Restaurant in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Forgotten Álava recipes, modern tasting menu format.
Karmine runs a tasting menu focused on near-forgotten Álava produce and recipes, with Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025. Choose between 8 and 10 courses; take the guided local wine pairing. The small room and constantly rotating seasonal menu make it the strongest case for a special occasion dinner in Vitoria-Gasteiz, and worth a return visit in a different season.
Karmine is the right call for anyone planning a serious dinner in Vitoria-Gasteiz who wants a tasting menu built around the produce and forgotten recipes of the Basque Country's interior rather than the coast-facing pintxos culture. It suits couples on a special occasion, small groups with a genuine interest in regional cooking, and anyone who finds the big-name Basque restaurants — Arzak in San Sebastián or Azurmendi in Larrabetzu , logistically out of reach for a midweek dinner. The format is a single tasting menu with 8- or 10-course options, so if you want à la carte flexibility, look elsewhere. If you are happy to be guided, this is one of the more considered dining experiences in the province.
Timing matters here. Because the menu changes constantly in response to what local farmers are supplying, the experience shifts meaningfully across seasons. A visit in spring will likely lean into the asparagus and early alliums that Álava's market gardens are known for; autumn and winter favour the kind of slow-cooked preparations , cocido vitoriano stew, borage-based rice dishes , that define the older Basque inland kitchen. The Michelin guide explicitly calls out the ever-changing nature of the menu as a feature rather than a quirk, and it is worth factoring into when you choose to go. If you visit Vitoria-Gasteiz regularly, Karmine rewards a second visit in a different season more than most restaurants at this price point.
The address , C. de los Herrán, 2, just a few minutes from the historic centre , puts Karmine within easy reach of the old city without sitting inside the tourist circuit. The restaurant occupies a ground-floor space described as intimate in scale, which at the €€€ price tier is appropriate: tasting menu dining in a room this size means the kitchen's attention is focused rather than distributed across a large floor. For a date or a celebration dinner, the scale works in your favour. For groups larger than four, confirm availability before assuming the room can accommodate you comfortably.
The wine programme deserves specific attention. The Michelin guide recommends allowing yourself to be guided in wine selection, with an emphasis on local Álava producers. This is a sensible instruction at a restaurant where the food is built around the agricultural identity of the region , the wine pairing, if you take it, should be treated as part of the intent rather than an optional add-on. For a special occasion, the guided pairing is the version worth ordering.
Chef Jabi Sarasua's cooking draws on two sources simultaneously: the Valencian culinary traditions of his mother's side, and the near-forgotten agricultural produce and recipes of Álava province. The result is not fusion in the loosely applied sense, but a tasting menu that treats ingredients like almorrón (a variety of bean once common in the Álava countryside) and dishes like asparagus a la Urcelay as subjects worth reviving in a modern format. The Michelin plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 confirms the kitchen is executing at a level that justifies the price tier, even without a starred distinction.
For context on where Karmine sits in the broader Spanish fine dining picture: the restaurants that win Spain's highest accolades , El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria, or Quique Dacosta in Dénia , operate at a different price level and with booking windows measured in months. Karmine offers a genuinely research-driven tasting menu experience at a fraction of that complexity and cost, in a city that sees far less fine dining foot traffic. That relative accessibility is part of the value proposition.
If you are in Vitoria-Gasteiz more than once and already have one Karmine dinner behind you, the seasonal rotation of the menu makes a return visit logical rather than redundant. On a first visit, the 8-course menu is the sensible entry point: it covers the kitchen's range without the commitment of the 10-course format. On a second visit, move to the longer menu and take the wine pairing. The local Álava wine programme will be different by that point too, which makes the pairing element less repetitive than it might be at a restaurant with a more static list.
For Vitoria-Gasteiz visitors with time for only one dinner, Karmine competes directly with Zaldiarán and Andere at the €€€ tier. The deciding factor is format: if you want a curated tasting menu grounded in Álava's agricultural identity, Karmine is the clearest choice. If you want à la carte flexibility at the same price point, look at the alternatives. See our full Vitoria-Gasteiz restaurants guide for the complete picture.
Booking difficulty is rated easy, which is consistent with Karmine's position as a Michelin Plate restaurant in a mid-sized Spanish city rather than a starred destination. That said, easy does not mean last-minute is always safe , the small room size means capacity is limited, and for a Saturday dinner or a visit timed to a local festival, booking a week or two in advance is sensible. No phone number or website is available in Pearl's current data; the most reliable booking route is through the restaurant's own reservation system or a platform covering Vitoria-Gasteiz dining. If you are planning around the city's festivals , Vitoria-Gasteiz hosts major jazz and other cultural events that fill the city , book earlier than you think you need to.
