5 Best Restaurants in Spain

Holder of three Michelin stars since 2009, El Celler de Can Roca, helmed by the Roca brothers—Joan, Josep, and Jordi—is a life-changing culinary experience. Its two tasting menus, ranging from 14 to 22 courses and priced between €240 and €280, feature wildly inventive dishes and daring presentations, but remain rooted to local flavors.

While Palma suffers no dearth of rough-and-ready eateries, Marc Fosh has little or no competition in the fine-dining category. The renowned chef Marc Fosh offers several tasting menus, which are executed superbly, with the best local seasonal produce transformed into remarkable dishes with surprising twists. The restaurant occupies the glorious medieval former refectory of the Mission of San Vicente de Paul, with high vaulted ceilings, a 210-foot gallery with stone arches, and an interior courtyard. White walls display contemporary art, and the smaller dining room has palm trees growing through the ceiling. The lunchtime menu, priced from €29.50, is a steal.

Basque chef Martín Berasategui has more Michelin stars than any other chef in Spain, and at his flagship in the dewy village of Lasarte-Oria, it's easy to see why. Dishes are Basque at heart but prepared with an exacting, French-inflected technique that comes through in dishes like artfully composed salads, elegant caviar preparations, and eel-and-foie-gras mille-feuilles—a Berasategui signature. Of all the three-stars in and around San Sebastián, Martín Berasategui—despite its oddly lackluster dining room—consistently delivers when it comes to sheer hedonistic deliciousness.

Chef Jordi Cruz is a celebrity in Spain, and pulls out all the stops with a panoply of artfully presented dishes that vary from season to season; no expense or effort is ever spared. ABaC serves only a set tasting menu, which you can request with or without paired wines. There are tables only for two or four; the coveted seating looks out on a lovely garden.