Restaurant Review: Lunch at Hotel Maria Cristina, San Sebastian, Spain

The city of San Sebastián has become famous for having more Michelin-starred restaurants in and around it than almost any other city in the world. The quality of meals in this city, in general, has been elevated to heights not imagined by diners in many other countries.

I traveled to San Sebastián every year for the four years to participate in the Gastronomika Conference, the annual meeting of the top Spanish chefs. It brings in chefs and food journalists from around the world to discuss and demonstrate the direction creative Spanish cuisine is taking each year.

As I mentioned above, the food quality in the city is exceptional. Every year, I tried different venues around town, from tascas (tapas bars) to high end hotel restaurants, and to be honest, I have not been disappointed in food quality or diversity in any of these eateries.

During my most recent visit, I had lunch at the Hotel Maria Cristina, a 5-star property at the center of town, a few yards from the Gastronomika conference venue.

The Hotel Maria Cristina is a historic property built by architect Charles Mewes, also responsible for the Ritz hotels in Madrid and Paris, and is designed in a Belle Époque architectural style. Since its opening in 1921, it has been closely linked to the history and cultural life of San Sebastián.

At the time of my visit, Ned (Nectarios) Capeleris, the General Manager, a fellow Greek from the Austalian Greek Diaspora, invited me to taste the culinary creativity of Executive Chef Jesús Cabellero and Chef Francis Paniego, who designed the dishes for Maria Cristina’s Summer Restaurant. The menu was titled “Ezcarey” and highlighted Chef Paniego’s culinary treasures collected during his life in La Rioja.

It started with an “omelette,” i.e the chef’s version of Tortilla Española. This is an iconic dish of Spanish cookery served in every tasca and restaurant in the country. Some make it spicy, while others make it savory. But everyone makes their own version of egg and potato. In this case, it was a small, crispy round made from mousse, onion, and a soupçon of spice.

Following the “tortilla” was a couple of croquettes, based on a preparation the chef’s mother made in his youth. Both starters were delightful indeed!

A bottle of Raventós i Blanc Cava came to the table. A lively light cava produced from low altitude vineyards in Conca del Riu Anoia in Penedés that grow tiny grapes after very warm vintages and dry and warm growing seasons. Pepe Raventós knows his grapes! The cava is a classic blend of Viura, Xarel-lo, and Parellada, as well as a small trace of direct-press Monastrell found in this delicate, beautiful bottling. Exceptional pairing, full of aroma and nice acidity.

The next dish was an homage to Basque cuisine – a “Mamia” with egg yolk and salmon caviar. A rather salty appetizer soup with red fish roe, fennel, and walnut sprouts. The creamy consistency comes from a dairy product made from curdled milk. A sweet version is usually served as a dessert containing honey, walnuts, and raisins. 

The next item was a piece of driftwood that held fried Borage leaves in a light tempura batter to be dipped in a sauce from Rioja. Crunchy and unusual; my complaint is there were too few leaves. I really wanted more!

Two different little plates of dumplings came to the table next. One of my favorite dishes is Xiaolongbao a.k.a. soup dumplings. The dumplings served at Maria Cristina’s restaurant were just as tasty and delicious, so I added them to my list of favorites.

The next wine then appeared, which was a 2017 bottle of Muga, a white Rioja. I always liked to keep a bottle of it in my cellar. The wine is 90% Macabeo (Viura) and 10% Malvasia and Garnacha Blanca – the actual percentage of these two last grapes varies with the vintage. It’s a pale yellow wine with greenish highlights, silky texture, and nicely aromatic with good acidity. I consider it one of the better white Riojas, and it usually works very well with appetizers and savory dishes.

A salty fritter was delivered with a liquid heart of sauce romescu, a sauce that originates from Tarragona, Catalonia. Roasted red peppers, plum tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, parsley, salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice are the usual ingredients of romescu, but some cooks add smoked Spanish paprika as well. The sauce is usually put over fish to brighten the fresh catch of the day. 

What followed were prawns in a pil-pil-like sauce made from walnuts, topped with truffle slices. Absolutely delightful!

And the dish that followed – Roasted Hake over imitation charcoal made from smashed potatoes, garlic, and vanilla – was as delicious as the prawns. Hake is an emblematic fish used in Basque cooking, the same way cod fish is almost always present on Portuguese tables.

I had started getting full. Even small plates, when there are numerous varieties, start adding up! But I wasn’t complaining…

Another of my favorite wines was then brought to the table. A 2014 Terruño Centenary Reserva from Viña Pomal to pair with the last dish, which was truffled pigeon over potato purée with red wine. This seemed to be very high quality red wine mixed with the roasting jus and poured over the meat and purée right before the dish was truffled and brought to the table. Viña Pomal is a Rioja Alta winery of Bodegas Bilbainas that belongs to the Codorníu Raventós group.

But we were not actually finished. A sweet wine was poured to pair with three desserts that would finish the lunch. The Xixaritto bottle had a whimsical label, but what was in the bottle – a cream sherry – involved some very serious winemaking indeed! This was the first time I had seen and tasted this product, and I liked the pairing very much.

I’m sorry to say that I did not keep notes on the desserts, so the descriptions of the first two – whose images I’m looking at – are just what I think they might be. The first, a Selva with white chocolate cannelloni on top stuffed with minced apricot preserve, was decorated with jasmine flowers and crumble.

The second consisted of two chocolate (gelato?) ice cream spoonfuls with a chocolate covered fritter and crumble all around.

For the third, I have the chef’s description as: lukewarm Idiazabal toast with apple and sour milk ice cream. A thin filo layer creates the base upon which Idiazabal cheese and baked apple slices rest with a scoop of white ice cream on top and a thin round of fresh green apple.  

Many thanks to Ned for introducing me to the creativity of Chef Francis Paniego. His dishes were as delectable and as beautifully presented as any of the dishes I’ve had in and around San Sebastián!

Kudos!

The author received a complimentary meal at this restaurant, but as always, we are dedicated to providing our readers with an honest assessment of our experiences.