El Molino de Urdániz y Origen

Landscape on a Plate: David Yárnoz Dishes Up Eco-Conscious Cuisine from Northern Spain to Taipei

"Located in a 150-year-old country house just outside Pamplona, this two-MICHELIN-starred, MICHELIN Green Star restaurant has long championed the natural and cultural legacy of Navarre. An extensive, research-driven network of small producers underpins the menu: pork chops from free-roaming Euskal Txerria (Pío Negro) pigs in nearby Lecumberri are cured with salt and spices, then served with a beurre blanc seasoned with caper water and sherry, enriched by Navarrese caviar and texturized pork fat; wines include a distinctive white from a Valle del Bastán couple working with the chacoli grape. Hyper-locality is expressed in dishes like the ethereal dessert Mar y Montaña, where a pine nut cream base supports seaweed crumbs, caviar, tender pine needles, and smoked resin to evoke the pine forests around Urdániz and Yárnoz’s coastal memories of San Sebastián. Sustainability is woven into the experience, from energy-use awareness to creative upcycling—such as turning fish skin from Origen’s ajoarriero into a course paired with cod-flavored foam and house bell pepper extract, with pepper trimmings fermented into shiokoji to season other dishes." - Vincent Leung