Our story

A grill, a harbour, and three generations.

Getaria

a fishing village on the Basque coast, where the harbour and the old town meet at the water

Good fish needs an honest fire and almost nothing else. We let the catch lead, we read the charcoal by hand, and we serve the fish whole so the table can share it the way the coast always has.

Elkano sits where the harbour meets the old town of Getaria, a fishing village on the Basque coast. The boats come in at dawn, and what they land is what we cook. Our work is simple and it is the same every day. We choose the fish, we trim it, we salt it, and we lay it whole over oak charcoal until the skin crackles and the flesh comes away clean. There is no foam and no smoke for show. The fire does the talking, the catch decides the menu, and the tide sets the hours. We have grilled this stretch of coast for three generations, and we still believe the best thing a cook can do for a fine turbot is to stay out of its way.

Fishing boats returning to the Getaria harbour at first light

It begins at the quay, before the town is awake.

The catch leads

We buy what the boats land and cook what is good that day. A short, honest menu beats a long, tired one.

An honest fire

Oak charcoal and a hand held close to the bars. We read the heat ourselves and trust it over any timer.

Leave it alone

A fine fish asks for salt, fire, and a little of its own juices. The cook's job is mostly to get out of the way.

Iker Arregi grew up a short walk from the Getaria quay, sorting catch beside his grandmother before he was tall enough to reach the grill bars.

He learned the trade the slow way, by tending oak charcoal through long summer services and listening to the fishermen who brought their boats in each morning. He took over the grill after years spent in coastal kitchens up and down the Cantabrian shore, and he kept the room almost exactly as he found it. The fish is still chosen at the harbour, still cooked whole, and still carried to the table on the same plain steel. Iker likes to say that a griller is only as good as the day's tide, and that the real skill is knowing when to do nothing at all.

Iker Arregi

Chef and Griller

A long line of grillers, one stretch of coast.

1964

A small grill opens by the Getaria quay, cooking the family's own catch.

1981

The open air charcoal grills are built into the seafront wall.

2008

The next generation takes the bars and keeps the room as it was.

Now

Whole fish over coastal charcoal, chosen at the harbour each morning.

The hands that keep the fire and the floor.