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news • December 23rd, 2021

Amelia restaurant by Chef Paulo Airaudo receives its second Michelin Star

San Sebastian, December 14th 2021. Chef Paulo Airaudo received the second MICHELIN star for his Amelia Restaurant project at the presentation gala of the Michelin Guide Spain and Portugal 2022 that has taken place in Valencia

At the end of the gala, Paulo said " I am very excited. The MICHELIN Guide is the most important gastronomic guide in the world, a worldwide reference, and for me, it is a pride to receive this recognition. I am very grateful to the MICHELIN Guide for their unconditional support always. It is an honor to receive this award on behalf of myself and the entire Amelia Restaurant team past, present, and future; because all of them are the engine of the house and the ones who make it possible for magic to happen in each service, so thank you to everyone who is part of the Amelia family."

Paulo moved his Amelia restaurant at the end of 2019 to the Hotel Villa Favorita, a newly built luxury hotel located in the heart of La Concha Bay, one of the most emblematic places in San Sebastian. Its MICHELIN Star was extinguished by the transfer but was revalidated in December 2020. Tonight and just 18 months after its move, it becomes the only restaurant in the city with two MICHELIN Stars.

The style and philosophy of work of Paulo Airaudo have turned Amelia Restaurant into one of the most unique proposals of the Basque gastronomic panorama but also of the Spanish and international; attributes that are supported by obtaining its first MICHELIN star just 7 months after its opening in 2017 and that revalidatesbto6 months after its transfer at the end of last year.

Paulo became one of the latest talents arising in national and international gastronomy thanks to his gastronomic offer, which is based on seasonal raw and sustainable materials. Paulo to become one of the latest talents arising in national and international gastronomy. Paulo supplies his kitchen himself with local small producers who share his values. Where some dishes can vary even daily depending always on the season and the market's mark.

Paulo is a maverick and perfectionist. And these two virtues make him rethink his daily work to improve constantly. Five years ago, he left the restaurant with a Michelin Star, which he was in charge of in Geneva, and moved with his family to San Sebastian. Since he has not stopped reaping successes. The irruption in the city with his own style of international cuisine meant a change in the gastronomic offer of the capital of Gipuzkoa that has been conquered by this Argentine little by little with a touch of Basque.

Basque gastronomy is lucky again. since 1993, there wasn't a restaurant awarded 2 MICHELIN Stars in San Sebastian. Akelarre, now three-starred, Gipuzkoa in 2006 (to Mugaritz that maintains 2) and Euskadi did not do it since 2011 (to Azurmendi who already has 3). Amelia Restaurant is the only Basque restaurant led by a foreign chef to have received this distinction.

 'Amelia Restaurant', his most personal project, bears the name of his first daughter, 'Amelie'. It is one of the 6 restaurants he runs in San Sebastian: 'Da Filippo', an elegant trattoria that opened its doors in November 2019 in a place previously occupied by Amelia (Calle Prim, 34), and named after his son Filippo; '1985 Cantina Argentina'(Reyes Católicos, 9), an Argentine grill, La Bottega Di Filippo (Prim, 32), a place to stop for a snack at any time of the day with good sausages and a good selection of drinks, and The Blind Pig (San Bartolomé,23), a clandestine cocktail bar. They are all a few meters from Amelia Restaurant. Paulo visits them daily to check that everything is fine.

I am very excited. It is an honor to receive this award on behalf of myself and the entire Amelia Restaurant team past, present, and future; because all of them are the engine of the house and the ones who make it possible for magic to happen in each service

Paulo Airaudo

Amelia

He has other joint-ventures 'Da Terra' located in The Town Hall Hotel in London (8 Patriot Square.) It is a project which received its second MICHELIN Star on January 2021Amelia Hong Kong ( in Harbour City), Da Filippo Trattoria, and Haku, also in Hong Kong, and soon will join NOI. It will open its doors in an emblematic hotel in the city. And the latest member of the group of restaurants led by Paulo Airaudo is the Aleia Restaurant, which opened at the end of November in Barcelona in the iconic Hotel Casa Fuster. 

Since he arrived in Donostia, he opted along with his chef colleagues positioning the city as one of the best gastronomic destinations in the world. Paulo is the first foreigner to achieve for his restaurant this distinction in Gipuzkoa and the only non-Spanish running a restaurant with 2 MICHELIN Stars in Spain.