A strange year. Discretion and few voices. With less than 24 hours until Michelin star night, the food community is keeping a low profile. If in the last edition the murmur became clamor – a fairly precise list of candidates also circulated on WhatsApp – this time silence dominates. Either they don’t know it or they don’t want to inconvenience those responsible for the red guide, who three years ago protected the final decision of the inspectors, responsible for evaluating possible candidates for an entire year.
The winners receive an invitation to participate in this Tuesday’s gala at the Sohrlin Andalucía, in Málaga – the space promoted by the entrepreneur and entertainment producer Domingo Merlín and the actor Antonio Banderas, founder of the Teatro del Soho -, although there are those who also get the pass for other reasons, such as having cooked during the previous ceremony. On this occasion, all the Murcian chefs who participated in last year’s cocktail party will participate. What is clear is that anyone who has not received an invitation to walk on the red carpet knows that they will not have a star or special recognition in the Michelin Guide Spain and Andorra 2026.
Even with little noise, meetings are inevitable. Radio macuto is still alive and some names are starting to escape it. In this edition – which also celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Michelin Guide – several restaurants seek to enter the gastronomic elite. One is Deessa, at the Mandarin Oriental Ritz hotel in Madrid, whose cuisine is signed by Quique Dacosta (Jarandilla de la Vera, Cáceres, 53 years old), who already has three stars for the restaurant that bears his name in Dénia (Alicante) and another two in El Poblet (Valencia). Another candidate is Skina, in Marbella, owned by Marcos Granda (Sotrondio, Asturias, 48 years old), a regular visitor to these awards: it has stars in Nintai (Marbella), Toki (Madrid), Marcos (Gijón, Asturias) and Ayalga (Ribadesella, Asturias). The third name that is circulating is El Molino de Urdániz, in Urdániz, directed by David Yárnoz (Pamplona, 50 years old), which obtained its first star in 2008 and the second eleven years later.
Other names that appear in the bets are those of Benito Gómez (Barcelona, 49 years old), owner of Bardal, in Ronda (Málaga), who obtained the first star in 2018, two years after the opening, and the second in 2020; and Voro, the project by the Majorcan Álvaro Salazar (Linares, Jaén, 40 years old) at the Cap Vermell Grand Hotel, in Canyamel (Balearic Islands), which obtained its first star at just 29 years old and the second in 2022.
Another gossip circulating in the last few hours suggests that there could be three restaurants awarded three stars. It would be a milestone: never before had Michelin shown such generosity in Spain. So far the maximum spend has been two three stars in the same edition: which occurred in 2013 (Azurmendi and Quique Dacosta), in 2018 (Aponiente and ABaC), in 2023 (Atrio and Cocina Hermanos Torres) and in 2024 (Disfrutar and Noor). There were also years in which the category was deserted: 2015, 2016 and 2019.
While awaiting tonight’s ruling, Spain’s three-star club is made up of: Arzak (San Sebastián), Lasarte (Barcelona), Martín Berasategui (Lasarte-Oria, Gipuzkoa), El Celler de Can Roca (Girona), ABaC, Cenador de Amós (Villaverde de Pontones, Cantabria), Akelarre (San Sebastián), Aponiente (El Puerto de Santa María, Cadiz), Quique Dacosta (Dénia), DiverXO (Madrid), Azurmendi (Larrabetzu, Bizkaia), Atrio (Cáceres), Cocina Hermanos Torres (Barcelona), Noor (Córdoba), Enjoy (Barcelona) and Casa Marcial (La Salgar, Asturias), the latest to join the list.
The names of those who could obtain the two stars are also circulating through unofficial channels, a category in which 33 establishments fall. Enigma presents itself again in that swimming pool, in Barcelona, with Albert Adrià at the helm, who has been spared this award by Michelin for some time despite having won the first in 2023. He is not the only candidate: Aleia, the restaurant managed by Pablo Airaudo in Casa Fuster, where Rafa de Bedoya officiates, also plays; and the Mont Bar, with Fran Agudo in the kitchen, both awarded with their first star in 2023. The entire Mont Bar team will be present at the gala, which will be hosted by the television program Jesús Vázquez. Ramón Freixa will also be present, who was able to recover in Atelier, his new gastronomic space in Madrid – together with Tradición – the two stars that he showed off at the Hotel Único and which he obtained consecutively in 2010 and 2011.
Among the candidates to debut in the guide – which currently has 242 distinct venues – there are EMi, the project by Rubén Mosquero together with Miguel Ángel Millán, former sommelier of DiverXO; Mare (Cadiz), commanded by Juan Viu; the Asturian Regueiro, in Tox, directed by Ricardo Fernández; Ancestral, which would recover the star that Víctor Infantes showed off in Illescas (Toledo) before moving to the new headquarters in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid); Bascoa and Éter (both in Madrid) and Palodú, in Málaga.
The one that will lose three stars will be the city of Barcelona, due to the closure and relocation of many other venues: Aürt, by Artur Martínez, which leaves the Hilton Diagonal Mar hotel to open next year in another location; Teatro Kitchen, which will close on December 21st and whose premises will be taken over by Paolo Casagrande – kitchen director of the three-star Lasarte – to develop the concept of Italian haute cuisine Orobianco, with which he already has one star in Calpe (Alicante); and Oria, by Martín Berasategui at the Monument hotel. The Basque chef, used to collecting ranks, will also lose the award he wore at Etxeko, in Ibiza, which is also closed.
Among the special awards, we highlight the name of Abel Valverde, director of Desde 1911 (Madrid), as favorite for the award for room service, which Cristina Díaz (Maralba, Almansa, Albacete), Joan Carles Ibáñez (Lasarte, Barcelona) and Toni Gerez (Castell Peralada Restaurant, Peralada, Girona) have already received. There is also an award for best sommelier, which in previous editions went to Josep Roca (El Celler de Can Roca, Girona) and José Luis Paniagua (Atrio, Cáceres). And the young talent was received at the hands of Pedro Subijana by chef Carlos Casillas (Barro, Ávila).
The gala, which can be followed live on the EL PAÍS website starting at 6.30 pm, will begin with the arrival of the guests on the red carpet, where they will be received by the Malaga actress and presenter Masi Rodríguez.
Who cooks and what you drink
After the award ceremony, the celebration will continue with a cocktail hosted by Benito Gómez, from Bardal, and Mario Cachinero, from Skina, with the participation of the latter’s owner, Marcos Granda. Eight chefs will participate in the operation: José Carlos García (one star, Málaga), Emiliano Schobert (Blossom, one star), Dani Carnero (Kaleja, one star), Diego Gallegos (Sollo, one star), Mauricio Giovanini (Messina, one star), Manuel de Bedoya and Alberto Igeño (Nintai, one star) and David Olivas (Back, one star).
At the gala, wines from Viña El Corregidor de Carrascal (Bodegas Luis Pérez, Jerez), Mountain Blanco (Telmo Rodríguez, Málaga), Stardust (Forlong, VT Cádiz) and Navazos Niepoort (Navazos, VT Cádiz) will be toasted; Manzanilla Pastora (Barbadillo, Jerez); Amontillado Gran Barquero (Pérez Barquero, Montilla-Moriles); Sedella Tinto (Sedella, Málaga); Atlántida Tintilla (Alberto Orte, VT Cadiz); and, to close the desserts, Molino Real (Telmo Rodríguez, Málaga).
