Pulsates with a passion for food and creativity
Since 2006, Mugaritz, near San Sebastián/Donostia in Spain’s Basque country, has been regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world. It is renowned for delivering culinary experiences that go beyond merely “being fed”. Most dishes are served without cutlery: meant to be eaten with hands or directly from the plate. Each diner has a notebook which aids them in interacting with the experience, and helping to create it. This is not a meal for the faint-hearted!
For six months every year Mugaritz shuts down so that the team can develop the concept for the next year. Filmmaker Paco Plaza spent the 2023/24 shutdown with the team and his camera crew, documenting this extraordinary process from the first ideas scribbled on sticky notes, to the opening night of the new season. Mugaritz. No Bread, No Dessert is the result.
The R & D team don’t start with an ingredient, or even a family of ingredients, but rather from an idea. 2025’s big idea is Transparency. From this broad starting point, Plaza’s camera follows the team playing around in the kitchen, visiting local producers, scribbling notes, and always, always, talking. We meet a local farmer whose passion is “old ewes”, the meat of which is often overlooked. One dish, based on the honey from their own bees, includes actual drones which apparently “taste a lot like cottage cheese”. As well as the clean, modern, but quite warm interiors of Mugaritz, we take in the beautiful countryside in which it sits, 20 minutes drives from San Sebastián. Plaza gives us not just the visuals, but also allows us time to take in the sounds of the Spanish farm land.
Owner and mastermind Andoni Luis Aduriz, is involved in the process at the early stages, and later on when dishes are ready for tasting. But he otherwise takes a fairly hands off approach to leadership, something which he discusses at one point over the phone. There are no to-camera interviews to break the spell.
The title of this film comes from Mugaritz’s own motto “no bread, no dessert”. A clear call-to-arms to any diners expecting four courses and a cheese platter. Andoni at one stage reiterates to his executive team that they need to sometimes “piss people off”. He recalls a customer from the previous year whose comment on the meal was “Mugaritz? More like Mugashit.!!”
Plaza has produced a film which portrays a large team involved in a creative process. And he manages to do this with respect, but without turning it into a hagiography of Andoni. What he captures best is the passion and dedication of the staff, many of whom are extraordinarily young to be so talented.
This is a joyous cinematic experience, and a consistently fascinating one. Of interest to food lovers of course, but also to anyone interested in creativity, and in the work that goes into winning two Michelin stars, and becoming a cultural phenomenon.
Mugaritz. No Bread, No Dessert is showing as part of the HSBC Spanish Film Festival from June 11th.
For further information, click here.
For screening times, and to book tickets, click here.
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