The world-famous red Michelin guide has increased the number of restaurants with three stars in Spain. There are now 13 such restaurants. 34 restaurants (five in Portugal) received their first Michelin stars award in the new Spain and Portugal 2023 guide in Toledo.
Restaurants Atrio in Cáceres and Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona are the two new three-star restaurants in the Michelin Guide Spain and Portugal 2023. This was announced at a gala in the city of Toledo on Tuesday 22 November. The event took place at the Palacio de Congresos El Greco in Toledo, where artists such as Rozalén performed.
The gastronomic highlight was coordinated by chefs Fran Martínez (Maralba restaurant, with two stars, in Almansa) and Iván Cerdeño (Iván Cerdeño restaurant, a two-star restaurant in Toledo). International director of the Michelin guides, Gwendal Poullennec, announced the 2024 stars will be awarded separately for Spain and Portugal. They will also have separate galas. ‘We want to help promote Portugal as an unmissable European gastronomic destination,’ Poullennec said. But Portugal receives few glitters every year. In 2023, there will again be no restaurants with three or two stars.
Thirteen three-star restaurants in Spain
The award means there are now 13 Spanish restaurants with three stars. The last three stars were awarded at the 2019 gala, which resulted in the 2020 guide. The honour then went to Cantabria, to the restaurant Cenador de Amós, owned by Jesús Sánchez.
Long-awaited recognition
The candidate chefs were finally able to celebrate their long-awaited recognition. Veteran chef, Toño Pérez from Extremadura was expecially happy. With his partner in the gastronomic adventure, head waiter José Polo, he has managed to fuse the art of a culinary masterpiece with the impressive architecture of his restaurant-hotel and the historic city of Cáceres in Atrio. After the theft in October 2021 of top wines from his cellar, these three stars seemed like ‘poetic justice’.
‘We don’t believe it,’ say twins Javier and Sergio Torres. These brothers ‘made the Michelin inspectors imagine they were away in a magical space after every bite’. Indeed, their restaurant Cocina Hermanos Torres, located in an industrial building in Barcelona, has managed to create an appealing connection between the kitchen, the dining room and the diners. The execution of the dishes, with beautifully served seasonal produce, takes place at long central tables. No secrets. ‘It’s a kitchen with tables,’ the chefs say of their ambitious space. ‘The investment of our lives, with a lot of risk, but definitely to practise a gastronomy of memory, which our grandmother from Linares taught us’. The new three-star chefs are happy with their award and with the new stars received by other colleagues, they ‘continue to show that Spanish cuisine is the best in Europe’.
@HermanosTorres
Exceptional cuisine; two stars
In the ‘Exceptional Cuisine’ category, the one with two Michelin stars, three new Spanish restaurants make their debut;
- Deesa, the elegant and refined cuisine of Quique Dacosta at the Mandarin Oriental Ritz in Madrid
- Pepe Vieira, the restaurant in Poio (Pontevedra) of Xosé T. Cannas, a chef committed to the best of Spanish cuisine. ECannas, a chef dedicated to the Galician avant-garde
- El Rincón de Juan Carlos, the tasty and modern Canarian cuisine of brothers Juan Carlos and Jonathan Padrón in Adeje (Tenerife)
First star for 29 restaurants
A total of 29 restaurants in Spain have achieved their first star. Barcelona and Madrid are the cities with the most new stars.
Five in Barcelona;
- Albert Adrià’s reopened Enigma
- Come, the Mexican restaurant by Paco Méndez
- Aleia, a project by Argentinian Paulo Airaudo with chef Rafa de Bedoya
- The bistro Mont Bar
- The eclectic Slow&Low bar
In Madrid, the two stars went to RavioXo, the restaurant dedicated to pasta by the already three-starred, pioneering and best chef in the world Dabiz Muñoz; Ugo Chan, Hugo Muñoz’s successful Japanese fusion restaurant, and Zuara Sushi, by long-career itamae David Arauz (ex 99 KO Sushi Bar), and Montia, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
Young talents
As in previous editions, the Michelin Guide Spain & Portugal 2023 – which appears in both paper and digital format and can be accessed on the official website and in the free apps for iOS and Android – recognises the efforts of young culinary talents in the different Spanish regions. Highlights include village projects with gastronomic daring such as Asturian Monte, run by Xune Andrade, or Basque Arrea, Edorta Lamo’s mountain restaurant.
@ARREA_Kanpezu
Promising
Ancestral, in Illescas (Toledo); Ceibe, in Ourense; Oba, in Casas Ibáñez (Albacete); Kaleja, in Málaga, Gente Rara, in Zaragoza, or Tabaiba, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, have been hailed from the position of Bib Gourmand, recommended restaurants serving quality dishes at reasonable prices, a harbinger of Michelin stars.
14 new green stars
The number of green stars for sustainable gastronomy continues to grow in the red guide. There are 13 new stars in Spain;
- Cancook (Zaragoza)
- El Visco (Fuentespalda, Teruel)
- Narbasu (Cereceda, Asturias)
- Muxgo (Las Palmas, Canary Islands)
- Casona del Judío (Santander)
- Ambivium (Peñafiel, Valladolid)
- Oba (Casas-Ibáñez, Albacete)
- Les Moles (Ulldecona, Tarragona)
- Casa Nova (Sant Martí Sarroca, Barcelona)
- Venta Moncalvillo (Daroca de Rioja, La Rioja)
- Maskarada (Lekunberri, Navarra)
- Zelai Txiki (San Sebastián)
- Arrea! (Basque Country)
To which has been added Mesa de Lemos, in the Portuguese town of Passos de Silgueiros.
Special awards
The special Michelin awards, which were presented for the first time last year during the 2022 guide gala, were also presented in Toledo. The award for Chef Mentor went to Joan Roca, for working with his brothers Josep and Jordi to transform the restaurant El Celler de Can Roca into a great international school of culinary knowledge for the new generations. The young talent award recognises the work of Almeria-born chef Cristóbal Muñoz, who heads the kitchen at Ambivium restaurant. And this year Michelin is launching a new award for dining room professionals, featuring Toni Gerez, sommelier and head waiter at Castell Peralada (one star). The Spain and Portugal 2023 guide now also includes the Principality of Andorra, which retains the star it received in the 2022 guide: the restaurant Ibaya (in Soldeu, hotel Sport Hermitage), run by Spanish chef Francis Paniego.
@CanRocaCeller
Seven restaurants lost their awards. This was due to the closures of eMe Be Garrote, in San Sebastián, and Auga e Sal, in Santiago de Compostela. Cebo in Madrid lost it due to a change of management. And Michelin has decided to strip Estany Clar (Cercs, Catalonia), Trivio (Cuenca), Mirador de Ulía (San Sebastián) and Kabuki (Madrid) of their star status.
The Michelin guide Spain & Portugal 2023, in figures
In total, the Michelin Guide 2023 has 1,401 restaurants across Spain, Portugal and the Principality of Andorra. 13 Spanish restaurants (two of which are new) have received three stars. 41 restaurants have two stars (three new). 235 restaurants have one star (34 new ones, including five in Portugal). 42 restaurants have a green Michelin star (14 new, one in Portugal). 281 restaurants have the Bib Gourmand award, establishments offering quality cuisine at reasonable prices (38 new, seven in Portugal). 831 restaurants have been recommended for the quality of their cuisine (134 new, 15 in Portugal).