No dress code data is confirmed, but at €€€ in a Michelin-recognised tasting menu room, smart casual is a reasonable baseline. Arriving underdressed will not get you turned away, but the formality of the format suggests some effort is appropriate.
For broader trip planning in Vitoria-Gasteiz: our hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide cover the rest of your stay.
Quick reference: Tasting menu format, 8 or 10 courses, €€€ pricing, Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025, easy to book, small room , confirm group size in advance, guided local wine pairing recommended.
Contact the restaurant directly before booking. Because Karmine operates a single tasting menu that changes with seasonal produce, the kitchen's ability to accommodate restrictions depends on what is in the menu at the time of your visit. Tasting menu restaurants of this type generally handle vegetarian requests with advance notice, but the format is less flexible than à la carte. Do not assume restrictions can be handled on the day.
The menu is set , you are choosing between 8 and 10 courses, not individual dishes. On a first visit, the 8-course option covers the kitchen's range without overcommitting. Take the guided local wine pairing: the Álava wine focus is a deliberate part of the experience, and the sommelier's direction is specifically recommended by the Michelin guide. If you visit a second time in a different season, step up to the 10-course menu.
No official dress code is confirmed, but smart casual is appropriate for a €€€ tasting menu restaurant with Michelin recognition. This is not a jeans-and-trainers room. For a special occasion dinner, dress as you would for a comparable restaurant in a major Spanish city , Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona is a useful reference point for the level of formality that suits this type of format.
Yes, with the right group. The tasting menu format and intimate room size make it well-suited to a celebration dinner for two or a small group of four or fewer. The guided wine pairing adds a ceremonial quality that works for anniversaries, birthdays, or a significant dinner. For larger groups, confirm the room can accommodate your party before booking. The 10-course menu with wine pairing is the version to order for an occasion dinner.
At €€€ with Michelin Plate recognition in consecutive years and a menu built around genuinely rare regional ingredients, the value case is solid. You are paying for a tasting menu that requires real sourcing work , ingredients like near-obsolete Álava-province produce and recipes reconstructed from the region's culinary history , rather than a generic fine dining format. Compared to the starred Basque restaurants that attract international attention, Karmine delivers a comparable level of intent at a more accessible price point and without the booking difficulty. The comparison is not perfect , starred restaurants operate at a different ceiling , but for what Karmine is doing in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the price is justified.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karmine | Modern Cuisine | €€€ | Easy |
| Kea Basque Fine Food | Basque | €€ | Unknown |
| Zaldiarán | Contemporary | €€€ | Unknown |
| 144. | International | €€ | Unknown |
| Andere | Traditional Cuisine | €€€ | Unknown |
How Karmine stacks up against the competition.
Contact Karmine directly before booking. The tasting menu changes constantly based on collaboration with local farmers and features a narrow focus on Álava produce and near-forgotten regional recipes, so the kitchen's flexibility on substitutions is best confirmed in advance. A single fixed-format menu (8 or 10 courses) leaves less room to manoeuvre than an à la carte operation, so communicating dietary needs early is practical rather than optional.
There is no à la carte at Karmine — choose either the 8-course or the 10-course tasting menu. The 10-course option gives a fuller picture of Chef Jabi Sarasua's cooking, which draws on Valencian family recipes alongside dishes built around overlooked Álava ingredients. Michelin recommends letting the team guide your wine choices from the local area, which is worth following given the regional focus of the kitchen.
The venue data does not specify a dress code. A Michelin Plate restaurant at the €€€ price point in a mid-sized Spanish city typically expects neat, presentable dress without demanding formal attire. Err on the side of smart over casual and you will fit the room.
Yes, provided you want a tasting menu format rather than a shared-plates or à la carte dinner. The 8- or 10-course structure, regional wine guidance, and a menu that changes with the seasons give it enough substance to anchor a birthday, anniversary, or celebratory meal. Booking is rated easy for a Michelin Plate restaurant, so you are not fighting for a table weeks out the way you would in San Sebastián.
At €€€ with a Michelin Plate across two consecutive years (2024 and 2025), Karmine sits at a price point where the kitchen earns its keep if you are genuinely interested in hyper-local Álava produce and recipes that rarely appear elsewhere — cocido vitoriano stew, asparagus à la Urcelay, rice with borage. If you want a broader Basque fine dining experience with a longer track record, Zaldiarán is the stronger comparison. Karmine rewards the curious diner more than the one simply looking for a prestige meal.
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