The MICHELIN guide Spain & Portugal 2015

Michelin unveiled the 2015 selection of the MICHELIN guide Spain & Portugal, which this year includes 3,158 addresses, of which 1,660 hotels and 1,498 restaurants.

The 2015 selection “perfectly highlights the diversity, the renewal and the creativity of Spanish and Portuguese chefs, who have brought their distinct personalities to the kitchen with innovative, original and unique creations” said Michael Ellis, International Director of the MICHELIN guides. “Chefs are constantly looking for clever ways to reinvent themselves, as illustrated by the recent surge in tapas bars that are making quality and excellence more broadly accessible in line with a new gourmet food philosophy”.

This year, the eight restaurants that received a o rating in the 2014 edition (Akelaŕe, Arzak, Azurmendi, DiverXO, El Celler de Can Roca, Martín Berasategui, Quique Dacosta and Sant Pau) have all maintained their high standards to retain the distinction in 2015.

This new edition also includes two new n restaurants: Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) and Belcanto in Lisbon. At the helm of Aponiente, Ángel León sets the tone for an imaginative, Mediterranean-inspired cuisine, while, at Belcanto, José Avillez skillfully combines tradition with huge doses of creativity in his quest for flavor and excitement. With these newcomers, the MICHELIN guide Spain & Portugal comprises 21 n restaurants.

This edition lists 154 m restaurants, 21 of which are new. Madrid accounts for the majority of newcomers in this category. Albora, with young chef David García in the kitchen, has gone for carefully presented traditional cuisine with a respectful use of flavors and textures, while Diego Guerrero is making an impression at DSTAgE, where he is reinventing himself with a creativity that transcends the food itself. At La Cabra, a young team headed by Javier Aranda offers a refined menu based on seasonal produce and, at Punto MX, Roberto Ruíz skillfully fuses Mexican tradition with avant-garde cuisine.

In San Lorenzo de El Escorial, in the mountains around Madrid, Luis Moreno and Daniel Ochoa offer signature cuisine using local produce at Montia, a menu-less restaurant where surprises are guaranteed.
The Balearic Islands’ strong culinary influence is also highlighted in this edition with nine new stars in the region for: Can Dani in Sant Ferrán de ses Roques (Formentera) in the hands of chef Ana García Jiménez, Andreu Genestra in Capdepera (Mallorca), run by the chef of the same name, and Simply Fosh in Palma (Mallorca), where Marc Fosh is in the kitchen. All offer Mediterranean cooking with a creative twist, using locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. Finding the best local ingredients is also the secret behind two new Michelin-starred establishments in the Basque country: Aizian in Bilbao and Elkano in Getaria. In the first, José Miguel Olazabalaga draws on Basque culinary traditions for his creative cuisine, and in the second the Arregui family prepares excellent charcoal grilled fish and seafood dishes.