Europe’s most sustainable restaurants of 2014

The winner of the world’s 50 best restaurants, Sustainable restaurant award 2014 sponsored by Zacapa is Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, Spain.
More and more hospitality businesses and restaurants around the world are making their operations more sustainable mainly by using more locally produced ingredients. But Azurmendi is operating on a whole new level; the restaurant is “self-sufficient eco-restaurant that champions local produce”.
The restaurant opened in 2005, and is in fact built on the guiding principles of sustainability. Apart from being made from environmentally-friendly materials it is also using renewable energy, recycling its waste, harvesting rainwater and heats and cools itself using geothermal energy.
The interior of the restaurant brings the guest closer to nature with their wooden walls and abundance of wild plants and even trees. But even the interior serve a sustainable purpose and is part of the restaurants own internal greenhouse where dozens of native vegetables are grown.
The 39 year old Basque chef, Eneko Atxa, is a champion when it comes to using local suppliers and producers and thereby keeping the carbon food miles to a minimum.  Eneko Atxa and his team are also working together with a Spanish research center involved in recovering historical varieties of local vegetables to ensure others are not lost. So far the project has managed to preserve 36 varieties that were set to become extinct. The project is also helping famers find more ecological solutions to dealing with pests.
His cocking is often cutting edge: Atxa uses ultrasound to alter the texture of food and has devised a unique system for capturing flavors in ‘three-dimensional ’essences and aromas.
This rising chef is also attempting to understand the local environment and how it can be incorporated into his highly imaginative menus.
We at SD trading are big food lovers and enjoy dining experiences that makes an impression on us. We especially support restaurants and chefs that are working towards a more sustainable operation. A visit to restaurant Azurmendi is definitely going on or bucket list. We brought beautiful sustainable disposables on the market to help chefs combine excellence with sustainability.