i. Biography
At Kaia Kaipe in Getaria, Spain, the work starts with seafood and live heat. Fish and shellfish are handled through a narrow register: embers, timing, product condition, and the decision not to cover the ingredient. Within that discipline, owner Igor Arregui Larrañaga works from seasonality, product quality, and attention to the specific character of each fish or shellfish. The house method is also a generational one. Kaia Kaipe is in its third generation with Arregui, and the restaurant’s rhythm is built around continuity rather than reinvention. The cooking stays close to the product: restrained, direct, and based on the idea that good seafood needs clarity before embellishment.
The Climb
Technique here was formed between inherited restaurant practice and formal sharpening at Ember. For Igor Arregui, culinary technique at Ember gave structure to instincts already developed inside Kaia Kaipe: product selection, fire control, and restraint. The Executive Chef role at Kaia Kaipe brings that family knowledge into daily service. The grill functions as the central point of control: enough heat to cook and concentrate, enough judgment to keep the fish or shellfish recognizable on the plate.
Today
Seafood remains the center of Kaia Kaipe in Getaria, Spain, where Arregui is the owner. The work is not to impose a heavy signature, but to keep as much of the product’s identity intact as possible. The reference dishes show how little margin there is in simple-looking grill work. Grilled turbot and prawns rely on product quality, heat, and timing. Bogavante a la Parrilla Kaia is more procedural: the juices and coral are removed from the lobster head, the lobster is seared on the plancha, the juices are reincorporated, then the dish is baked with butter and flambéed with whisky. The method builds depth back into the lobster without making the garnish the point. The restaurant’s significant dishes also define the house range: fish soup, hake kokotxas in different textures, grilled turbot, grilled sea bream, and lobster. Seasonality, product quality, and parrilla technique set the working frame at Kaia Kaipe. The cooking is concentrated rather than elaborate: seafood, heat, and judgment held in balance.
Career - Executive Chef — Kaia Kaipe, Getaria, Spain Education: Ember as a culinary technique
Signature
The signature dishes — Bogavante a la Parrilla Kaia, rodaballo, besugo a la parrilla, and grilled turbot — belong to a product-led grill tradition. In Igor Arregui’s cooking, the common language is seasonality, quality of fish and shellfish, and the clear mark of the parrilla.
FAQ Where did Igor Arregui train or study? Igor Arregui trained at Ember as a culinary technique. What recognition has Igor Arregui received? Michelin Plate.
