Elkano

Elkano is a seafood restaurant in Getaria, a fishing town in the Basque Country, known for grilling whole fish over charcoal. It shares its name with a son of the town, the navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, who completed the first voyage around the world.

The story starts with a grocery store. Joxepa, who had learned to cook while working in the kitchens of wealthy households, ran the shop with her husband. Her youngest son Pedro Arregi emigrated to Germany, and when he came home in 1964 the family turned the store into a bar: Joxepa made small clay-pot dishes while Pedro looked after the fishermen at a grill in the street. In 1988 the tavern was rebuilt into a proper dining room. Pedro's son Aitor Arregi now leads the house, with Pablo Vicari as executive chef.

Grilling fish in Getaria began on the boats, where fishermen carried charcoal and irons on board. Pedro took it further: he was the first to put the neck of a hake, until then kept for soup, on the fire, and he roasted turbot whole with its skin instead of serving only the fillets. Turbot and sole are still the main dishes, cooked whole in a basket over oak charcoal. Fish cheeks come battered, smoked or in pil-pil, and the menu also has wild mushrooms touched by smoke, a seafood bisque, lobster and a sirloin.

Pedro used to say that the freshness of a fish shows in the brightness of its eyes, and the family still buys with that rule in mind. Hake necks and other cuts once thought of as scraps are treated with the same care as the noble fillets. Elkano holds a Michelin star and has been a regular on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list.