Discover below an experimental restaurant of reference in a city like San Sebastián. What makes special LABE? How is the creation process in it? Let's check it out.
Experimental kitchen on campus?
LABE is the experimental restaurant of the Basque Culinary Center. This is an educational and research institution founded in 2009. It is attached to the University of Mondragon and offers training in gastronomy of the highest level. So your restaurant is not just a place to eat. Rather, it is part of the students' journey through school.
In this way, the customer can taste a dish that is still developing. It is the positive of the restaurant in a constantly changing environment. In the case of LABE, the first thing is to climb to the top of the Tabakalera building. It is a center dedicated to contemporary culture and creation. This combination combines exhibition spaces with a medialab-library spectacular.
What's inside?
Once inside, the customer can taste anything from a dish or menu of the day to a kind of small tasting menu. All this prepared by the students of the center who work in this restaurant since its opening in 2019. Well it is true that LABE It comprises much more than the restaurant. It also has shared work spaces for start-ups related with food. In addition, its facilities offer advice for hospitality companies that seek to digitize themselves.
As if that were not enough, the space is also used to test new appliances. However, its most striking function is that of the laboratory. It serves as a workshop for those allies of the Basque Culinary Center working on their final degree project. Yes! You can eat a final grade project. Today many talk about the circular economy and how to make the most of ingredients without generating waste. This is one of the priorities of LABE.
“A space in which to rethink and co-create the gastronomy of the future in digital key”, reads the official presentation that he had in 2019. Today, his speech focuses on making “current gastronomy based on protagonism vegetable, local product and seasonal, in an innovative environment”, according to those responsible. An attractive way to adapt to the changing world in which we live.
But what do you eat in LABe?
Within the menu we can enjoy curious dishes such as Canned Getaria with name and surname of those who produce them (Oliveri). In addition, it also has excellent cured meats from Navarre masquerade with Basque txerrri (Basque pig). As if that were not enough, they also have chicken rice lumagorri (an indigenous species).
scientific research and #gastronomy are the perfect union to develop innovative culinary projects, and the students of the master in #Gastronomic Sciences have been able to demonstrate their great potential by creating creative and inspiring dishes for the #ArzakChallenge. pic.twitter.com/Lx1GyXEPZg
—BasqueCulinaryCenter (@bculinary) May 26, 2022
In addition, there are other more casual proposals such as the Donosti Fried Chicken and winks to France with some moules and frites (mussels with fries). If you want something more exotic and local you can try the saam Basque pork belly. Then at dessert time you can opt for a classic like the La Viña style cheesecake but with smoked idiazábal. Another less common option is basque kutixi which covers the creation of the well-known pastry chef José María Gorrotxategi.
Furthermore, the wine list It has a wide and very interesting offer. Some are basque wines such as local txakoli or the Iparralde white. Others are references from Huelva, Lanzarote, Madrid or Bierzo along with some other natural wine. It also offers champagne.loincloth, with a very reasonable price. To finish, we refer to a kind of reserved area that exists in the premises. The room is designed for 360 degree projections on you seem and the table. In this way you can create immersive experiences even if the restaurant does not plan to use it with customers at the moment. Do you feel like going through LABE?
