Basque in the sun

Starry tapas with a British twist

ELENA ARZAK, the chef who holds three Michelin stars with her father at their eponymous restaurant in San Sebastián in Spain’s Basque country, would rather like it if every meal featured croquetas de jamón. The deepfried breadcrumbed balls of creamy ham and cheese – tapas staples – are a favourite of hers. Every Basque family has a recipe for them, she says, ‘always from the grandmother’.

Elena’s own grandmother worked at Arzak (the croquetas on the menu are made to her method), as did her mother and aunt; Elena spent her summer holidays in the kitchen as a child, cleaning squid and chopping herbs. ‘When I was small, the restaurant was very humble,’ she says. ‘Now, people come from all over the world to eat there.’

When we meet (on International Women’s Day, fittingly), Elena is celebrating the fifth birthday of her London restaurant, Ametsa with Arzak Instruction. It’s a clunky name, granted, but you get the gist: Basque food, Arzak-style, with British quirks – monkfish and John Dory instead of hake; a little more spice. ‘Our customers here like stronger spices but less salt. They’ve got a sweeter tooth, too.’

The croquetas naturally star, evoca- tive of the pinxtos devoured with gallons of ice-cold txakolí in San Sebastián’s old town. But Elena and her father (‘He’s 75 and still very active’) excel in the extraordinary – there’s a ‘Stonehenge’ of foie gras; hieroglyphics spelled out in pumpkin sauce. ‘I love to see people’s reactions,’ she tells me. And despite the stars (for Ametsa also has one), Elena is grounded by one key principle. ‘I simply love to cook for people.’

Just as the Arzak family always have. comohotels.com /thehalkin /dining / ametsa-arzak-instruction