Asador Etxebarri

Asador Etxebarri is a grill restaurant in Atxondo in Spain's Basque Country; Food & Wine places it in the village of Axpe. Its owner and chef is Victor Arguinzoniz, who cooks every course over a grill, desserts included.

Food & Wine named it the winner, No. 1, of its Global Tastemakers 2025 list of the top 15 international restaurants, and The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 ranks it No. 2. Food & Wine credits Arguinzoniz, whom it calls a self-taught grill master, with turning an 18th-century country house into a destination for flame-grilled food over some 35 years. The magazine stresses how his custom-built grills let ingredients such as Palamós prawns and rib-eye speak for themselves.

According to Wikipedia, Arguinzoniz was born in the same village, worked for many years in a flag factory and bought the restaurant with his father and uncle; he taught himself to cook and built his own grilling devices that burn several kinds of wood. Wines are chosen by Mohamed Benabdallah, who previously worked at Mugaritz. Food & Wine reports a 14-course tasting menu at €280 (about $290), with no vegan or vegetarian option and house-made chorizo among the courses. Wikipedia also lists earlier placings in Restaurant magazine's top 50 (6th in 2015, 3rd in 2019 and 2021, 4th in 2023) and 3rd place in the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants.

Sources of this text: Wikipedia · Food & Wine (Dotdash Meredith, New York) · William Reed / 50 Best (London)