When fire swept through the kitchen of Basque restaurant Mugaritz during the early hours of February 15th, causing devastating damage to the interior, the subsequent closure of Andoni Aduriz''s two Michelin starred eatery was a reason to be down.

Far from giving up, however, the Mugaritz team pulled ranks and showed themselves stronger than ever. "Reconstruction begins from the foundations" announces the website during these four months of rethinking, replanning and redesigning... like a phoenix from the flames.

"If we could build the perfect kitchen, what would it be like?" wondered chef Aduriz on the Mugaritz blog, who turned misfortune to his advantage by taking the opportunity to iron out some of the drawbacks of the original kitchen.

After four months of closure, Mugaritz reopened on Tuesday June 15th. Its reopening was deliberately planned to coincide with the start of the new season of Ferran Adrià''s restaurant El Bulli.

In a statement to press, Aduriz explained that the choice of date had in fact come about because of a "generous gesture" made by Adriá. It was the Catalonian chef who suggested that both restaurants kick off their latest season together when they met at the recent prize-giving for the world''s official top 50 restaurants, recently held in London, in which El Bulli was declared number two, and Mugaritz relegated to fifth place.

"We are both excited about starting out on a new chapter at the same time," insisted the Mugaritz team.