On random weekends every so often (it’s probably not random at all; it’s probably once a month or something similar) the Saturday newspaper lands with a thud which has been exacerbated by the inclusion within the overall package of a heavy glossy magazine which I will hardly ever even glance at, mostly because I know nothing within it will be about anything I want or, even more so, can afford. There was essentially nothing different about the Luxx Report magazine which accompanied The Times last weekend. But one gloriously preposterous headline caught my eye – ‘How to jet to lunch in Spain’ – and I read on.

The photo on the home page displays the said jet in question: a Pilatus PC-12. The subhead to the story explained the flying context to what was in part a restaurant review of a celebrated esablishment in the Basque country of northern Spain. It read “One of the world’s best restaurants, Asador Etxebarri, is almost impossible to get into – unless, food editor Tony Turnbull discovers, you’ve got access to a private plane.”

One might think this meant the place was located on a tiny, remote island. One would be wrong. It’s a 40-minute drive from Bilbao. The reasoning behind the wording was that the general manager at HansJet, the charterers of aforementioned PC-12, had been resourceful enough over the years to have nurtured a close relationship with the restaurant’s owners. Which I think makes the whole premise a bit misleading. But the piece was not incorrect, I think, when the author of the piece wrote “in this foodiest corner of Spain…Asador Etxebarri in Axpe is the only one diners struggle to get into”.

My wife’s nephew got married a couple of summers ago. The couple were spending part of their honeymoon in the Basque country. They are both avid food lovers. They asked if we might know anyone who could get them into Etxebarri. I said I might: apart from writing this blog, I also write about golf. I know pretty well the distinguished Spanish golfer, José Maria Olazabal, who himself is a Basque, hailing from San Sebastian. I messaged him. He replied: “It’s going to be quite difficult. What are the dates?” I appreciated that he made the effort but ultimately it proved to be unsuccessful. ‘Difficult’ in this instance turned out to be ‘impossible’.

Talking of which, I had to chuckle at the first sentence of the article. It began “The thing about the Pilatus PC-12 is that it can land pretty much anywhere.” Oh yes? I’d like to see any pilot try to put it down in our back garden…