Fire guts kitchen of top Spanish restaurant

Fire has gutted the kitchen of one of Spain's top restaurants, its chef and owner said Monday.

Andoni Luis Aduriz told journalists the blaze overnight Sunday quickly destroyed the entire cooking area of the two-Michelin-star Mugaritz restaurant, south of Renteria in the Basque region near the French border.

The Basque regional Interior Ministry says the fire may have been triggered by an electrical short-circuit, and no one was hurt.

"Over the years we had collected lots of material to end up with a very well-equipped kitchen and it's all down the tubes. In three hours, we've lost everything," said Aduriz.

Aduriz is acknowledged as a rising star in avant-garde Spanish gastronomy in the style of Ferran Adria, known for descontructing food and putting it back together in surprising ways.

The 39-year-old has worked with top Spanish chefs, including Juan Maria Arzak and Martin Berasategui.

The respected San Pellegrino "World's 50 best restaurants" list rated Mugaritz as fourth behind Adria's restaurant El Bulli, Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck in Britain, and chef Rene Redzepi's Noma in Denmark.