The luxury Monument Hotel, occupying a late-19C, neo-Gothic-inspired mansion (Casa Enric Batlló), continues to place fine dining at the centre of what it offers, hence the Oria restaurant in addition to the award-winning three-Michelin-star Lasarte. Incorporated into the hotel lobby, the Oria is a spacious, elegant and unique restaurant run by Xabi Goikoetxea and overseen by master-chef Martín Berasategui, who stamps his indelible hallmark on an updated take on traditional cuisine with its roots in the Mediterranean but with a nod to the Basque Country. The cuisine is centred around three options: the Executive menu (available lunchtime Tuesday to Saturday to those with time to fully appreciate the experience); the fixed-price Oria à la carte menu; and, lastly, the Itsasmendi tasting menu (“mountain and sea” in the Basque language), which showcases the wealth of the region’s bounty and combines traditional and cutting-edge cuisine in perfect harmony.