holidays.
Morcilla black pudding yoghurt © Fernando Campos – Chirón
Atalaya, Alcossebre, Castellón
This restaurant, which its young owners Emanuel Carlucci and Alejandra Herrador opened in 2014, offers a rice-based menu showcasing this emblematic and typical ingredient from the region. These two chefs met while working at Martín Berasategui and together offer this 55€ menu featuring a variety of snacks and 5 courses (which vary in line with seasonal ingredients). This rice menu is a key element of their cuisine, which pays homage to their local landscapes and coastline (rice is also served with fish or seafood) and enables guests to take advantage of a different option to Atalaya’s tasting menus featuring a larger number of courses (the Goleta menu includes snacks and 13 courses for 110€, while the Bergantín menu features snacks and 9 courses for 85€).The Arroz menu is also an example of putting into practice their philosophy of showcasing food resources and sustainability. As an example, they enhance the flavour of the rice stock by using parts of fish and seafood from other menus and, in reverse, use the stock to add flavour to other dishes.
Arroz menu: snacks + 5 courses for 55€. Excluding drinks. Available for lunch from Wednesday to Sunday, except Saturdays and public holidays.
Welcome snacks © Luis Arenos Corujo et Lorenzo Carda Sancho – Atalaya
Quelques exemples supplémentaires d’adresses étoilées économiques :
Xerta (Barcelona, 45€)
Ababol (Albacete, 50€)
ARREA! (Santa Cruz de Campezo, 50€)
Fogony (Sort, 50€)
Caelis (Barcelona, 55€)
Dama Juana (Jaén, 58€)
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Image d'illustration : © Claudio Ianau - Les Moles
