Elena Arzak to open 'Ametsa' restaurant in London

Basque chef Elena Arzak, who not long ago won the Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef award, is to open her first London restaurant in February, the London Evening Standard reported on Tuesday.

Elena Arzak, daughter to prestigious Basque chef Juan Mari Arzak, will launch an offshoot at Belgravia’s five-star Halkin hotel.

According to the same sources, the new restaurant, called Ametsa, the Basque word for "dream", will replace Nahm, the first Thai restaurant outside Thailand to win a Michelin star (it lost it last year). It will be the first outpost of Arzak outside Spain.

The chefs at Ametsa will be advised by Arzak Instruction, a five-strong team including Elena and her father set up "to deliver the philosophies of a unique cooking style".

The Basque Country on the map

Chef Juan Mari Arzak has done much to put Basque Country's culinary heritage on the map. His restaurant ranks eighth at the S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna World's 50 Best Restaurants awards.

Arzak senior has won praise for taking Basque cuisine's ancient traditions in new directions without going to quite the same innovative lengths as renowned compatriot Ferran Adria.

Perhaps his most famous dish is pate made from the unsightly but tasty scorpion fish, which he created more than 40 years ago and has since become a feature in restaurants and delicatessens across Spain.

Rather than culinary foam or paella made from rice crispies, the Michelin three-starred Arzak restaurant draws from mainly local ingredients to dish up combinations like monkfish with bronzed onion, or lamb injected with freeze-dried beer.