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The Etxebarri grill in Axpe, Biscay has been awarded its first Michelin Star, in the Michelin Guide to Restaurants in Spain and Portugal 2010, presented on Wednesday night in the San Miguel de Madrid market. The city of Donostia-San Sebastian''s Kursaal, however, lost the only star it had previously been awarded for its restaurant.

The scales still remain strongly weighted in favour of Basque restaurants: Arzak (Donostia-San Sebastian), Martin Berasategui (Lasarte-Oria) and Akelarre (Donostia-San Sebastian) continue in the lead, each maintaining its three Michelin stars.

The Can Febes restaurant in San Celoni (Barcelona), El Bulli in Rosas and Carme Ruscalleda in San Pau (both in Catalonia) also continue among the best restaurants in Spain, all triple-star rated, while Catalonian chef Joan Roca, of the restaurant Cellar de Can Roca in Gerona obtained his third star, putting him in amongst the elite.

Guide dates from 1900

The Michelin Guide was created in 1900 by French industrialist André Michelin. However, it was not until 1926 when the first "Michelin star" appeared as a mark of a restaurant''s excellence.

Currently, Michelin guides exist for countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Germany and the cities of New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles/Las Vegas in the United States.

The latest versions to be published include the Asiatic destinations of Hong Kong/Macao and Tokyo, the city with the most "3-star" Michelin restaurants in the world, with eleven in total.