Scallops with white sesame sauce, tobiko and nori & the spectacular pork belly tonkatsu with crispy house made bacon

Ame Restaurant

Ame Restaurant (formerly Rain), the new effort by the Rubino brothers, Michael and Chef Guy, with partner Charles Kabouth. A fabulous decor with high ceilings and lots of rustic wood created into a very sophisiticated design. Wonderfully colourful fabrics contrast the dark woods. Above, salmon belly with sumiso and cherry miso. The salmon was very fresh and the flavours very complementary . Also above, baby squid with salmon and ginger.

Grilled summer chipiron (squid), confit of onions and wild spinach, from the garden.

Carrot and dried "choriccro" pepper, from the garden, with carrot juice and grilled mussels. The mussels were ever so slightly smokey and extremely sweet.

Smoked and warmed over the grill, Imperial Beluga Caviar, one of the signature dishes. An unusual, but extraordinary texture combined with the unique flavour of smoke. Very flattering to the slightly briny taste of the caviar.

Oyster cooked on wakame with a buttery froth of oyster liquor... Again, barely cooked, but to perfection.

Langostine from Asturias grilled to absolute perfection (just beyond raw). It had a wonderful briny and slightly smokey flavour.

Grilled white ventresca (belly) tuna with tomato from the resto garden. One of the best tomatoes I have eaten!

Roasted red mullet with crystals of it's scales, white chocolate sauce, cream of seafood and tail of Iberian pork.

raw oyster, lemon grass sauce, green apple and watercress puree.

At Martin Berasategui's eponymous resto in San Sebastian, one of the greatest fish/shell fish meals I have ever enjoyed. The dish below consisted of raw squid bathed in squid ink with a ravioli filled with a very rich reduction of squid ink that provided incredible burst of flavour!

Cod kokotxa, the gelatinous muscle of the lower jaw, a Basque tradition, slow poached in olive oil with garlic, to bring out the gelatin, and tossed with pristinely fresh mussels.

Chef David Lee and 3 Star Chef Martin Berasategui at the market, checking out fish for lunch at Gaztelubide, the pre-eminent gastronomic society in San Sebastian

Tapas Bar Crawl: Braised codfish kokotxa, the gelatinous muscle of the lower jaw, a traditional Basque dish

Tapas Bar Crawl: Squid in it's own ink

Tapas Bar Crawl: Tarte of baby eels