A curated selection of my fine dining experiences across Spain from Barcelona and Madrid to the Basque regions and Andalusia. These impressions explore Michelin and Repsol restaurants exceptional hospitality and the depth of regional cuisine shaped by coast land and tradition.
8 articles
Aponiente’s 2026 season brings Ángel León’s marine cuisine closer to its source. Part of the meal now unfolds in the marshes, where water, light, fish, and landscape become inseparable from one of the world’s most distinctive fine dining experiences.
December suits Seville: streets lit with Christmas lights, nativity scenes in courtyards, chestnut smoke on the air, orange trees heavy with fruit. In that glow, Cañabota’s Michelin-starred seafood counter offers a focused, fire-led meal and the city’s most convincing reservation.
Smoked Room Madrid is Dani García’s fire-first omakase: smoke as structure, not show. Despite the name, it isn’t a Japanese restaurant but modern Spanish cooking with Andalusian heart and a few quiet Japanese touches.
In my view the best restaurant in Marbella, Skina pairs high ambition and high prices with polished two-star technique, yet still needs more creative identity before a third Michelin star becomes inevitable.
A curated list of Spain’s most exceptional fish restaurants — from Elkano in Getaria to Los Marinos José near Málaga.
A ranked guide to Barcelona’s 3-Michelin-star restaurants: Disfrutar, Hermanos Torres, Lasarte and ABaC. Based on multiple visits at each and 50 visits to different three-star restaurants worldwide, with highlights and booking tips for 2025.
Twice-dined at ABaC in 2025 confirms polished service but a tighter, safer menu. At 295 EUR, the tasting shows control yet less ambition than 2021. Good restaurant-with-rooms setup, but 30 minutes by taxi to the centre. Three stars now feel uncertain.
In El Puerto de Santa María, chef Ángel León has shaped Aponiente into one of the world’s most original restaurants—a place where the sea becomes philosophy. Across eighteen visits since 2014, I’ve seen it evolve from a harbour bistro into a Michelin three-star temple of marine cuisine.
